Bad News.

Yesterday I received some bad news which has really shocked me.

As a consequence there will be little or no posting on this blog for the forseeable future, and I shall not be progressing the WIP models.

I will sell the remainder of the stock I have in the store, but will not be restocking.

My apologies to those who were awaiting new models, and those of you that have supported my venture with your comments and feedback.  I hope to be able to take this up again at some point but have no idea when.

Sorry.

Stockade Walls - First Build

I got a bundle of plastic in the post yesterday which included the prototype kits for the walls, bridge and watchtower. This is the first quick and nasty assembly of a 6" section of stockade wall just to make sure that all the bits fit.You'll see from the pictures I have done little to clean the models up and there were a couple of 'glue incidents' - but thats what you get for having a 9 year old son as your Glue Marshal. ;)

Its the simplest of the kits so far - it's nice not having to fit everything to curved surfaces for a change! I need to adjust the lengths of he beams a trifle (a trifle is a technical engineering term - i wont bother you with the full definition) and the template for the foam core is a little large... but other than that Bingo!

And just because some of you always complain about the lack of pictures with figures in.

Left to right: Hasslfree Grymn, Spyglass Inga, Wyrd Minaitures Mad hatter; the latter two on 30mm display bases.  Assuming the rest of the builds go as well this week I'll be opening up pre-orders for the kits with an availabiity of mid August.

Not again!

Those of you who have been reading my mutterings from the time before laser cutting took over may remember my long time project to create opposing Grenadier Fantasy Warriors Dwarf and Orc/Goblin armies.

One of the models that has alluded me for some time are the Chronicle Miniatures Orc and Goblin Chariots. Although not technically Grenadier figures they were sculpted by the same sculptor who did the FW line - Nick Lund. I have three of the Grenadier Orc Warchief Chariots but want the other variants too!

BN1

There was One on ebay recently from New Zealand... and for the 6th time in the last 3-4 years I managed to be the SECOND highest bidder. Despite sniping the auction I was outbid by another sniper! I'm not complaining about this practice, its a sensible way of bidding - it's just frustrating that I continue the hunt yet again.

I did turn down a chariot a few months ago that had the driver figure missing and i reasoned i was unlikely to be able to find a spare driver from the set - I'm beginning to regret that.

So in the vain hope that any of you guys out there have any of the Chronicle chariots and are prepared to sell or swap then please let me know. It might be worth reminding you that I have a 'Wanted Page' which I try to keep up to date with my current obsessions. 

B.

Sur la pont...

While I am waiting for the prototype kits of the walls and watchtower, I thought I'd play around with a few bridge ideas..

These first ones are variations on the Tew-Fah Bridge. Same length, but rising from a single storey to a double storey in height. These images are just shown as the very basic block styles without detail - the slopes on them are soo great to be viable so some steps are going to be necessary in the finished models.

One bridge could be made into a ground floor ramp of sorts and form a modular staircase rising up to meet buildings. With a little thought, a number of different layouts could be achieved.

These seem to be good options to help make 'platformer' style table layouts. Particularly good for games where line of sight and such are important or skirmish games like Mordenheim.

On another bridge theme though - what if you just want to cross a river?  These block models are curved in both the x and y axis but each individual styrene piece is only curved in one axis so its probably as close to a double curved shape as I can make easily. Again with a little thought it's possible to make these into a modular bridge type. And by making the top of the bridge a single storey tall, It will mate with existing buildings to make a grand entrance perhaps...

Welcome also to my latest follower Galpy. Pull up a comfy chair and roast some marshmallows over the fire.

Ho, and indeed, Hum!

These are the days I dislike.

Well, not so much dislike as ... well I'm not sure.

Since I decided to give this "making and selling things" idea a go about 3 months ago, it's taken up quite a bit of time. Well a LOT of time if truth be told and my wife is asked. Even for what seems like a simple product as I have, each kit still needs designing, prototyping, cutting, instructions writing, display models making, painting and photographing, web site managing, packing and shipping and then there is the ongoing pimping around any and every forum on the interwebbery that will let me log in (and some of them don't).

Not that I'm particularly complaining you understand. Just pointing out that it's not just, "Oh look a new shape of yoghurt pot - lets make a Palace!" and bingo, another product rolls off the production line to fill the coffers at Brandlin Towers.

There are some quiet times.

And this is one of them.

I have three kits out for prototype cutting and am waiting on a restock order too. So until the prototypes return and I have to assemble, paint, photograph and pimp them, fix any snags and order a new batch, I really don't have much to do.

And then it struck me. I should be painting up some figures or reading a new rule set or at the very least reorganising my storage system. But still, I am sat here, writing this to you because I actually can't turn my attention or interest to anything else.

I have Dwarf and Orc armies to paint, a Rogue Trooper project and an ABC warriors one, my beloved Grymn and their drop ship, many old crow vehicles not to mention two Rackham armies all needing paint.

Yet I know that by Friday morning a whole pile of plastic sheet is going to land on my doorstep care of the good old royal mail and I'll be gluing and painting like a trooper to cries from my nearest and dearest of  "you're always up there playing with your toy soldiers."  So perhaps I had better sign off here and go make the dinner.

Kind of like a pre-emptive apology.

Possible Roofs...

While I wait for the watchtowers and walls to come back from the laser cutter i thought I'd play about with some very early ideas for the next kits.

These will be simple homesteads. I envisioned a set of three buildings being very modular and interchangeable allowing you to buy a couple of kits and end up with many many different simple buildings.

I was wondering what shapes to make the roofs... A flat one or two would be good, but I fancied doing something a little more unusual too.

These are simple cones but with the point of the cone offset.

These are a simple angled section to create a unusual roof line

A curved roof.

And something odder...

Not sure any of these really grab me...

Suggestions?

B

EDIT : this is the "double cone" image Andres suggests in his comment below.

Regular Slates - New Product

Following on from a number of requests - most recently from a couple of gamers I met at Gauntlet 2010 (the annual show of the Deeside Defenders - my local club) I have designed a new roof covering for my components range of models.

This product is available to order now and will be shipping by 26th July 2010

This pack of building components consists of TWO 0.5mm thick A4 laser cut sheets.

Each sheet includes strips of regular width slates which can be cut to length and overlapped up a model roof to create a realistic rustic slate or shingle roof effect. Suitable for terrain building in roughly 1:50 scale - suitable for 28mm miniatures.

36 strips of slates capable of covering a roof over 500 square cm. Each slate is 5mm in width (at 1:50 scale thats around 250mm or 10" across ). The lower corners of each slate have a regular small chamfer. The rows of slates overlap by 5 mm up a roof giving a good glue area.


Check out the store for full details.

New store front!

No sooner did I suggest I was going to move away from e-bay and start selling directly so I could offer better value for money to my customers, than I had a couple of people pointing me at 'free' shopping cart software.

So I thought I'd have a look. I've had my fingers burnt with this stuff before, and I particularly dislike the set ups that need 14 clicks to see a tiny thumbnail of the product whiclst the sceen is cluttered by "other people who bought this also bought tickets to the world cup final and a can of beans" rubbish.

So I was pleased with what I saw at http://www.ecwid.com/ Nice clear "does what it says on the tin" kinda set-up and big, clear, fast-loading pictures. I am very impressed for free.

One evening later and I think I have it all operational.  So have a look at the new store front - if you think you see problems then let me know....

You could always spend some money while you are there :)

Big progress and Wall Name Needed!

A big step this evening on the next batch of kits. I have finished the initial lay up of the 2D geometry of three further kits, and have sent them to the laser cutter.

• TWF-03 Tew-Fah Bridge
• TWF-04 Benan Watchtower
• TWF-05 Stockade Wall

They wont get any attention until next week but I hope that by next weekend I shall have prototype kits back and be able to check assembly - and all being well open pre-orders and have the kits available for the first week in august.

However I need a good name for the Stockade wall section. As you can see from the other names, they are all a pun either on the name of a real building structure or on the materials used to create it. In this case the wall is built on a foam-board core.

Suggestions?

Oh I just noticed I have an 87th Follower... Welcome to "Foot of Adhesive Tape" I'd have thought that would make taking your shoe off tricky? Hope you stick around though, and find plenty things of interest for you to adhere to :)

For completeness, these are images of the files that have gone to be cut...

"A Call to Arms" - Review and Interview

The guys over at "A Call To Arms" (an online hobby e-zine -  think thats what it is?) have published issue #6 of their 'zine.

In it they feature their experiences in building of a Pryn-Gul tower.  They also made the mistake of asking me a few questions, and then published my answers! Go along, have a read and support this small hobby venture.

Thanks to James of A Call to Arms for his honest views and time in doing this... and in his own words.

"The finished product is strongly built and surprisingly professional looking considering I have the dexterity of an amputee hamster."

Now you can't argue with an afflicted rodent can you?

B

Direct Selling and 15% Price Reductions!!

Sometimes prices do come down!

As well as selling through e-Bay, I am now selling directly using paypal. This means that I am able to sell direct to you cutting out the e-bay costs meaning a price reduction of around 15% to you the customer.

That's a £2 reduction on the Pryn-gul Tower, bringing it down to £12, and a similar reduction on the Haft-Oob Stables making that kit just £10!!

brandlin@btinternet.com

 
All you need to do is e-Mail me quoting the products you want to buy and telling me your paypal account address, and i'll invoice you as soon as I can, then simply pay me and I shall ship your goods. 

All my future kit releases will be priced in the same manner for direct selling. I think this more accurately reflects the true costs of the kits and if things go well then I shall upgrade to a shopping cart system at some time.

If you wish to take advantage of the extra protection that e-Bay provides then I am continuing to sell there at the previous prices, with my 100% feedback. My e-Bay store

Tew-Fah Bridge - Redux

So I've almost finished the Benan Wachtower and turned my hand to the Stockade walls, and then I realised that to keep this modular the walls really need to be the same length as the Tew-Fah bridge so that they tessellate properly. The size of the bridge itself is defined by the radius of the two arcs under it, and the arcs are defined by the floor heights and the pallisade depth on the watchtower.

So I ended up having to redo the whole bridge!

That might not look too impressive, but now i'm sure it will meet the Benan Watchtower properly so that the railings and the pallisade meet properly.

Each bridge will be sold with one side as railings and one side as pallisade. This gives an idiosyncratic look which i think matches the buildings but also means that it can double as a gateway between two Benan Watchtowers, with the pallisade facing outwards to match the towers and the railings facing inwards.  Multiple bridge kits would then enable a bridge to be built with pallisade on each side or railing on each side.

I had to do a bit of a rethink on the magnets position and will have to change the locations on the tower, but now the walls, towers and bridges will all match.


The tricky bit of this was to get it onto a single sheet of A4 styrene! I've *just* managed it, it's an incredibly tight squeeze. It should be OK as long as the closeness of some of the parts doesn't cause heat issues and therefore bending.  The fact that this is a single sheet should mean that I can keep the price to around the £5 mark.

I must admit its so much nicer to be doing something with straight sides too! :)

Oh, and the obligatory assembled to a couple of Benan Watchtowers picture.

Sketch-Up files released.

I have decided to release the 3D CAD files of the kits I make. This will allow customers to download the model, and see how they go together. You will also be able to plan your own layouts and such like.

Each of these files is a Sketch-Up version 7 file. Sketch-Up is a completely free 3D CAD program from Google and is available here. It is by far the most intuitive 3D CAD program I've ever used, and I thoroughly recommend its use.

My Google 3D Warehouse

So, click the link above and download the file, and you can play with it to your heart's content. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Benan Watchtower - 3D view

After I've created the 2D geometry I put it all back into Sketch-Up, give it some thickness and then reassemble it. That means I find any remaining geometry issues (and there are a couple) but I also get the fully built model to do the assembly instructions from.

It also means I get to do this...

I've not played around with the animation on Sketch-Up but I think it might be useful as another good marketing tool.

As always comments and suggestions welcome.

Benan Watchtower Geometry

A few hours on the PC and several attempts later and I have laid up the 2D geometry for the Benan Watchtower.

This was a bit of a challenge to get the pieces tessellated onto as small a footprint as possible. The good news is that I've managed to get it onto 1 1/2 sheets of styrene (all 1mm thick) and that means the likely price will be around the same as the Tower.

All I have to do to add the thousands of tiny little fiddly awkward tabs that hold the pieces to the sprue.. thousands and millions of the damned things... You may notice I don't actually like that bit! I get to this point in the kit design, and I feel like I am finished. There is still a long way to go - notably creating the assembly instructions, which are necessary but not fun and it can be soul destroying - especially when you awkward customers then suggest things that would have been great ideas and helpful 4 weeks ago but are now just a pain in the proverbial! Grrrr.... customers!

I shall work up the Geometry for the attaching walls and then send them for the prototype cut together hopefully by the end of the week. An I hope to have both models available for Pre-order by 2nd August.

Gauntlet 2010 - Deeside Defenders

My local club - Deeside Defenders - held their annual show over the weekend at "Wings" - the Airbus Sports and Social Club at Broughton North Wales. Due to family commitments I was only able to pop along on Sunday afternoon with a bundle of model kits and some panted demo pieces.

Because of work commitments I am almost never able to actually go along to the club to play, but I am always welcomed when I drop in and there was a lot of good conversation , suggestions and feedback, and a number of models exchanged hands for nice crisp folding cash!  If anyone who bought kits has feedback, suggestions or any questions then I'm very happy to hear them as I am to have any customer pictures for use in the gallery.

I picked up many ideas for kits - a lot of them different layouts of slates and shingles and roofing, and a few for windows, doors and other building bits, and there was some enthusiasm for the stockade kits I am working on.

Thanks guys for making me welcome, and a big thanks also to the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) for entertaining my 9 year old son and letting him help the Spanish invade Morocco.

I can thoroughly recommend the club to anyone in the West Cheshire or Flintshire areas.

Haft-Oob Stables - Now shipping early!

I'm happy to say that I have the pre-ordered Haft-Oob Stables kits in my hands, packed and ready to ship on Monday 5th July. That's a week ahead of the planned release date!

If you ordered this second kit in the range, then it will be in the safe, reliable and efficient hands of the Royal Mail first thing on Monday morning.

I have more of these kits available to buy from the Shop link above.

I've also updated progress on the Coming Soon page. 3D modelling for the Benan Watch Tower and the Stockade Walls are both complete ad I'm well on the way to completing the 2D layout. I hope to have prototypes of these kits being cut by the end of next week.

Oh, and welcome to the 86th follower of my (I can't understand why its not already been Hugo and Booker nominated) blog - ME! It turns out you CAN follow your own blog! - who knew???

Sometimes there is no substitute for a physical mock-up!

I've spent a half hour or so making a mock-up of the base of the Benan Wtachtower. I dont normally do this on the models - the first time there is a phsical assembly is when i put together the test cut from the laser cutter, but in this instance i wanted to check the access for fitting figures onto the watchtower platform. This mock-up is made from hand cut pieces.

From the CAD geometry I knew that this would be tight but that the figures would fit on the platform, what was less clear was if the figures could be placed between the pillars.

30mm round lipped display bases

The answer is - YES THEY WILL!  You have to tip the figure to get it between the pillars and it is a little fiddly but I think worth the effort to keep the overall design of the tower.

The roof shown is the prototype for the stables kit - the watchtower will have the canopy shown in the CAD images, but it shows the versatility of being able to swap roofs should you wish.