Any interest in custom 1:18 buildings?

[iPreparator]

Hi all!
First time post to the forum after watching it for several years when I bought my first batch of 21st Century XD stuff about 6 years ago. I've cruised the first few pages of search results on buildings in this size, without seeing a whole lot of what I was looking for, so finally decided to see if there would be a small market for runs of gypsum or resin facades, ruins, or whole buildings. I've made up some stone walls and a rough (really) prototype of a small cottage. Next on my list after I finish that is a couple of pill box and bunker type structures, I'd like to do an emplacement for the 88, but have quite a bit of research to do first. I'll post some photos of the projects I'm already working on for myself, as soon as I figure out how. I make research quality molds and casts of vertebrate fossils for a living, so after sculpting things up for my own collection, it is not a giant leap to slap some rubber on there, pour them in resin and put them together. I figured that if I like 'em, somebody else might too, and if there was enough interest to make it cost effective, I'd offer them for sale.

Best,

Matthew Brown

[iPreparator]

So, like I said, this should be considered a very rough draft of the final. For instance, right now those walls are just sloppily leaned up against one another, you can actually see the can of Krylon holding the thatched roof up if you peek through the window, I didn't have a very good paint selection to work with, obviously the upper part of the west wall is missing the peak as I couldn't decide whether I wanted it to continue as stone or finish with a wattle and daube construction. One side would probably end up with a chimney as well. If these went into production most everything would get a substantial resculpt and fit and finish would be of high quality. This model is just patching plaster, likely a final version would come out of two piece molds with exterior and interior detail. Would this be a project that interests folks?

[gouchy]

Hi there iPreparator welcome to the board!

Cool house

I think there would be interest in your projects, probably members would like to see more of your other work and a rough price range would help.

[Razor17019]

iPreparator,
Welcome to the board and glad you are making your first post!
I am always looking for new environments to put my XD figs in.
I like where you are going with the stone cottage. If you other work like this, please post pictures and share.
Razor

[iPreparator]

don't quite fit the bill for this forum, but this little guy, Revueltosaurus callenderi is what got the cottage project started. I made a little stamp out of plaster to do the bulk of the scale patterns in the neck, then I used it to make a little stone wall. Pricing is hard to say at this point, I haven't calculated costs of materials yet, but I'd guess unpainted somewhere in the huge ballpark between $50 and $90, depending on how complicated they become. Hydrocal models would probably be about 2/3 the cost of resin ones. I'll keep the forum updated as these projects proceed, I'm out of town for the weekend, but maybe next I'll be able to seriously delve back into the project.

Thanks for the words of welcome, you guys do great stuff here!

[immeww2]

The 1/18th scale world is lacking buildings and I'm sure there will be much interest in your projects. I for one would be greatly interested. Keep us posted.

[Tanker85]

Hello
Welcome to the board. I am interested in your buildings as I will be putting together some displays soon. Glad to have you join us. Keep us posted on your progress.

Eric

[YT]

I would love to see what you can do, and welcome to the board.

[Black_Dragon_One]

u can buy three stories building from build aram and cast those

[margras77]

u can buy three stories building from build aram and cast those

?
Do you mean buildarama? I didnt know they made any kind of 1 18 scale buildings besides the ruin corner.

Personally I would love to see buildings made. To keep costs down for both the buildings and shipping, do you plan on making them as kits?

[Lance Quazar]

u can buy three stories building from build aram and cast those

?
Do you mean buildarama? I didnt know they made any kind of 1 18 scale buildings besides the ruin corner.

I'm pretty sure they built a 3 story ruin way back.

[iPreparator]

I'm glad to see the enthusiasm, what I think I'm going to do is start by offering these low stone walls in Hydrocal as a way to figure out costs and productivity, ease of fulfillment, etc. since I've not done something quite like this before. In the crummy camera phone photo below you can see what these will look like (again, they aren't painted consistently at the moment, finish is still a bit rough), Patton is standing a little back from the wall, they scale to about two and a half feet high and five and a quarter feet long, appropriate for a wall around a garden or yard, maybe a roadside or driveway. The identical segments fit together end to end pretty well, are sculpted on both sides, and can be butted up against one another dry, or "mortared" with a little bit of plaster to completely eliminate gaps. You can see Willy peeking out around a small section of collapsed wall that is being roughed out in clay, I'll do corners and some more rubble next. I should have some posted tomorrow for sale, with a small stone cottage ready to go by some time next week. I have to figure out details still, but I may do kits and completed models depending on what demand and final costs turn out to be.

I'm guessing that forum etiquette allows for posting progress and R&D photos here and then products made available should go over into the Buy, Sell, and Trade forum?