Update, 3/3/13

Wow its been a while since I've updated my blog.

I've been focusing almost entirely on a series of commissions I've received which will be cast in resin for production.  I'm rather close to finishing those commissions so I've started dusting off some of my work to get back on the bike to ride as it were.  So I thought i'd jump on and say hello to everyone again.  I truely am sorry I haven't had anything fun to show off but hey, I gotta do what I gotta do.

If readers have checked my shapeways store they may have noticed that I've still been adding a few items now and then.  For those who haven't I thought you might like to see some of the stuff I've put up.


Months back I started revealing my "Advanced" weapon line which focuses on a sci-fi weapons for 28mm scale.  Those of you who have seen my increasingly expansive line of weapon designs might be intrigued to know the weapon base I use wasn't my first design for the base.   My early designs were a bit more out there with some inspiration taken from various sources.

My earliest design was inspired by weapons from several scifi properties.  Specifically Mass Effect and Star Trek.  the weapons in those properties always have a bit more technical look to them. Like they are made with more attention to detail.  Its a bullpup design with an under-barrel stabilizer.  This design featured a strange, flash suppressor which I was never particularly happy with. Even this earliest design featured the over barrel expansion port structure I would use in later projects.

At some point I fell in love with the idea of a micro gatling gun.  A multibarreled rotary weapon that  would fire micro missiles.  The main inspiration for this design came from playing a very old shooter, command and conquer renegade.  It also has design motifs from the FN-P90 and the Thompson Sub-machine gun. 

This design started as inspired by the FN-F2000 and the FAMAS F1.  Both cutting edge weapon designs for modern militaries.  The design shifted from there.  Its become a far more elaborate weapon.  It's appearance is nice and light with a technical design.  My main reason for not using it as my base design is it was simply to difficult to modify the design into multiple weapon types.

I have a love hate relationship with shotguns.  The short range, the heavy recoil, the small magazine, the inaccuracy.  When I do the math personally I always come up with a bad equation.  But I won't deny in other hands they can be fantastic.  Especially modern shotguns like the Pancor Automatic shotgun.  brutally effective at shredding cover and enemy flesh the pancor inspired me to make this design.  Unlike a lot of the other designs it doesn't have the underbarrel attachment mount. Instead it has traditional side rails for accessories.  The design is heavily rounded and smoothed like the entire weapon was made out of a single piece of carbon fibor.  In a scifi setting I picture shotguns as being the quickest, cheapest, and easiest weapons to make, even automatic ones.

When I started this project I had a good idea that I'd be making conventional weapons and energy weapons.  I first sought to make a separate energy weapon base for my weapons  I later decided to go a different route with the project.  This early design of a purely energy weapon design bares little resemblance to the mass production base I now use.  I picture it as a laser of some kind.  Chunky and durable its structure is more reminiscent of a prototype than a final field weapon.  But still it would look nice in the hands of soldier.

One of the early hallmarks of 40k and other hard science fiction settings has been the use of chemical and acids as weapons, a tactic our modern military hasn't adopted.  Of course the main reason for that is probably an effective delivery system.  This is my first take on a chemical weapon.  A two part compound sprayer that shoots narrow concentrations of chemicals at the enemy.  I'd imagine it as some form of magnetic acceleration unit that fires chemically infused needles.  Its a fun, 80's sort of scifi weapon.

Of course I can't neglect my newer designs.  One of the major holes in the line has been a rocket launcher. sure I could design a traditional tube style weapon but where's the fun in that.  No I opted for using the gyrojet base I designed for the Battle Cannon.  The barrel is inspired by the rocket launcher from Quake 3, one of my favorite shooters.  It uses a clip of oversize gyrojet rounds rather than a muzzle or breach load design like modern missile launchers. In field this would translate to a more stable, faster firing anti-tank weapon.  And of course it comes with shield and without as well as in a man portable version.

The other new design for the "Advanced" line is a lightning weapon.  here we see the lightning cannon design.  It has a central static transformer and 4 charge emitters around the outside.  Here is the heavy weapon version where we can see its intimidating blade like design.  Though short range and relatively inaccurate it can be devastating to electronic systems.  

The rifle variant of the lightning gun is more sleek with well defined blade like charge emitters  It forms a ball of electrons at its leading edge, building in charge until the transformer cycles.  The result is a devastating  if slow shock blast.

A group of 10 lightning pistols ready for deployment.  I imagine my lightning gun as a short range weapon so pistols makes perfect sense for the design.

Last post I previewed my new Starship Trooper style star marine design.  What I didn't preview were these. These torsos, inspired by Egyptian clothing and the powered armor design of my Star Marines, are intended as the basis for a lighter power armor design. Here we have the female design.  Its slimmer and slightly shorter than the male variant.  Yes it has breasts.  I've never quite understood the hate on female fantasy armor having breasts. Yeah I totally understand they are ridiculously impractical. And yes when treated poorly they are pretty much sexist short hand for "I like gurlz, yuck yuck".  But then I've never had a woman get upset because they have breasts.  Acknowledging sexuality isn't bad and hopefully I've done it without being offensive.

The male variant of the armor is virtually identical to the female.  Its got a clearly male shape.  It's a bit taller than the female variant but not by much.  This design's Egyptian motif is mostly in the mantle that graces its shoulders.  A mantle less design is in the works.  Its a bit more body armor like.

The shoulder pads for my new star marine designs.  Their leading edges are flat making them distinct from other shoulder designs.

The body of the new star marine armor is based off the smaller armor torso's I made above.  The Star Marine torso is completely enclosed. Normally the body would close entirely, here I've made 2 variants of the torso, one closed and the other, shown here, open.  The total figure is designed as an analogue for heavy armored space marine design.  Closed torso figures will stand approximately 44mm tall.  The gap in the open torso should fit any 28mm head once you cut off the neck.

The legs to the most doing to make.  Sure I had the leg design finished when I flashed it last post.  But, the legs proved the most troublesome to upload.  Perhaps it was because of their intricate design, or maybe it was my own incompetence  but either way it took 6 or 7 tries to get them to upload.  Here we have advancing legs.

Well that's all for now, I'll try not to let the next update be a month away. :P Till then, enjoy.