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House Falstaff ships

#1
The Gargoyle, Griffin, and Unicorn ships from HOUSE FALSTAFF: ORIGINS AND RISE all have greyscale images of mini's... is there a manufacturer for these ships or just some custom sculpts that never made it into production?
"Make the spaceships rounder but more square!"

I can't change this sig. until I paint a longboat & post pics.
Mission Accomplished: 1/3/23

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#2
(09-06-2017, 03:53 AM)Karpav1 Wrote: The Gargoyle, Griffin, and Unicorn ships from HOUSE FALSTAFF: ORIGINS AND RISE all have greyscale images of mini's... is there a manufacturer for these ships or just some custom sculpts that never made it into production?

These were originally Holistic Design's Noble Armada minis. Alas, Holistic died off on their own ages ago, and we have never been able to swing new replacements... until recently... we're collaborating with a new up and coming maker of some really fine space fighter minis, and House Falstaff is set to benefit from these new minis entering the Silent Death/Terran Space canon straight out of the gate...  Cool
"Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here..."

- Ming the Merciless
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#3
Ah... Thank you for the info! I recall seeing the Noble Armada brand, but after a cursory search, I can honestly say I don't recall seeing or at least remembering the miniatures much. What remains on the secondary market seems to have their out-of-production status priced in.

     The news that the Falstaff designs instead may be getting some love along with the rest of the lost trove of miniatures recently found, however, has my maw slathering like a Blood Worm waiting for the last 1/4 inch plate of Aosho Crystanium belted hull to be chewed through. The crumbs trickled in regards to these behind-the-scenes efforts are motivationally exciting and much appreciated. I'm sure you are just as excited to pass along more when the time is right.
"Make the spaceships rounder but more square!"

I can't change this sig. until I paint a longboat & post pics.
Mission Accomplished: 1/3/23

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#4
(09-09-2017, 04:57 PM)Karpav1 Wrote: Ah... Thank you for the info! I recall seeing the Noble Armada brand, but after a cursory search, I can honestly say I don't recall seeing or at least remembering the miniatures much. What remains on the secondary market seems to have their out-of-production status priced in.

     The news that the Falstaff designs instead may be getting some love along with the rest of the lost trove of miniatures recently found, however, has my maw slathering like a Blood Worm waiting for the last 1/4 inch plate of Aosho Crystanium belted hull to be chewed through. The crumbs trickled in regards to these behind-the-scenes efforts are motivationally exciting and much appreciated. I'm sure you are just as excited to pass along more when the time is right.

Well, we do have a new line of ships we're going to be borrowing from pretty soon: [Image: DSF_Brightstar.png]
"Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here..."

- Ming the Merciless
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#5
(09-27-2017, 10:03 PM)Karelian Suomi Wrote: Well, we do have a new line of ships we're going to be borrowing from pretty soon:

Oh, you devil. You beautiful devil. In the words of the wise and illustrious sage George Takai...

[Image: giphy.gif]

The response is strong in this one...[Image: UlsdQj5.png]
Tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!-tap!...


-Also noticed a heafty chunk of nicely painted miniature pictures to the store. Nice!
"Make the spaceships rounder but more square!"

I can't change this sig. until I paint a longboat & post pics.
Mission Accomplished: 1/3/23

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#6
At first, upon seeing the designs I was like...
[Image: fdm3NFl.png]
And then I saw the printed ships...
[Image: Njd3doT.png]
[Edit: Which are just prototypes, so I was wrong about everything in red]

After getting my hands on some similar 3d printed pieces, all I can say is- not a fan. Chalk me up as a spin cast metal zealot. The fuzzy, brittle material Shapeways produces doesn't hold a candle to the smooth surfaces and durability of hot metal spun through rubber discs unless the complexity of the design is such that molding it would be nigh-impossible. Much like brittle resin casts, I'd only be interested if it was pennies on the dollar compared to metals (they're not, but could be if ya had Shapeways equipment... oh wait... that'd set one back quite a bit...) or if the surface quality and material strength matched that of (pricey) injection molded plastics.

The designs themselves so far are great, if somewhat modern/angular looking (the design shown is my favorite from that series), and judging by the latest concepts, a style variety is on the way. I just wish once painted they didn't look like pancake batter in scale.

Asteroids won't have issues with the grainy texture, and a few select unique things like intricate stargates (with clear blue-tinted portal), fighter tenders (Space 1999 Eagle type scaffolding in scale), and Borax Freighters where the texture could at least be painted up to look like they've been rusting out on some off-world scrapyard since Macedon Gaius Triptolemus was a babe would all get a pass, but not much else unless  House Falstaff fighters are retconned to have developed VCSC®: Velvet Cloaking Stealth Coatings®.

Maybe I'm rushing to judgment though and the plan is to cast in metal [edit: this was the case.] and only low run batches and prototyping is 3d printed. If that's case, it wouldn't be the first (or last) time I spoke too soon on assumptions. 

A full and complete scaled House Decals sheet would be a miracle though. Like this but with the art scaled down and redone to factor in the loss of detail, organized in rows of multiples much like a regular sheet of roundels. Perhaps 2-4 houses to a sheet (rushed iconography samples):
[Image: kiMejMo.png]Sweetness.

That's my whiny [incorrect] .02 anyway. What's your opinion?

My psychiatrist told me I was crazy. I said I want a second opinion. He said, "okay, you're ugly too." -Rodney Dangerfield
"Make the spaceships rounder but more square!"

I can't change this sig. until I paint a longboat & post pics.
Mission Accomplished: 1/3/23

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#7
I actually started work on that a while back. Some of the images come in fine, but others not so well. When I have time to pick them up again and the boss approves it, I could get the graphics made up for production. If the boss approves it, I could even handle getting them made, packaged and mailed out. I have made model railroad graphics a number of times, and most of the guys have used Highball Graphics.

Questions would be: sizes, colors, and features.
Stogie
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#8
(11-04-2017, 07:43 PM)Stogie Wrote: I actually started work on that a while back. Some of the images come in fine, but others not so well. When I have time to pick them up again and the boss approves it, I could get the graphics made up for production. If the boss approves it, I could even handle getting them made, packaged and mailed out. I have made model railroad graphics a number of times, and most of the guys have used Highball Graphics.

Questions would be: sizes, colors, and features.

I checked out Highball's page/prices of sheets/specs for art- OKI C942
  • 1200 DPI -lines visible in certain colors (prob not issue at our scale)
  • 1 layer for artwork in the exact colors you want (matches Pantone colors well), [at that DPI gradients are probably fine. A lot of options. -ed.]
  • certain colors do not print well (light blue's & light gray's)
  • Pure white artwork (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=0) prints white
  • All colors except black has white underlay automatically
  • can NOT use white as a "Negative" or block out color
If they decide to fundraise the larger resins, that might be a good place to start as a stretch goal- work with larger scale decal, you know specifically which ships each design is for and can create the vector art specific to those ships chosen from houses that commonly use them via poll or whatever:
  1.  Shyrak Shuttle- ASP
  2.  Sorenson III- Luches
  3.  Revenge- Red Star
  4.  Star Raven- Colos or Sigurd
And so on. Then a great chunk of the work is done and paid for on that project. All that has to be done from there is to scale the vectors down for a master house sheet. Scale requirements for normal ships are probably pretty dang small. 1/8-1/4" in most cases or you won't find a spot for it. All could probably fit on a single full sheet with plenty of room to spare for pirate markings, minor houses, stripes and other minor stuff. Some of the more visible squadron iconography and numbers, faction roundels, Mere specks of orange/red/yellow triangles for warning marks, fuel, hatches- might as well be thrown in any unused areas.

Even if the insignia isn't perfectly readable at the correct scale (I'm thinking UNW where a black circle and just linear hints of laurels is all that can be made out, or ASP at a small scale where it is practically a pair of circles, the gold star, and a white splotch where "ASP" would be), as long as they are uniform and consistent they are of great use. It doesn't have to be perfectly sharp- hard to make out container logo decals on an Usha would look better than hand painted I would guess. 

It's a niche but neat prospect. I only mentioned it in passing with a "miracle" rider because LMS has such a nice looking decal teaser page and I've wanted these for so long that it hurts Cry  Since I was moaning about printed ships already, I slipped it in at the end of the conversation to deflect from my downer message. Also just for something to talk about. This is one of those outlier topics that was just fun to bring up. I'll make serious effort to stay focused on the priorities at hand instead of the long-shot luxuries of tomorrow.

Temporary tattoos. Silent Death Temporary tattoos would be a miracle. 10/10. Would buy. We need these yesterday. WHO'S WITH ME??
"Make the spaceships rounder but more square!"

I can't change this sig. until I paint a longboat & post pics.
Mission Accomplished: 1/3/23

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#9
Actually, the minis are castmetal, the masters printed but to a super high standard, so they're smooth and sleek little critters... I will post some photos soon of painted samples I just received from the manufacturer... stay tuned...
"Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here..."

- Ming the Merciless
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#10
(11-04-2017, 03:47 PM)Karpav1 Wrote: A full and complete scaled House Decals sheet would be a miracle though. Like this but with the art scaled down and redone to factor in the loss of detail, organized in rows of multiples much like a regular sheet of roundels. Perhaps 2-4 houses to a sheet (rushed iconography samples):
[Image: kiMejMo.png]Sweetness.

That's my whiny .02 anyway. What's your opinion?

My psychiatrist told me I was crazy. I said I want a second opinion. He said, "okay, you're ugly too." -Rodney Dangerfield

Yes, indeed, we want to see a series of waterslide decal sheets for the various great Houses, the better to customize and make one's ship minis look the part of your favorite factions for Silent Death! My own Mad Hatter idea is that each sheet would be the national insignia of two adversary Houses plus sequential number decals for each. If space on the sheets permits, some squadron insignia or other useful items like unit leader wing stripes, chevrons, etc. may be included as well. 

Back in the 90s there was a little outfit called WDU Decals. They were based here in the Bay Area, and made some high quality waterslide decal sheets specifically aimed at wargamers. There were multiples of various generic insignia, plus a variety of numbers. They were all single color decals, being either red, black, or white. Some examples are seen here on my ship minis in all of their 90s vintage glory:



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"Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here..."

- Ming the Merciless
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