What Extra Sculpts, Roundels, etc for custom G40 table and game

@hopper1999 I’ve access to both resin and PLA printers, and while resin has a couple of extra steps compared to PLA, I wouldn’t consider it painful. I’ve come to appreciate resin’s ability to show detail even in very small scale. For me its worth the extra steps to clean and cure, for those results. What’s great is there are so many free units available, with some simple editing/converting you can quickly build cool armies.
As for casting, while I haven’t casted any A&A parts yet (still building my unit library), I have casted a lot of 3.75 action figure parts. I’ve gotten best results using a syringe and pressure pot. (I converted a old paint pressure tank). You inject your mold, and then put it under pressure, I’d do around 30psi, to help the resin into the thinner parts of the mold and prevent bubbles. It also helps, when making your mold to put it under pressure as well. I’ve found it helps prevents bubbles in the silicone and between the silicone and the part being cast.
I plan on using casting to duplicate units I already have, that I can’t find stl files for.

@655321 decals very small decals and I bought 3 of those sets so there is that. Lol

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Part 4: Starting the ships, adding decals to the tanks, skin tones on the soldiers

Today spent some time adding paint to the sprayed ships, including painting the water jettisons on the subs black (this was very tricky and ended up looking a little sloppy). Advice for painting the jettisons: toothpicks are not small enough! If you do use toothpicks, you’ll have to dab a dot of black for each tiny jettison.

The battleships were a bit easier, and painting the decks, bridge, and smoke stacks were all done in silver. I plan on adding the final grey coat last after the deck and stacks/bridge dry. I experimented with how to add the national emblem, and will probably opt for a white background with a red dot on the bow of the ship. In the future I may do that with the rear end of the ship.

I painted the tranny smoke stacks silver and added a white background for the emblem on the destroyers. All in all, the Japanese navy is coming along nicely.

The armor is pretty much done. I added a white flag to the front side of the armor and will be adding the red dots later. For the aircraft, I’ll be adding a red band around the rear part of the plane. I was debating between sky blue and red and may alternate just for some variety.

The soldiers got some skin! And I just want to say that adding the paint alone brings out the contours of their facial features in an excellent manner on their own. I may add a touch of black to certain areas of the face but that will be a last step. The next step will be panting their uniforms, rifles, and helmets.

After all this is done, I will be spray painting the japanese bombers white, the aircraft carrier black, and then will add the details to those. The Japanese are about 55% done all in all and I’m pleased with the results so far even if they do look a bit amateurish. Stay tuned.

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I plan on printing some out from Siredblood’s link.  I watched his video and you can certainly do it that way.  My only concern with adhesive backed “stickers” is that with all the handling of game pieces, I can imagine that the stickers begin to peel up after a while. If you’re going to use the adhesive backed stickers, might I recommend to apply thin CA glue around the outside edge of the sticker after you’ve burnished it down on the carrier deck.  You can get some thin CA at your local hobby shop where they sell RC planes, or just order it online.  Because it is literally as thin as water, you’ll need to apply it with some sort of makeshift precision applicator.  But after that, you won’t have to deal with annoying stickers that don’t want to stay down tight.

Also, if you use a glossy type sticker paper, after you’ve applied it and the carrier is “all done”, spray the entire piece with a light coat of Testor’s Dullcote spray laquer.  You’ll get rid of the sheen both on the plastic and from the glossy paper. All the colors will “blend” together and the piece will look much better.  :wink:

Yes thats what I’m talking about. Design my own Battle Boards save to file and then get printed. Just need it were its protected from finger print smears and any other stuff.

Thank you YG and DK.

@Imperious:

You can’t teach this because the learning curve is high for Illustrator CS, You just have to do it and struggle and it may take 10 years to be really good. I do suggest NEVER USE PAINT SHOP PRO. Their is nothing “pro” about it. It will destroy your computer from day one. Also, to save a few hundred bucks, buy an educational version ( its the same) using a student ID, you can just join the school and not even register for classes, just to get the ID and buy the program in the student store–make sure they have it in stock first.

You could register for a night class in basic Photoshop and Illustrator which would get you that student ID card and an introduction to the software.

Wil,

––Oorah!

“Tall Paul”

For sure it would be awesome to make our own at home!

In the meantime, if you really want to and can come up with an appropriate 3d art file, Shapeways would be a good alterntative for some special items (they spent the money on the uber-expensive equipment already).  It just sucks to have to wait for it, pay their overhead and then pay for shipping.

I’d LOVE to have a 3d printer though!