"If This Alien Shape Was Sculpted For 15mm, Could It Cast?" Topic

Something "similar" to this here . . .

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Before bothering to start on it, are there any special considerations to . . . ummm . . . consider? Is it just not worth the trouble?

What say you sculpting wizards?

Thanks,

Dan

Using rapid prototyping such as Shapeways, it could be printed as a single piece.

Yes, but I think you'd need to make the antennae and legs(?)/feelers as separate pieces.

Depends how big it is.
If it is only 1cm long then don't bother the tentacles would break.
If it is 10cm long then there is less of an issue but it will still be tricky.

Max height of 20mm, I hope.

Dan

I would be tempted to do the legs out of cotton covered in superglue…

At 20mm you may find it easier to consolidate some of the tentacles and sculpt them as a single piece with the individual tentacle details done in relief.

-Eli

Bulk up the tentacles if you want to cast them.

No more difficult than your average beholder I'd imagine

Black Hat has something similar in their Cephalod line

Casting in metal with individual tentacles is just an utter pain in the rear echelons. Even casting with the tentacles grouped together is still usually tricky to assemble and prone to damage.

The thing is, why bother? When you can do this:

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I still like metal castings for many purposes. But rapid prototyping can make things in a single piece, so less chance of breakages.

And you can make things with undercuts which could never be created as a single piece metal casting:

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Right tool for the right job! If you want a tentacled alien flea thingy – rapid prototype it!

Those antennae will break, regardless. You'd have to scratchbuild them with wire, at the least.

I've got several of the space octopus type RP models and nothing has broken so far. The material is flexible, not brittle.

I'm sure it IS possible to break the stuff, but nothing has happened in ordinary gaming handling.

Knutson elder things have a few like this, one standing on 2 tentacles,

It seems to wrk well, pic soon.

for casting you want them all seperated and put on a single spru ,the customer will have to glue them on , but that is th ebest way and cheapest. if you make the right type of joint , you will have no issues.

So, casting the creature in two halves, with the bottom (legs/tentacles) portion joined in the center in a star pattern, wouldn't work?

Dan

Probably not. Take a look at the Combined Army drones from Infinity:

Notice that most of the tentacles are massed together for easier casting. (For scale, that's a 40mm base, they stand sensors-to-eyeball with 28mm infantry).

You could print it in two pieces (tentacles and main body) and then just have them able to glue together. This would give you two flat sides for easy resin casting in single molds, which would also free you from mold lines.

This 28mm form seems to have all the tentacle parts done separately, which must be a pain to assemble and a nightmare to handle:

TMP link

Dan

Ok guys,

I know there's still TONS of detail yet do add, but let me know if I got somewhat close with this VERY early stage of my sculpt:

More:

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Thanks,

Dan

That looks like serious fun.

Maybe…just maybe…cast in two parts?

Upper mantle and legs with base.

The legs with base could be cast fairly strait, for ease of mold/cast?

Glad you like it. Right now, the two parts are temporarily stuck together.

But the "horseshoe crab" portion (what you call the "mantle") was the first section I made, followed by several attempts at making the legs section. I finally made a set of wire legs that looked like a fit, so I attached it loosely to the underside of the head section.

As you can see, I've added no other detail to the head section, since my primary concern so far has been to get the general shape and proportions just right.

First I thought the Martians should tower over the humans. But considering the spindly nature of the legs, I opted for something slightly shorter than the humans.

Dan

Looks like Mega Blocks has a version of that body shape:

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Never seen one of those HALO flood drop pods in person, so I can't really say how big those pink-yellow infections are.

Anyone know?

Thanks,

Dan

Similar body concept walking high up on semi-rigid tentacles:

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Dan

If you were able to vulcanize a mold without breaking the figure, your first castings would look really cool because it is a nice sculpt, but those sharp edges would soon tear the rubber.

Perhaps you could avoid that by flattening all of the arms to make it more two-dimensional and let the buyer bend them to shape after purchase.

Well, well, well . . .

Looks like the little alien I'm making might have a much larger distant cousin:

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Dan

I really like that design posted on Nov. 22nd.

Need to get those into production soon.

I suggest a main body, the two legs as one piece, and then the multiple tentacles at the front as the third piece.

I agree with Mako11.

Mako11,

How's this? (I wish I knew how to post the image directly from my iPhone)

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Dan
PS. Apologies for the camera phone pic and the bad lighting in my hotel room.

Looks great to me so far.

Not sure you want to add it, but if you could possibly put some swirly patterned, or other detailing on the main body/head, in the flat spaces, that would look really cool.

Perhaps some netting mesh pressed into the green stuff, to give it a little scaled look. Of course, smooth would be good as well, for a squid-like surface – people could then just paint on any mottling desired.

Would love to see some nice hooks on the end of at least some of the creature tentacles which are to the front. Perhaps on only some models, while they remain hidden in others, for the "is the alien just trying to hug me, or capture me look".

I'm also a big fan of sharp teeth, and/or a sharp, bitey beak, but that's just me as well, perhaps.

Looks really good thus far.

Would love to see a crouching and ready to jump forward pose, and/or one running as well, eventually.

What about this somewhat similar form, with its thicker "legs"?

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Dan

Thicker legs would probably be much easier to cast, though I'd consider making the model a 3-parter: upper body, left and right tentacle clusters. Cast the tentacle clusters relatively straight for ease of casting, and let the buyer twist the tentacles around as necessary.