Part Four of the Archosaur Asylum blog delivers more news from our "Saurichian Studio." Well, in this case maybe we should call it our "Ornithischian Operating Room." You may have spotted Volume 3 of the Archosaur Asylum within which you got to see the "Right Where it Ends" Torosaurus combatants diorama prototype. I must say that I am pretty pleased with it, and as always, really excited to see the day that they get into boxes and out on the road to my beloved customers.
By the way, don't forget that we have a paint contest going- you could win a model, and you get 10% off just for submitting an entry.
So, what has happened since Volume 3? Well, it has been a "basic" case of taking two steps forward with addition of the painful, proverbial one-step-back.
Here we have "Drusus" pegged into a resin casting of his part of the base- With fancy photo effect.
As you can see above (and below) I have successfully molded and cast liquid resin copies of the base for the diorama. The molding process went down like Gang-Busters, so no issue there.
A look at the resin casting (right) versus the 3d printed prototype. Looks good, eh?
This is the stuff I use to cast the bases. Urethane casting resin- premium stuff. Notice on the left- part B gets a dose of black dye so that the end product has that nice grey color that makes it easy to distinguish detail.
The other juicy tidbit for you is that I have decided to 3d print each and every ceratopsian ( as opposed to molding and casting them), so that allows me to reduce the number of cuts per figure. Now, the models only need to be cut enough to fit in the build space in the printer. So, that takes Drusus to three separate pieces down from a planned six pieces. Pretty sweet, huh?
Here's a shot of "Drusus" pegged into a resin casting of his part of the base- Without fancy photo effect.
So, that all sounds great, but what about that "one-step-back" you were talking about, right? Well, there is that whole 3d printing thing. While the technology is extraordinary, it is not without its quirks. The state of the process is such that sometimes we run into failed prints.
The biggest problem with failed prints is the time it consumes while failing. As you may recall, it can take a week to print a pair of 1:35 torosauruses (torosauri?). So, if the print is going to fail, it's gonna eat some time- in a lot of cases you can't see what is happening until the print is finished. Then, you realize that you are back to the drawing board, and looking at another week before you can fill that order. Now, we are splitting the work load between two printers, but I have other orders to fill as well- and one-way-or-another, it is a setback when a print fails.
Take a look at the images below. This build (print run) was meant to include a "Drusus", a "Buio" bust, and another model yet to be released. All of them failed in this round. That is pretty rare, and it points to a parts (machine parts) failure.
Sometimes the prints fail because the resin tank has expired, the resin has expired, or there is a technical problem with the digital file that went unnoticed by the 3d printer software. In this case, all of the components are new, so there is a problem as yet undefined. Since I cannot pinpoint the issue for sure, I have had to pause production while I work with the manufacturer to figure out what is going on.
That's the "Buio" bust (mouth open roaring t.rex bust) and 'Drusus" in the background. As you can see, the print did not work out well.
Another shot of failed "Drusus".
Luckily, the manufacturer's customer service is very good and responsive, so I do not expect to be down for long.
The good news is that the design, cut, and key process is complete. Additionally, the he base is molded. So, now we are on to full production. I will update you if there are any more snafus, so if you don't hear from me about this model, then rest assured yours will be shipping out imminently.
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