"Inkbiz 1:200 pics and 1:500 question.." Topic

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to share a few pics of my wee little 1:200 scale French Line Fusilier I've been working on these past few years. I've spent a heck of a lot of time getting them as close to scale as I could, and I've finally gotten a result I'm happy with. It's been a steep, but fun, learning curve, as the process from sculpting to production required a lot of tweaking, and even more guess-work. It's trial and error along every step of the process. I've worked in every medium conceivable for the actual master figures (green stuff, brown stuff, procreate, industrial epoxy, finally settled on milliput superfine white), with all sorts of magnifying equipment (optivisors, dissecting binocular microscopes, surgical loupes), blades, dental tools, etc..over the years, and then from there to 3D laser scanning to get 100% accurate reproductions in sterling silver via rapid prototyping, then on to an experienced caster who can work on a professional schedule, and deliver what he says when he says (Mike Noe of Iron Winds). It's taken me as many years to get my sculpting technique up to snuff as it has to get the manufacturing process as streamlined, yet effective, as I could. It's also taken me thousands of dollars over those years, and lots of bologna sandwiches while stealing hours from my medical studies. Really what it came down to is a love of the hobby, and of the camaraderie of this board and its members over all of this time.

So now this month I get to celebrate with finally releasing a product I am happy with, while also receiving my medical license. I'm just as happy with one as with the other as both have been near and dear to my heart.

Anyway, here's a few pics…there's one pose, but at this size it works fine, and shortens my production time considerably.

The unpainted casts
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Based and primed
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To save painting time I designate the rear rankers with 3 brown hashmarks on the strip so I pay more attention to the backs of the figures. 1st rank gets more attention to the front details, and the 2nd rankers are like the middle child..less attention all around. ;)
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Some views of 30 figures painted and based. The footprint of 10 figures wide x 3 figures deep is 40mmx15mm.
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I have set aside 20 sample packs of 10 figures, so if anyone would like to see a few of them up close and personal, please email me at: Inkbiz@aol.com with your shipping address. I wanted to make the offer here on the Napoleonic boards first, before making a general sales release on the homepage of TMP, to thank you guys for all of your input and advice over the years.

The remainder of the French Line are coming out in a few weeks (volts and grens), followed by command, then French Lights, and mounted command. After that artillery and cavalry will follow.

Next order of business is in returning my attention to my 1/500 (4mm) set of figures. I had to put them on hold because I couldn't get them to take to casting due to their small size, but with the experience I've gained over the last 2 years, and with the help of my caster, I think I can make some headway in bringing them to market finally. My requirement is to adhere to scaling and actual unit composition as much as possible. These little guys will have every rank represented, from privates to corporals, sergeants, etc..so that a base will look like a real unit with supernumerary ranks represented, corporals flanking 1st and 3rd ranks, etc.. The main question I have would be in the number of figures per strip..obviously the more per strip the easier they are to base/paint. But at the same time they are being designed with an ultra low figure:troop ratio (1:5, 1:2, or even 1:1) in mind, in terms of gaming. At 1:1 a French battalion in line would cover roughly 15 inches, or 36cm. I want them to be as flexible in basing as possible, so I was considering making strips with 2 and 3 figures, shoulder to shoulder, with the idea that one could base and paint them to represent a variable unit strength. The more I put on a strip (5, or 8, or 10) the less variability it allows in representing unit size, and as there are already plenty of existing scales, rules, basing types, figure sizes, etc that are abstractions/representations of units, I don't want these little suckers to fall into that. They're basically aimed at gamers with excellent eyesight, and a high degree of anal-retentiveness like myself.

I apologize for the length of this post, and thank you for taking the time to read it. As always I appreciate and utilize any thoughts and comments.

Sincerely
Bob

A work of hard labour and love – great achievment

Those look really good! Congratulations on getting these ready for release after all the work you put into them.

Gorgeous stuff Inkbiz ! This might tempt me back into war gaming as I love to field huge battalions!

Hi Bob

Congrats on getting the big little guys done and being ready to start on the little little guys again!!

And a big Bravo Zulu on getting the big MD!!!

Ken

Incredible work. Congratulations on releasing them. I hope they do well for you.

Stephen

Absolutely fabulous work to get them done!

Thanks again…you've created a new gaming standard at this size!

Cheers,
Geoff H

with creating a different scale than what is out there [6mm 10mm 15-18 mm etc]

don't you need to make more than just French to make them financially viable?

If gamers were to embark on this scale, they would want to field at least France and one of its enemies and to include the various troop & artillery types of at least one time-period/campaign.

Yeap that's the idea, RM. Just took me a while getting the process down..the rest of the line will be easy as the proverbial pie now that it's all figured out.

I personally would be most interested in Russians. Though I assume you'll probably do British after the French.

No to the British!

so Ink, what is the plan? Brits? Peninsular? Continental enemies? Waterloo? 1809? 1812-1814?

I can appreciate the learning curve you had to travel, that now you just have to plan/design the figures…types, uniforms [as they changed over time too].

One of the things I always respected Old Glory for was their ability to launch a product line with most if not all of the various poses/types etc in a very short length of time.

Hi RM,

I just ordered myself a copy of 'Thunder on The Danube' to get a better understanding of the 1809 campaigns, with an eye towards Austria as an initial opponent force. As far as the uniforms go, they're somewhat more 'generic' than others, with a relatively straight-forward structure, so I'm hoping to cut my teeth on them before starting Russia, and England.

I agree with your opinion of OG's releases. As a hobbyist I've always found it irritating to see a new, incomplete line launched. It typically kept me from buying, and, unfortunately, many lines end up dying on the vine. But as a one-man show I don't have much choice, and really what motivates me is sharing a love of the hobby, the history, etc.. Although I do wish I could churn out figures as fast and furious as some of the large companies, I just can't. I'm thinking I can bring 2-3 new figure types to market per month now that things are set in motion.

Thank you for the kind comments, guys, it means a great deal to me. Also, for anyone emailing me for samples, please rememeber to include your address.. ;) I'm sending out the first sample packs in today's mail.

Cheers,
Bob

Hi Inkbiz

Your miniatures look great. And great timing. Do you still have any sample packs left? I am in the process of going up a scale from 6mm Adler mins. Haven't been able to find a really acceptable 10mm range yet, so was considering the 15mm scale. But you miniatures look great and at a scale I would really prefer.

Yours Gazzola

Gazzola, have you looked at the GHQ N-Scale figures? I really like them. They are about the same size as 10mm, but they are as bulky as other 10mm ranges.

Inkbiz, I may have missed it, but who will be selling these? Will you be selling them directly? Have you figured out the prices yet?

Also, I think it will be okay to release the range over time, but you might want to give a timetable for the things you know a release date for, and let people know what you will be working on. That way someone could plan out a force, painting their infantry while they wait for the cavalry to come out. If they don't know if you're even planning on working on cavalry, then they won't want to buy any of the infantry.

But if you go that route, don't give any dates for releases unless you're absolutely sure you can meet them. If you fail to meet your dates, then people aren't going to trust you to release what you say you are going to, and won't want to start buying things since they don't know if you will ever really complete the range.

I think it's enough to just tell people the order in which you will work on things, and then just make sure to keep things coming at a regular rate. If you have any long breaks where nothing comes out and nobody hears from you, people might start to be skeptical and think you might abandon the project.

Hi Albino Squirrel

Yes, I painted up a few sample GHQ figs and, even though they looked fine in online images, I didn't really like them in the flesh. I didn't enjoy painting them either. And because of being disappointed by the 10mm scale figs on offer, I was considering either keeping my Adler collection (around 3,000 mins) and ruining my eyesight further by painting up even more regiments, or going up to 15mm, once I find a suitable replacement range, in terms of quality, detail and price. That's why I was attracted to Inkbiz's miniatures. But, although the images look great, I would really like to see some samples in the flesh and paint them up, before deciding on buying in mass to build up my new armies.
Yes, it would help if Inkbiz could give some idea of what might be available and when, plus the price and postage. I'm not a fast painter, so I won't be that bothered by the production dates, although other potential customers might.

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to let everyone who emailed me re; samples that they went out today. US and Canada folks should get them relatively soon, while I expect those of you in Europe and South America may take a bit longer. I included a few painted figures in the package, and I hope you enjoy them.

Regarding pricing, I'm hoping to keep the retail price between $10-$12 per pack of 50 infantry. Since the figures are not on strips I'd like to offer individual pricing, with discounts for larger orders, etc.

I'm working on a website now, with proper e-commerce, etc.. so once that is set up I'll make a general post on TMP's homepage.

Right now I'm working on French Line Voltigeurs, and the Grenadiers are being mastered now. While waiting for the epoxy to cure I've been tweaking my old 4mm figures with the hopes of making them available before Christmas.

Cheers and many thanks,
Bob

Bob
Good to see these guys in the flesh. I'm glad you sent me the email as I'd missed this thread. Now go and make loads of these huge figures, sell them and fund your work on the "proper" scale figures that you started with ;-)

HI Bob

And thanks for the email. They look great

Stu

Good to see you back on campaign, inkbiz. With regard to the 4mm figures, and the idea of basing them in pairs and trios, I guess this is to allow people to make up lines of 5, 10 (3+3+2), 18 and so on? I can see the sense in this, but two figures would be very tiny. Perhaps some combination of longer strips with a small number of shorter ones? But, again, I recognise the importance of good eyesight, determination and a certain degree of compulsiveness.

Hi Robert, I hope all is well.

The idea you mention, with longer and shorter strips, is what I was headed for, yes. I'll be using the 2 and 3 figure bases to build (after masters are cast) production strips of 5 and 10 figures. My presumption is that with a full strength company you could base strips of 10 for your 1st and 3rd ranks, with an additional 2 figure strip in the 2nd rank to make up for the lack of flanking corporals. Having supplemental strips of 5, 3, and 2 figures would be handy for campaign strength/under strength units, casualty removal, etc..
My assumption is that most folks would opt for the 10 figure strips for ease of basing, while combinations of the smaller strips may be used in conjunction to reflect a unit at 1:1, if desired by those of us who may be more twisted.

Always nice to hear from you!

Cheers,
Bob

Hi Bob, i love those figures now that looks like a 1/2 company or even a company. Great stuff;

Count me in for an army of say approx 10 iNF btlns fr Line at 1:2, then of course theres theres the inf, cav, gens casualties etc including the flotsam and jetsam of battle which I use as markers (including a 15mm ambulance and strectcher bearers).
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Again beautiful figures….GOOD LUCK for the future

Martin

Missed this post.. glad to see your great work is finally ready for casting Bob – now get the Russians done ;-)

I never did get the sample pack I was offered. Did anyone else? This doesn't bode well for the eventual release of these. Maybe they weren't really ready? Or Bob could just be too busy. But once people are actually paying for these, they aren't going to be happy about waiting forever for them to show up.

Albino, be on the lookout as the last batch went out Monday via USPS First Class Mail. I've gotten emails from folks in the US who've received theirs throughout this week so I am hopeful your samples are very close at hand. I really do hope you like them, and please let me know when they arrive.

I should mention that I received 53 requests for samples…almost triple the number I had allotted for. I was very happy to fill them all, but instead of cutting down on the number of figures per sample, I had another 1,000 cast and sent 25 figures with each pack as opposed to the 10 I originally stated (I have 2 more packs remaining, if anyone would like to take one, please feel free to email me). Regarding the time frame, please bear in mind that these samples were offered specifically and solely to the guys on this board in gratitude to the very wonderful intellectual and motivational support I've received while developing this project over the years. I just wanted to get some of these little fellows out there and into the hands of the people who helped me flesh them out (and you are absolutely included in that number) before I posted them for general sale on the homepage. I would like to do this for each new release as they arrive.

That said, I appreciate your voicing a concern about shipping times for an order. Certainly an actual order will be sent with less whimsy than a large number of free samples posted entirely at my own expense.

Thought of something I don't think I have ever seen mentioned. Some guys say ground scale dosen't work w/ figues correctly. Using these w/15mm scale sizes could shrink bases and some problems would be corrected. Or Is this over analizing things?

I'm glad to hear that, Bob. I didn't mean to sound like I was complaining that it's taking too long to get something that you were very generously giving out for free. I was just starting to worry that maybe "real life" had gotten a little busy (which can easily happen around the holidays) and you had to put this project on the back burner or something.

I'm glad to hear things are still on track.

Albino, ahh shucks, I'm very appreciative that you took the time to email me about them in the first place. Your comments are always insightful and enthusiastic, and I look forward to more of them. I apologize if I came across as insulted. This project has taken a heck of a lot longer than the 3-4 months I had first assumed it would back in 2004 because of the very reasons you mention (well, that and a line of casters who consistently failed to follow up on things). But in all that time I stuck with it more because of the friendships and associations that have sprung up on this board than for anything else. I include you in this group, and I as a result I feel that the final product is better than I would have otherwise accomplished alone.

14Bore, You're on the right track, yes. That's precisely what I've been aiming at in developing these. I wanted folks to be able to represent the proper ratio of figures to frontage. Naturally, depth is an issue once you game at over 1:1, but not terribly so, and more importantly the frontage will always be retained. At such a small scale there's a lot of guesswork involved going from master, to production, to retail casts..even sub-millimeter distortion on small figures throws depth and width off to a degree that affects scaling..but they scale up to apprx 27" shoulder to shoulder, which is as near as I could manage.

Not saying I invented something, more I saw and figured out what to do with it (at 3am yet). Hope it works for you, have any cav yet?

And I missed that the 4 millies are coming to! Good work that man!

Did I really need to use exclamation marks….;)

I have to say the figures look superb.
The only problem I see – being a professional in the medical field – how to find time to sculpt a complete range?
It would be great to have complete ranges sculpted by your hand.
On the other hand – as a doc – you can do better than sculpting full time.

Oddly enough, they actually came in the mail yesterday, mere hours after I made that impatient post. I guess I just let me anticipation get the better of me. But the time that was spent on them has really paid off! They are really nice. They take very little work to clean mold lines and get them ready for painting, and they look great. The figure is really nicely proportioned. The musket is a little out of proportion, but is VERY sturdy and won't get bent every time the figure is handled. I'll be able to easily fit three ranks of four figures on to a 3/4" square or 20mm square base. I'm impressed with them.

I'll take some pictures and put a post about them on my blog when I have a chance. Thanks again for the samples Bob, and congratulations on creating such a nice figure, with hopefully many more to come.

I would love to see how these little guys are sculped, doing larger sculptures out of wood myself. There has to be a little disproportion in it just so enough metal is there to hold it together. Bigger sculptures often exaggerated to bring out details not otherwize noticed. Great looking work

Yes – there is no way to avoid overdoing the musket, the smaller the scale – the more im comparison to the body the exageration, Inkbiz manged to do however one of the best l'arm au bras poses I did ever see, it sits in the elbow bend and is not resting on the wrist as in so much other figures.

Would anyone mix and match 15mm and 10mm? 10mm figures to replace 15mm ones in tight spots were bases will not allow, or casulties, in buildings, or many other areas?

The miniatures are excellent. Are there any plans or contacts, for suitable trees, buildings, scenery etc? I think other wargamers, who, like me, might be seriously thinking of changing the scale of their miniatures, would also have to consider that factor. Eg: With wargaming 6mm miniatures, I have whole towns, villages and forests that would be too small. Your miniatures and prices are spot on, since I imagine postage charges won't be that bad, (please say they won't be!) so the only problem would be the wait until you have a good range available and where to obtain suitable buildings etc. Even so, I do think you are onto a winner.

Honestly Gazzola, I'd just use the 6mm terrain you have. Unless you are playing a 1:1 troop to figure ratio, the buildings are going to have too large a footprint, so they are abstractions anyway. And trees will probably look okay, they'll just look like smaller trees.

And if you want stuff that's even close, Z-Scale model train stuff is supposed to be 1:220. Or even N-Scale stuff, which is like 1:160, would probably work.

I'm glad they arrived, guys. Thank you for the kind comments.

Albino – Very happy timing! I'd love to see them on your blog, that's very generous, thank you.

von Winter – That l'arm au bras pose was based off of a post comment you made some time ago stressing how rare it was to see a more accurate version. I'm very glad to note that you spotted my attempt. :)

Gazzola – now that I have arrived at a suitable result I'm going to continue releasing figures, buildings, and landscape items, absolutely. In between all of this I'm working on the 4mm figures. The 4mm take much less time so I may be able to tip-toe into other periods with them, but I'm only doing Napoleonics with these 1/200 fellows. Napoleonics are my first love, and there's plenty to cover as it is. But, yes, my plan is to step things up as orders arrive and continue releasing figures for this line for now on.

Thank you again for the support.

Cheers,
Bob

Dear Inkbiz

The samples arrived today and they look great. However, they arrived with some Essex 15mm samples, which, in my opinion, also look great. It will be a case of painting both lots up and seeing which attracts me the most, in terms of buying more.

You will love Gill's Thunder on the Danube trilogy. So much details and excellent OOB's. Can't think of any books to beat them, to be honest. You could also consider looking at Hourtoulle's Wagram and Gilles Boue's Essling, for a visual delight. And not forgetting Ian Castle's Aspern & Wagram (Osprey Campaign No 33). All well worth having.

I've posted a review of these sample figures on my blog. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to paint any yet, but I'll be sure to do another post as soon as I have some painted. In the meantime, here's my initial review of them:

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Cheers AS, thank you for taking the time to post a review. Very objective, well thought-out and presented, and fair. You have a keen eye for understanding the production process as well as the artistic process and goals.

Many Thanks,
Bob

So, any news on these?

Hi AS, hope all is well.

The Grenadier is done, and I'm pretty happy with him. He's just about half a head taller (but still the same proportion, weapons sizes, etc..) than the fusilier, which is kinda neat to see when they're next to each other. I should have some pics by next week.
Right now I'm working on a Voltigeur. And I am trying to finish a mounted officer, but it's difficult to get the scaling right for the horse vs rider vs infantryman. And they tend to look more like saw-horses rather than real horses, despite repeatedly bulking up their hind quarters. Horses have big asses.

Also I just hit a new wall with the 4mm figures. I have 1 or 2 possibilites to tackle the issue, but it gets depressing when I run an idea through my head so many times only to have it not work out. There's so many steps between the actual measurements, the scaled version, the master version that needs to be bulked to counteract any shrinkage or distortion while still allowing for enough thickness to be strong enough for handling/able to be cast, and the final master that is scanned, then printed and cast in a prototyper to get those measurements as close as I can to the original master. At the same time you have to make a figure that can survive through 2 generations of molds before you get the final product. Each of those generations disortes it in it's own special way and you have no idea how the end-product will be until you actually try to make it. Their ankles were too thin on this run. The few that made it looked good so if I can give the masters some 'cankles' then there's still a reasonable shot they'll work. I am completely bummed out, nonetheless.

Thanks for the update! I've painted up the samples, so I should have a post on my blog soon with some pictures of the results. I'll post a link here when it's up.

For the 4mm figures, are you leaving an empty space between their legs? Or is there thin metal between them? At that size, I think you could have a thin piece between the legs. If it was left painted black, it might not be noticeable at that size. Maybe that's worth a try if you can get the ankles thick enough to be sturdy.

Interesting news, I would not sculpt figures of different heights though.

Can't wait to see the grenadiers and Voltigeurs.

Here is my blog post with pictures of the sample figures I painted:

link

Very nice looking figures and your brushwork is incredible. Your GHQ confederates put mine to shame.

Thank you. Donovan. I did a post on my blog about how I painted my GHQ confederates. I've refined the method a little big since, but it's still how I painted most of them. You can see it here: link

There's also many more pictures of different units in the Civil War section of my blog: link

Very nicely painted, I'm not the perfectionist, and I like having figures of different makes, the more poses the better. I would mix and match these in a heartbeat.