41 replies to this topic

[TheHSBR]

Iron Cows stuff lately has been put on hold from what I can tell. These projects really fall paart quickly when too much time lapses. I think it might be cool to go with a "themed" set something like:
janeway, torres, doctor, paris, kim, chakotay, tuvok

I think uniformed figures will have the most appeal due to their ability to be easily customized. Just a thought. I think we can do polls inside threeads so once we get enough ideas we can throw that up there.

[Fat Valentino]

I gotcha. In that case, maybe two efforts, one with the Voyager crew and one with some TOS heads? It might be fun to scale up the Playmates Koloth. (Kang might need some cosmetic surgery...)

Voyager: Janeway, Torres, Doctor, Paris, Kim, Chakotay, Tuvok
Classic Trek: Romulan Commander, Koloth, Chapel, Rand, Tellarite and maybe a scaled up bridge chair?

I've been considering using a website called Kickstarter for a new playset diorama I'm working on. It looks like a pretty amazing way to finance projects. You could also do an ebay presale I suppose. Or just send a paypal invoice to anyone who signs up. In any case, folks would have to understand that the whole process would take a month or two, and that they would be getting unpainted heads cast in resin.

[Tiberius]

I gotcha. In that case, maybe two efforts, one with the Voyager crew and one with some TOS heads? It might be fun to scale up the Playmates Koloth. (Kang might need some cosmetic surgery...)

Voyager: Janeway, Torres, Doctor, Paris, Kim, Chakotay, Tuvok
Classic Trek: Romulan Commander, Koloth, Chapel, Rand, Tellarite and maybe a scaled up bridge chair?

I've been considering using a website called Kickstarter for a new playset diorama I'm working on. It looks like a pretty amazing way to finance projects. You could also do an ebay presale I suppose. Or just send a paypal invoice to anyone who signs up. In any case, folks would have to understand that the whole process would take a month or two, and that they would be getting unpainted heads cast in resin.

My two nets would be multi-level. What about, janeway ant tuvok? They can be used for both Voyager and TOS movies! That's what I would want to start off with!

[s8film40]

Just a thought, would it maybe be better to start with a Playmates 12" head and scale it down. Possibly this would capture more detail.

[Fat Valentino]

I'm in support of that. I don't personally own any of the 12" or 8" dolls. I'm sure they can be found on the board though...

[Tiberius]

I have a 12" Janeway I can offer, I think we could do them all from the same scale, for consistency. There are more 8" available.

I have Guinan and a Telosian in the smaller scale.

[TheHSBR]

What made s8film40's klingon chair project really successful was that he fronted all the money and then sold off the stuff. I have seen numerous projects like this fall through due to many reasons such as lack of trust with sending money, sellers not fulfilling orders and not returning money, people wanting to see the actual product before buying, and interest weaning over time due to the length of project. I dont know how feasible this is for you but I would not ask for money up front from people because it will drive a lot of people away. I would do it and sell them and I think it would go over a lot better.

[Fat Valentino]

The appeal for me in taking pre-orders would be in being able to make a larger materials order than I usually make, and having extra hydro-span at the project's completion to scale up a ship or something...

I recently completed a major resizing project with two collaborators (now friends) in the Kansas City area. They knew each other and basically got together to send me a box of figures and had the hydro-span shipped to my house. In return they got the whole Enterprise Crew, Captain Terrell, Classic Khan, Burnt TWOK Khan, Sybok, Martok, Schinzon and a Reman, and a whole bunch of other characters in the 4.5" scale.

I'm all for doing it, and if there is enough interest to justify a pre-order of materials, and the 8" doll heads could be loaned, it could happen very quickly. (It happened very quickly with the 4.5" resizing...) And I can provide examples and references!

Unfortunately, as far as the AA/DST scale is concerned, I'm probably not motivated enough to track down/purchase the heads and order the materials without a pre-order of some kind.

But for 4.5" figures, I'm your man!

[TheHSBR]

How many are you looking to guarantee? With a minimum I think we can better figure out if we have what it takes.

[Fat Valentino]

The supplier is closed for the day, but I believe a small order of shrinking polymer and a medium order of expanding polymer, plus shipping, should run about 300. I have some silicone, and making a few new molds wouldn't be terribly expensive.

As far as a "back of the envelope" estimate goes, I think that if five or six people were interested in the Voyager officers (Janeway, Chatokay, Tuvok, Doctor, Kim, Torres, Paris) at a pre-order of $40.00 for the set, and five or six people were interested in the unproduced TOS characters (Romulan Commander, Chapel, Rand, and maybe Koloth or a chair) at $30.00 for the set, it should cover the production of the heads and the cost of shipping them out.

Of course more people could sign up if there were sufficient interest. Maybe if a few more people wanted Voyager sets, I could scale up Neelix or a Viidian or something as a bonus. Grampa Munster would make a good donor body for Neelix. AA/DST made a Seven of Nine, correct?

[Gothneo]

Interesting activity.

I like the idea of a Set of VOY heads, but I don't have anything I could offer other than chipping in... that being said, and as The HSBR has indicated, I think maybe starting with something smaller, a single head, like Quark or some other most wanted character would be a better starting point. That way maybe we can all get an idea of how one would turn out rather than risk getting 4 or 5 and not likeing the results?

and no. DST didn't make a 7/9 :-(

[Fat Valentino]

Interesting activity.

I like the idea of a Set of VOY heads, but I don't have anything I could offer other than chipping in... that being said, and as The HSBR has indicated, I think maybe starting with something smaller, a single head, like Quark or some other most wanted character would be a better starting point. That way maybe we can all get an idea of how one would turn out rather than risk getting 4 or 5 and not likeing the results?

and no. DST didn't make a 7/9 :-(

In that case, I'd think that 7 would be a pretty safe addition! I'd prefer to stay away from the stuff Iron Cow has in process but the TOS stuff would be fun. And pardon my French, but it's my opinion that Voyager fans really got screwed by the AA/DST scale.

[Gothneo]

yes they did. though, i'm glad they didn't start VOY and then leave us w/ an unfinished crew

an obvious easy custom is Rand... as she's pretty much a head swap on a T&T Dax.

I like the idea of a poll to pick one to start with and then maybe based on those results we can vote on a wave?

[Fat Valentino]

Here is an example of the quality and detail that you get when resizing w/ Hydrospan and silicone molds. Of course resizing up from the 4.5" scale or down from the bigger dolls would be even better.

A little more than a year ago I wanted to scale up the Antician and Selay from the Galoob TNG line, and I made some molds in the AA/DST scale while I was at it (though I never got around to casting prototypes with them until this evening...). I imagine there must be a good, inexpensive 7-8" figures out there for bodies. I think Tiberius said he used Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon figures for robes? Ninja Turtles would probably be a good source for the Antician's three-fingered hands.

A poll sounds like a great idea. I have projects and customers in the 3.75 and 4.5" scales, but for AA/DST I have no real interest and am happy to make whatever you guys like. As nice as complete sets or full crews would be, I also kind of think 5 heads at a time is a nice round number, and would keep costs down.

In the meantime, I'm happy to make these two new TNG aliens available to anyone here on the boards who wants them. They will be cast in white resin and unpainted. You'll have to drill a hole for the neck yourself. I'll sell them at $7.50 each or 2 for $12.00. Feel free to email me at RobRostad (at) hotmail (dot) com if you're interested and I'll send you a PayPal invoice.

[Gothneo]

Ok, thats cool! I think I'll take you up on that and if I like the way they came out I'll be in for a set of VOY!

[Fat Valentino]

That's funny, I would have guessed you'd be interested in Chapel! Invoice sent.

[TheHSBR]

FYI for Selay Im targeting a Stargate Ori Jackson body. Im also going to open a new thread to get more people talking.

[Pauln6]

The supplier is closed for the day, but I believe a small order of shrinking polymer and a medium order of expanding polymer, plus shipping, should run about 300. I have some silicone, and making a few new molds wouldn't be terribly expensive.

As far as a "back of the envelope" estimate goes, I think that if five or six people were interested in the Voyager officers (Janeway, Chatokay, Tuvok, Doctor, Kim, Torres, Paris) at a pre-order of $40.00 for the set, and five or six people were interested in the unproduced TOS characters (Romulan Commander, Chapel, Rand, and maybe Koloth or a chair) at $30.00 for the set, it should cover the production of the heads and the cost of shipping them out.

Of course more people could sign up if there were sufficient interest. Maybe if a few more people wanted Voyager sets, I could scale up Neelix or a Viidian or something as a bonus. Grampa Munster would make a good donor body for Neelix. AA/DST made a Seven of Nine, correct?

I wanted a full set of 7" movie crew. Since they stopped short of producing any female bodies for TMP I was just going to get heads made for TWoK bodies (Decker, Ilia, Rand, & Chapel). I'm interested to see the Selay head though if that's an idication that they can make alien sculpts just as easily? If so I'd love to go for a TMP alien head set too (Rhaandarite, Arcturian, Betelgeusian, Zaranite, Saurian, Worene, maybe a female Andorian etc).

[Gothneo]

That's funny, I would have guessed you'd be interested in Chapel! Invoice sent.

Oh I want a nurse chapel like you wouldn't believe! But doing Nurse properly will take a bit more sculpting of the base body to make it right!

[Pauln6]

I'm seriously considering ordering a Rand next month just to see what they look like. I'm willing to chance some money on it after seeing the likenesses of the Something for the Weekend characters, the heads look quite good. The biggest unknown is whether they can produce a decent custom hair sculpt to order and how much extra it will cost...

http://s849.photobuc...ms/ab60/Pauln6/

I only just realised that I was using a male head template in those pics...