![]() Once that’s done, you can take it out and it’s cooled down. That’ll go into a press, the press will put it under high pressure and bake it at about 170, 180 degrees Celsius to vulcanise it so that it goes hard and rigid. There’s match marks that you insert as well. Put a release agent on top to stop them bonding together. Lay them out exactly how you want them to be. You insert the mould and press the mould in nicely. You have to cut it to shape and everything. “It’s just like a little pizza, you drop it down. “When the silicone is in its raw state, it’s kind of like plasticine – it’s very, very soft,” Dove explains. Later, hot liquid metal will be poured into the hole in the centre of the disc as it rotates, flinging the material into the holes and forming the pieces of the miniature. For a metal model, the mould consists of two circular discs that go together on top of each other, creating the shapes of parts of the figure in the middle. ![]() ![]() This first requires creating a master mould from silicone. With the final model in hand, it’s time to take the figure from being one-of-a-kind to mass-produced. ![]() But it’s expensive to end up printing models at that level of detail the last time we had a 3D print run it was like a grand.”Įarly models can be easily modified using modelling putty such as Green Stuff, allowing sculptors to quickly add extra details without needing to start completely from scratch. “If the original sculpture gets destroyed, I’ve got nothing to go back to, whereas if it’s a 3D print your file is your master so you just print another. “There’s definitely an advantage ,” says Dove. “That’s where the art comes in, to make the best copy we can in the end.”ĭigital modelling and 3D printing are beginning to revolutionise the way miniatures are created, but their convenience comes at a cost. “Obviously it’s going to be a copy, so you will lose a little bit,” Dove says. While the layers are just about visible in this prototype model, the slight loss of detail during the subsequent casting process means the finished miniature will appear perfectly formed. Once the virtual version has been refined, it’s printed out using an industrial-grade 3D printer that produces layers measuring just 16 microns – or 0.016mm – thick. But it’s expensive the last time we had a 3D print run it was like a grand.” Sculptors can also copy and paste elements of a 3D model, which can cut the time needed to craft a symmetrical model literally in half. Working with pixels instead of plastic has a number of benefits, including the ability to easily rearrange or re-pose parts of a model on the fly, re-use parts from past figures, and convert existing creations with greater ease. We don’t have any in-house sculptors ourselves – it’s all contracted out. Or basically how much time the sculptors have got. “It’s really the studio’s decision,” Dove says. While digital modelling is becoming more commonplace – the characters in Mantic’s recent Star Saga were all created digitally – the traditional approach is still used in some situations. Nowadays, it’s becoming more and more the norm for sculptors to work with a virtual scalpel, refining a 3D render on a computer over the course of two to four days, depending on the level of detail. ![]() In years gone by, this title was quite a literal one, with creators physically hewing their vision out of a small block of plastic – often helped along by the addition of detail using modelling putty. Here, from beginning to end, is the story of those miniatures.ĭesigning figures on a computer and then 3D printing them significantly cuts down the time required to create prototypes – with copy and paste especially helpful!Įvery original model begins in the imagination of its sculptor. We recently visited Mantic’s Nottingham HQ, where Dove took us through the complex, challenging and even dangerous process that turns miniatures from one person’s vision into the plastic and metal figures on your tabletop. After seven years working in the Warhammer company’s Forge World and resin divisions, Dove eventually moved to Kings of War and The Walking Dead: All Out War studio Mantic, where he is now the resident master mould-maker. Ricky Dove has been working with miniatures and moulds for around a decade, having found his way into the manufacturing side of things after starting at Games Workshop as a receptionist. Although you’ve probably handled hundreds of plastic figures in your lifetime, it’s unlikely you know how they’re actually created – a process that has remained largely untouched for decades. Thousands of unique models are created every year, spanning from historical troops and sci-fi inventions to imitations of movies, video games and famous faces. Miniatures have never been bigger, exploding outside of their origins in wargames to conquer a new wave of modern board games and Kickstarter success stories. ![]()
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