Having recently been made redundant, I've decided to invest/write off some of my payment into commissioning a small line of 28mm miniatures and have decided to record the process in a blog (as therapy as much as for any other reason ;D )
If anyone's interested in following my stumbling through the world of blogging or commissioning a range of figures, the blog can be found at http://albioninvaded.blogspot.co.uk/
Cheers,
Jon
Great site, good luck! :D
Love the map distortion so Britain is longer than France, Spain or Italy! :d
Impressive start Charon 8).
Very best of luck Jon. :-bd
If you get your designer to make things in 'kit form', so you can produce a lot of 'different' models at a lower cost than making oodles of 'one off' masters.....IN THE LONG TERM.
I've done this in the past for one company in particular.
It DOES/WILL take time to recoup your original investment though.
There will be lots of 'hidden' costs that suddenly spring up that you might have missed at the moment.....
You'll save on the costs from your designer....But that will be somewhat offset by the extra you have to pay for mouldmaking and casting
Really go into your costings with a fine tooth comb.
Cheers - Phil.
Quote from: Techno on 05 April 2013, 11:15:55 AM
Very best of luck Jon. :-bd
If you get your designer to make things in 'kit form', so you can produce a lot of 'different' models at a lower cost than making oodles of 'one off' masters.....IN THE LONG TERM.
I've done this in the past for one company in particular.
It DOES/WILL take time to recoup your original investment though.
There will be lots of 'hidden' costs that suddenly spring up that you might have missed at the moment.....
You'll save on the costs from your designer....But that will be somewhat offset by the extra you have to pay for mouldmaking and casting
Really go into your costings with a fine tooth comb.
Thanks Phil,
I'll probably go with the kit form, the sculptor also suggested it as an option.
I'm under absolutely no misconception that I'm going to make any money out of this - if I cover my costs I'll be happy; it's more about realising an ambition really :D
Cheers - Phil.
EDIT: Quote fixed.
Quote from: mad lemmey on 05 April 2013, 10:10:19 AM
Great site, good luck! :D
Love the map distortion so Britain is longer than France, Spain or Italy! :d
Is it? I'm having a nightmare with Blogger (which may be something to do with me being clueless!).
When I look at the blog, half the time there's no map, but the rest of the time it looks ok. Will get my techie brother to have a look for me!
Looks good to me, and I like the layout as well. Do all the posts line up in a grid as you make them, so people can click the one they want to read? That'd be a cool feature.
The map is distorted by its publisher, partly by the map projection, partly to make Britain look more important. Just one of those propaganda details the eye picks up. Nothing to do with your website!
Quote from: Leon on 05 April 2013, 12:58:32 PM
Looks good to me, and I like the layout as well. Do all the posts line up in a grid as you make them, so people can click the one they want to read? That'd be a cool feature.
You'd think I'd know the answer to that and I'm sure there might be a way to do it. I'll have a play and see what happens.
Better get some coins ready for the swear box...
Quote from: mad lemmey on 05 April 2013, 01:32:49 PM
The map is distorted by its publisher, partly by the map projection, partly to make Britain look more important. Just one of those propaganda details the eye picks up. Nothing to do with your website!
I've just opened it in Safari and see what you mean ;D
Surely Britain is that big ;D ;D
Like the idea of "multipose" in metal. If the plastics boys can do it, why not in lead alloy?
Anyway, good luck with the venture. Everyone needs a lift after redundancy. :-bd
Quote from: Hertsblue on 06 April 2013, 10:05:29 AM
Like the idea of "multipose" in metal. If the plastics boys can do it, why not in lead alloy?
Anyway, good luck with the venture. Everyone needs a lift after redundancy. :-bd
Thank you!
to be honest the only multipose element is likely to be the head - the kits which Phil refers to are the initial sculpts from which the masters are made. You produce several elements (rifle, body, kit etc) get it cast up and produce the masters from these. It saves the scuptor time and me money!!
This has definitely given me a lift, it's been something I've wanted to do for years. On top of that I have a "selection day" for a job on Tuesday, so fingers crossed!
Very best of luck on both counts Charon !!
Cheers - Phil.
Excellent - best of luck with this, Jon!
Very best of luck with your project. :) I believe commissioning your own figures is something every gamer secretly - or not so secretly - wants to do. ;)
Progress!
Things are beginning to start to take shape with the arrival of the first greens!
Haven't been this excited for a long time! (although my wife thinks I'm more than a little sad)
http://albioninvaded.blogspot.co.uk/
Excellent. The heads are beautifully executed. And are we to infer that you're back in employment? :-bd
Quote from: Hertsblue on 20 July 2013, 09:59:35 AM
Excellent. The heads are beautifully executed. And are we to infer that you're back in employment? :-bd
Yes, thank God! Massive relief as there is not a lot out there at the moment!
Share prices in Marks and Spencers rose when they heard I'd got a job too as it meant my wife didn't have to curtail her M&S habit =)
I like them !!
Cheers - Phil.
Coool
Nicely done on the heads front 8).
They're lovely! :-bd
Cheers
Ry
Thanks guys!
The heads look really good. I think it's a great idea for a project :-bd, but not one I'd personally buy into as I've given up on 28mm. Now if you had done it in 10mm......my wallet would be crying!
I think this is indeed most wargamer's dream, and really hope that this is a success for you to build the armies you want and recover the cost, maybe even make a little profit.
Quote from: sunjester on 23 July 2013, 01:24:31 PM
The heads look really good. I think it's a great idea for a project :-bd, but not one I'd personally buy into as I've given up on 28mm. Now if you had done it in 10mm......my wallet would be crying!
I think this is indeed most wargamer's dream, and really hope that this is a success for you to build the armies you want and recover the cost, maybe even make a little profit.
Thank you!
Genuinely not sure how they'll sell, and genuinely not too bothered to be honest, it's more about the "journey" (sorry about that phrase - too many episodes of the X-Factor watched in my house!) I'm toying with the idea of letting my (teenage) daughters "run" the business (with me watching over them) to give them a basic understanding of how businesses work :-\
I compose my blog posts on Windows Livewriter (free download), then publish them from there to the blog. As long as you have a blog account with someone, simply identify it to Livewriter and it takes care of the rest. The Blogger post writer was and is dreadful.
Quote from: SV52 on 24 July 2013, 08:10:36 AM
I compose my blog posts on Windows Livewriter (free download), then publish them from there to the blog. As long as you have a blog account with someone, simply identify it to Livewriter and it takes care of the rest. The Blogger post writer was and is dreadful.
Thanks, I'll have a look. I have struggled a bit with blogger, but put that down to being over 40.
Have just played around with the layout, hopefully to make it look a bit better - what do you think?
It's been a looooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg time since my last update - working long hours has meant that wargaming has taken a bit of a back seat. To make matter worse my new employers block forums on work PCs so I can no longer spend my lunch time here!
Any how -
Latest update - http://albioninvaded.blogspot.co.uk/
Looking very good, Jon. Did you ever tell us what scale you're working in? Something larger than 10mm I would think.
They look very nice indeed 8).
Quote from: Hertsblue on 25 January 2014, 11:40:24 AM
Looking very good, Jon. Did you ever tell us what scale you're working in? Something larger than 10mm I would think.
Ooh, schoolboy error!
They're 28mm - supposed to scale with Perrys, although I haven't physically got my hands on one to check yet!