Welcome to the second installment of the Archosaur Asylum blog. Today we have an update on the latest development with the 1:35 Scale "Right Where it Ends" Torosaurus Combatants paleoart model kit by me, Matt Ramieri.
If you have not heard already I like to call the process of dividing up the model (hollowing it out, and making the keys) "the Cut." I will say: "It's time to figure out the cut," or " Dang, I have no idea how I am going to do the Cut on this one, 'lol." Sometimes less "Lol" and more "F@#$% this G%$#@@!", but either way, it's called "the Cut."
Once the artwork is finally done and the preorders start rolling in, it is time to decide on "the Cut". There are all kinds of things to consider when deciding on the cut. You have to consider which parts are going to need to be molded for reproduction, which parts may be too delicate or intricate for molding and will have to be printed for every order, and the best way to section the model without destroying valuable details- or without making it too difficult for the end hobbyist or consumer to rebuild.
A sneak peek at "Drusus's" hollow interior. This ain't CAD. In Zbrush, the interior hollow space has to be made as a sculpted component. I sculpt the shape of the hollow manually, then perform a boolean function to remove it from the "watertight" mesh. It is possible to make the model too thin, so one has to be very careful when creating the hollow.
Below you can see some of the separate parts that the model has been cut into. Take note of the one floating "patch" of ground that has been removed from the base. Why do you think I did that?
Well, I'll tell you. There are two reasons.
1) The base is a large part of the model that does not have the level of detail required for printing at the ultra-high .025 mm resolution. So, I will print it at the slightly less mega-high .05 mm resolution, allowing me to print much faster. Also, once the master is printed, I will mold it to make subsequent iterations out of liquid resin. The liquid resin is less expensive than the UV cure printing resin, and pulling castings from a mold is about 997 times faster than waiting on the printer to print the base. This is the case even at .05 mm resolution instead of .025 mm. Even moving twice as fast with the lower resolution, It still takes days to print the base alone.
So, since I am printing the base at the lower resolution and since I need to mold it, I have removed that patch of ground. Why would I need to do that, you ask?
2) Let's take a closer look at the patch. Not only are there branches and what not sticking up all over (making it difficult to mold, and more difficult to get a successful casting out of the mold), but take a look inside the red target. That's a little frog!
A little "Easter Egg" for the careful observer. Occasionally, I like to slip something in there just for fun. The "Scent in the Air" model actually sports a tiny rat nestled away in a nest of its own making under the ribcage of an ill-fated Edmontosaurus.
The frog would be impossible to mold and cast without separating it from the base and creating a special injection mold, especially for it. It will be very very small in the 1:35 scale version of "Right Where it Ends", but it will be there. Test your friends- see if they can spot it.
I learned quite a bit about the best way to do the cut on the last few models, so I am pretty confident that we will be good to roll out once the prototype set comes out of the printer. If that is the case, then we are looking at the first set of preorder models shipping in about two weeks. The rest will follow in the order that the orders were placed.
As always, I appreciate your patience and patronage. We have a lot of cool things in the works, with no signs of slowing down. Stop by the website often, check us out on Facebook and Instagram, and hit up our Youtube channel for promo videos of all of the models.
