I recieved a few PM's about the tools I used to do the fine scale sculpting above. I used Perfect Touch tools from: - http://www.perfect-touch.com

They are a specialist sculpting tool company and make a number of small scale tools for sculptors of wax, putty, greenstuff etc. The biggest problem is the cost to be honest, even when I bought my set 8 or 9 years ago they were $180.00 for a set of 10 tools.

You can see the Super Fine Pro Metal tips set that I use below and there is a link to them here: - Super Fine Tool Set





My favourite tool is the bottom one, which is a very small version of the Wax Carver #5, one of the most popular tools used by pro-sculptors.

In addition I use a 3x Optivisor when working on this scale as its the only way to see what you are doing (I have poor eyesight anyway).

I just checked and the current price for the set is around $225.00

A quick update on the Battleship prow, the base outline for the eagle has been done as you can see here: -


I am now going to use a piece of paper to trace the outline of the wing shape from one side and transfer it to the other and repeat it in greenstuff, this will ensure the two sides are basically indentical.


Once the shape is on both sides I will build them up and add more detail including the eagles head which will be made from plasticard with greenstuff details.

On a different track I have been talking to MangoZac from Resin Addicts about his Zeus Light Cruiser and the various problems we both face casting, mouldmaking and scratchbuilding. The concept of making a Kar Duniash version of the Zeus Light cruiser came up during our discussions and as I had a Zeus I thought it would be cool to show you the results so far of the conversion: -



Tomorrow I will add the antenna around the bridge, using short and cut down imperial antenna from my antenna mould. Possibly I will add some wings and remove the side plates and see what that looks like.



It makes for quite a different look of Light cruiser ... but all in all I like it. At the very least its basically unique!

A quick update before bed ... here are a couple of shots of the other side ... you will note the leading edge of the wing hasn't been done yet ... as it is an overlay and requires the green stuff "feathers" to be dry before applying it.



From the "view above" you can see the wing feathers line up and the tracing and marking onto the other side worked and gave me the correct outline.



Just so you know this was two hours of work for something 15mm x 7mm!

This will give me the base for doing the leading edge, which in turn will give me the head of the eagle. Finally the wings will be detailed a bit more to give depth as well as area. Once complete this prow will be ready to be moulded and cast and used as the master for another pair.

excellent greenstuffing! I'm very impressed by your precision and symmetry. The work looks very smooth and professional. Can't wait to see more!

As an asside, those tools look great. But if others are looking for a "budget" option, consider asking your dentist for old obsolete hand instruments. They are shaped quite similar.

CF

Excellent and great you and Mangozac are working together to get even better results. Have you tried it the other way around as well? His prows on your light cruiser hulls?

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Light at the Horizon.

Warp Rift
Project Distant Darkness
Eldar MMS

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@ Canucks fan : Shaped yes ... sizewise NO ... huge difference in size, the dental tools are 50 times bigger!

@ Horizon : Haven't tried his prow on my Light cruiser yet, might do that later, but I want to modify his prow before I do

While looking for scratch building inspiration I came across this in my archives. Its a picture of the original Rogue Trader cruiser being built, when I saw this years ago I saved it to my "Inspiration folder", on an interesting note it was Bobby Wong (the Golden Demon Slayer Sword winner who lives in NY) who first turned me on to keeping inspirational images from then net, funnily he had some of my early Salamander sculpts and designs in his inspiration folder.



Some very odd things to note ... Firstly the column between the weapon bays is 180 degrees rotated compared to the final model. The creator has used green stuff completely to build the prow shape and amusingly plastic wings from some other model for the wings. There I am working hard on a new version rebuilding the wings using GS when the scratchbuild used them from something else ... oh the irony.

The rear columns all align perfectly, which they CERTAINLY don't on the final version (blame the caster/moulder for that) .. I also finally understand why the wings vary significantly in detail as they approach the body, the body section was taken in plastic from something else and therefore differs. In addition there is a very small "antenna" for want of a better description that is just behind the prow and that is completely gone on the final.

Great piece of work all told, he uses Green stuff for more than I would naturally but gets nice clean hard edges on his work. Now that I have seen the WIP of this ship I find myself more than ever wanting to complete the Battleship and do justice to the Kar Duniash pattern of ships.

Certainly inspirational!

That price for the tools is ridiculous, you can get whole sets of wax carving tools for £5–10 ish in the UK. They are not as small scale as those of course (still easily small enough for anything above 6mm infantry though), but the smaller tools would be easy to make yourself anyway by beating and shaping metal rods.

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

I use a Dentist's toolset.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Ohh an interesting point ... I had the opportunity to work with Mark Harrison from GW for a couple of days learning how to sculpt. He mentioned a lot of things, but the one which stuck in my head the most was simple: -

"Whatever makes the right mark on the putty is the right tool to use"

I have a variety of tools I use, from Dental tools, the infamous Wax Carver #5, Clay Shapers of all shapes and sizes and the Perfect touch tools for ultra fine detail work.

To this day the comment above always rings true ... and repeats itself time after time as I sculpt. If any of you try and sculpt, think about what you want the putty to look like and then try and find the right tool to make it happen.

The second important thing that everyone needs to know ... is prices are only ridiculous if you cannot afford them. The price of the perfect touch tools is well within my budget for excellent tools that will last a lifetime with good care taken of them. As they are approaching 10 yrs of use and are still in excellent condition I have paid $18.00 a year for mine, that is less than the cost of a cruiser in BFG per year. They will go on god-willing for another 10yrs of use where they will have cost me a mere $9 a year and so on. The simple lesson is that good tools are always worth buying or if you are capable ... making.

That is the key point here, if you ask me. My step-father has a set of precision sculpting tools that his father made for him over 30 years ago that are all, sans one, still in perfect working condition. (The handles are made of wood and one has a large chip out of it where the wood split off for some reason.) My step-father has actually purchased a few other sets before for different reasons and at different price ranges but he tends to use his custom set the most. He even gave me one of his sets he spent over $100 on after he decided they weren't right for him.

If you have the capabilities, or know someone who does, making your own tools always seems to be the best way. That way you get exactly what you want/need and nothing less.

Of course, if you don't take care of them, even the best tolls will break down after time. So I guess that's really important too.

Tonight's two special words after the postman arrived ... Ninja & Magic ... More later after I have played

Ohhh. .. and the good Doctor is right ... making your own tools is the way to go ... but you need a lot of skill to do it!

Ninja Magic Models are great!
I want an Invader model.
I need money... pay me.

_________________
Light at the Horizon.

Warp Rift
Project Distant Darkness
Eldar MMS

GothiComp Hall of Fame
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=19176

When I first began this project I had a number of objectives: -

1. To complete something I had begun, I set myself a target of 4 cruisers and 3 light cruisers, painted and based.
2. To make my army as modular as I could, weapons interchangeable etc.
3. To not let my logging of the project become more important than the project itself (something that happened with my Steel Legion project)
4. To relax and have fun while I was doing it (who would have guessed that sometimes I become a bit overly focused)

Well so far I have achieved the following

1. Not based the cruiser or light cruisers so not finished yet.
2. Modularisation is complete.
3. I managed to make the fleet more important, but funny enough its very easy to slip into "self publishing" instead of modelling.
4. Relaxing and having fun has been achieved, making a BFG fleet and getting some background behind it was very enjoyable.

Hmm that makes 3 out of 4 ?

So why am I not basing my fleet ? ... well to be honest I have been waiting for the arrival of a parcel from the USA. I knew what I wanted and ordered it within a week of starting the project on the 11th last month: -

Ninja Magic Magnetic Adaptors

They sound like something from a bad Hong Kong movie ... but when you look closely they could solve one of the biggest problems I have with BFG ... my bloody ships snapping of the stupid little plastic stands!



You can see above the ship being held upside down ... so those magnets are strong
You can see the ship detached ... so those magnets are useful
When I saw them release a few years ago I knew that I would have to have them for any space fleet in any game that I did ... because I LOVE magnets!

Well it took 2 weeks and 4 days (see I counted every day) for them to arrive, but today they did!

I have 24 adaptors in total .. and 16 extra of the part which fits into the ship, which lets me field 24 ships out of a potential 40 at any one time.

Lets have a closer look: -



You can see the magnet and "crown" for want of a better word, attached to the underside of one of my cruisers. I already decided to paint the stalks on my bases black so I painted the "crown" black too ... The part that goes into the ship was 3mm in diameter so I used my drill and resized the hole to 3mm for a nice tight fit and used some superglue to hold it in place. I also used the setting time to align the crown so that one of the "indents" pointed forward, as there are 8 "indents" that meant I could use the notches on the crown to rotate my ship in exactly 45 degree steps (quite handy).

Here you can see the same pieces from the side: -



Here is the base with the other part of the magnetic adaptor fitted, note the inverse crown and the hole where the magnet slides into. Together they form a nice tight bond and the ship cannot rotate easily.



Now put the two together and you get: -



I painted the stand black deliberately to hide the fact the adaptor was there, I wasn't sure if it would look "chunky" ... but I think it actually looks good and doesn't stand out in any way. By adding in another adaptor I can also change the height of the model: -



Which is very handy when things get crowded on the board, just lifting up your fleet another 2.5cm gets them clear of the opposition.

Here is a shot showing all the various parts of the Magnetic Adaptors in close up and how they fit together: -



Well as you can do doubt sense by now I am impressed with the product and very happy with my first usage! ... Now I am going to have to find a way to make my bases "zing", but more on that later!

Those connectors are amazing! I'll have to buy some for my fleet next paycheck.

That's a brilliant idea, using the teeth on the connector to help you with turning but it does bring up one small problem for me. My bases have bearing compass marks painted on them... I'd much rather have the help with turning than the compass, so I think I'll do the same thing as you did. I'll just have to think of a new easy way to find arcs later.

Simply align the teeth up with the compass Doc! .. you get the best of both worlds then!