New for 2021, 3D Printing!

 I better write this today as I can't see me doing much on Hogmanay... Not that I intend to drink that much booze tonight, it's just that I hope to spend a nice relaxing day with the wife watching old movies!

Anyway, I've already hinted at the new addition to my modelling tools, but I thought I'd add a bit more detail as this will be playing quite a big role in my model making in 2021...

Santa was very kind to me (a big 'thank you' to all my lovely family who contributed to this present) and a BIG package arrived on my doorstep just after Christmas Day. It was a FLASHFORGE ADVENTURER 3 3D printer...

The above photo shows the newly unboxed printer with some of the protective packing still in place. Believe me when I say that I soon had all that peeled off, unstuck and dispensed with in very short shrift! 😁

I won't go into the details of this printer, it's specs and why I chose it (just yet) but suffice to say that it's aimed at complete 3D printing 'noobs' like myself and, indeed, it was not very long before it knocked out my very first test print...

The end result of this was a cute little 'Bench' boat model - a standard model designed to test your printers set-up (every new 3D printer-er starts by printing this torture-test model)...

Despite it just being a generic test print 'Benchy' is kinda cute in it's own right and I even imagined that - scaled up and modified slightly - it might make a nice little boat for my 50mm peg figures! 😆

Anyway, so begins my adventure into 3D printing with my Adventurer 3 printer!

But before I leave things there you might be asking 'but why 3D printing'? Good question!

There are a lot of ideas I have for new (to me) modelling techniques that I want to try out this year. Different ways of putting my peg soldiers together and how to add different accessories and different kinds of models (like vehicles). The quickest and most convinient way of doing this for me - coming as I do from a plastic model-making background - is for my to prototype these new idea using a plastic printing method like 3D printing.

Using 3D software and this printer I can quickly try out new things and see how they might work without laboriously carving out little pieces of wood (which is quite messy)!

In fact, I can try out a lot of my initial idea in 3D software alone and only once satisfied - in principal - with the design do I need to go to print. So another new 'thing' for me this year will be to design my models using a 3D drawing application like TINKERCAD or BLENDER...

The above picture shows my early attempts to create a 3D version of a peg! Once I have a template for my pegs I can then start to work on 3D versions of the ideas that I have for accessories (This is the drawing of a full-sized dolly peg, but I'll also make a version of my 50mm 'half-sized' pegs as well).

And there we have it, bringing my peg making into the 21st century!

HOWEVER, I should say that I am not abandoning my more traditional wooden peg creations. I still very much enjoy the good old fashioned creative pleasure of making things by hand. The 3D printing - which is in a plastic material - is for very specific projects where traditional crafting is less suitable...

Imagine, for example, having to create a whole army of various but similar figures for a large scale war-game. A more streamlined production line process would be far more practical in this instance. Also, more complex models - like vehicles - would be far quicker to prototype virtually in 3D first in order to create a template for how exactly I would create them in wood.

So, quite aptly for New Year my new 'toy' nicely connects the old and the new!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And Goodbye 2020 - Huzzah!

 A bit early I know, but today I completed what will be the final peg figures for the year as I completed the two remaining nutcrackers I had left to do from Christmas...

I am now having a little break from making figure over the holiday and intend to think about what I will be doing in 2021. Santa was very generous and my main present will be playing a part in how I will be progressing with my little hobby. Here's a quick hint...

Merry Christmas! The Grinch & Co...

 I know I'm a wee bit late, but - as some of you may know - I work in a hospital (Operating Theatre Domestic) and so like many key workers I was working on Christmas Day. Because of that my festivities have been a little delayed and all of a sudden it's the 27th! 😁

...So, the big question is - did I manage to get my nutcracker gifts completes in time?

Well, mostly!😏

First off, I did complete my Grinch (one down, 12 to go)...

I must just say that I'm a bit unhappy that I mixed styles with this one, it was an experiment that didn't entirely come of. Plonking a sculpted head onto my simplified peg style of body was perhaps a mistake? In future, if I want to model a caricature I should maybe sculpt the whole figure in order that the final figure has a consistent look.

Anyway, onto the next job, or I should say 'jobs' as I decided I really needed to pick up the pace. I had just a week to go before I handed out my gifts. I decided to work through the group two or three at a time...

At this point, my main attention was my 'lumberjack' as this was a gift
for a work colleague and had to be ready before the rest of my figures.

This turned out to not to be such a chore as it meant I could paint some of one figure and while that dried I could paint some parts of another. And so I went, back and forth, until I had a completed set - as usual I finished on the facial features before the slightly traumatic varnishing stage (more on that later).

I should explain at this point that, because of the rush to get these gifts ready in time, I did not have the luxury of being able to much about - in my usual half-arsed way - setting up a proper completion photo. Instead I had to be content with a rushed snap with my mobile phone! Still, the pics didn't turn out too bad.

I was actually quite pleased with the base I came up with for my lumberjack. It was a piece of a branch - a set of which I discovered at our local craft store. It seemed very appropriate! And weighed a good deal more than my usual small MDF bases!

About the bases. I realised, a little too late, that my small round (30mm x 3mm) MDF bases were not really such a good choice as these tall nutcracker figures are a little top heavy. The stability of the based figures came into question (I kept knocking them over with the slightest touch) and I had to think of an remedial modification.

What I came up with was to add a 30mm steel washer to the bottom of the MDF base. This extra weight added just a little extra weight and provided a little more stability to the model...

In future, I will have to rethink my base design for full sized peg figures and come up with a far more stable platform.

Anyway, time was ticking away - 19, 20, 21, 22, 23... 😲

I made a bit of a mess of recording the above models (I didn't photograph them in proper order), but I was in panic mode by this time. Christmas Eve and I still had two more models to complete. I mean, I hadn't even started painting them yet...

The last models are a pair of Christmas elves loosely based of my youngest daughter's favourite Christmas movie - 'Elf'. Though I have taken a bit of liberty and created a 'bad elf' and a 'good elf'.

However, while I'd love to tell you that there was a happy ending to this Christmas tale and that I managed to finished the last models by the skin of my teeth I'm afraid I can't. 😕

Christmas Eve arrived and I was starting to flag. As I mentioned I was still working and my energy was sapped. I made an effort and was still working at 11pm but I knew it was a lost cause as the major sticking point (literally) was the varnishing!

I have been applying a spray lacquer and aerosol paints are a little sensitive to temperatures. We've been having a cold wet snap and with my man-cave out of action I've been having to revert to spraying in our back yard. Not ideal. The varnish has been taken over-long to cure and remained tacky longer than usual, despite my placing the varnished figures near our radiators.

The upshot was that I knew I did not have a chance of completing the last two nutcrackers in time and this is how far I got by Christmas morning...

I still have the arms to complete before even getting to the dreaded varnishing. So, I had to accept defeat and settle for 6 nutcrackers each for my daughters instead of 7. I guess that's not a biggy, but I was annoyed at my own lack of planning. Next year I will definitely start my gift making a lot earlier!

The good news was that my daughters - Stacey and Kayleigh - were delighted  with what they received. And we all had a wonderful Christmas (despite the current lockdown restrictions).

I hope you all had as enjoyable festive season that I have. MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎅

The Grinch - Part 2

 As usual, every year the time leading up to the Christmas period seems to drag and then - all of a sudden - we are on the final few days and time is flashing by... And I am struggling to complete my nutcracker gifts in time!

I did manage to make progress with my Ginch model, though I have had to simplify it's decoration in order that I can get some of my other Christmas gifts completed as well.

As a matter of fact, I am actually working of several projects simultaneously and am making several of the components in batches. I am making the arms for all my gift nutcrackers together and started by sketching out the poses I wanted for each figure and tracing the designs onto some leftover 3mm plywood tabs...

Once the arms were all drafted I took the tabs over to my Dremmel Moto-Saw (scroll saw) and cut them out. Here's the set of arms I made for my Grinch...

Had I had more time I was contemplating making some 3D sculpted arms - in fact, it crossed my mind to remove the peg legs and turn this figure into a proper model caricature - but I just didn't have the time to spend sculpting bits and pieces. So, I stuck to my flat 2D arms...

Maybe I will return to the idea of a fully sculpted character at some point in the future. But, in the meantime, I carry on as normal and so it was onto priming...

This completed gift set 1 of 3 I intend to get finished in time for Santa to distribute them! 😁 A bit ambitious, but left see if I can rise to the occasion.

Workbench Update Shot - Mid December

 Just a quicky. Things are really hoting up in the race to complete Christmas gifts in time (just a week and a bit to go)! Here's a snap of what's on my workbench showing how much I still have left to do...

I'm beginning to sweat a bit! 😬

The Grinch Peg Doll Part 1

 Part of my Christmas Nutcracker series of figures are some that aren't so traditional as I thought it would be nice to make some of my nutcrackers a bit more relatable to my kids (I still call them kids despite the fact they are in their late 20s)! 😁

One of my figures is based on the wonderful Jim Carey movie 'The Grinch', based on the book by Dr. Seuss. It's a terrific 'kids movie' and Christmas favourite and I thought it would make a smashing wee peg character.

I decided that this particular peg doll would be a little more of a caricature than some of my other simplified models and I began by sculpting a little more detailed face for it than I would normally do...

As usual, I am using MILLIPUT modelling putty to do my sculpting, it's my favourite medium for jobs like this. I like how - once you have mixed the two part elements - you can decide just how firm you want your putty by how long you leave it before you start to work with it - use it straight away for a very soft PlayDoh consistency or leave it to cure for a while for a harder 'cold plasticine' firmness (if that makes sense). 

As you can see I've gone a bit crazy with the level of features for the face, but once I started I found I couldn't stop! 😂 I just got a bit carried away. I did calm down a bit after I finished the head, however, and dialled down the level of detail for the rest of the model...

And the legs are basically the same as my normal full-sized peg dolls. The one quandary I have now is how to model the arms, do I go for my normal 'nutcracker' style of arm - 2D flat style hanging off a rod - or do I try and model something a little more 3D? Hmmmm...

Well, we shall see in part 2 of this project.

Sally & Jack 'Nutcracker' Dolls Complete

Some more Christmas gifts completed. Two sets based on Tim Burton's 'Nightmare Before Christmas' animated movie...

Two sets, one for each daughter! I actually wanted to do more
of the characters from the movie but I'm running out of time as
I have other projects to do before Christmas!

Phew! I knew I should have started my Xmas gift projects sooner! It's all a bit of a race now, my poor peg soldier projects are on the back burner until after the 25th. Apologies to those of you who are only interested in the military related projects! But needs must.

Show & Tell - Figure Painting Base

Very much caught up in various Christmas related gift-making projects at the moment - tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock - so time for blogging activity is at a premium. So, I have been testing out the idea of doing little 'show & tell' video shorts, very rough and ready recordings that don't demand a lot of preparation or production time. Hopefully, these little movies will fill the gap as it doesn't take too much time out my schedule to grab my iPhone camera and press 'record'!

I've already posted a couple of these mini-movies on the Peg Soldier Facebook Group as their appeal is very niche and they make little concession a 'general audience'. But I think I have the process working well enough, now, that I'm ready to start hosting these sort of videos on this blog.

This particular movie clip covers some thoughts about mounting peg figure projects on a grip or stand so that the figures are easier to paint. I hope you will find it useful and like this new medium...