Stug Production in Progress

The Maybach plants are cranking up their production of the Quad Stug Aus F.  They hope to start shipping finished units to the blighter front in 2 weeks.  There have been delays with the Porsche suspension and quality control issues but a Blighter Motor Works plant has been retooled to assist with the pneumatic control systems which should help avoid further delays.

Stug is Done!

I made a casting of the complete Quad Stug toy.  I still have a few bugs to work out with the molds but all in all it's done!  I'm pretty happy with how it came out.  Here are some pics of the final as well as some works in progress.

Ready to pour the 2nd half of the body mold.

Mold walls and clay laid in for pouring the 1st half of the leg molds.

the 1st parts of the lef molds have been cast.

Pulling apart the molds after the 2nd half of the leg molds have cured.

The entire Quad Stug with legs attached.

Stug 1st Test Casting

Tonight I did a test casting of the Quad Stug.  I couldn't wait.  The other day, when making the molds, the 3D print collapsed in the pressure pot from a structural failure in the material.  This smashed up the model, but I was able to glue it back together and remake the molds.  You can see the damage on the bottom, but all in all it looks pretty great.  It feels SO good when you hold it in your hands.  I need to carve out some channels so that I don't get air bubbles in the helmet and some other areas.  Then it's molding the legs.

Prepping the Quad Stug

Today I'm sanding and prepping the Quad Stug.  I'm going to see if I can't get the molds done this weekend and start casting next week.  This toy has been waiting to be made long enough.

New York Comic Con 2011

Wow!  My first New York Comic Con is finished.  It was a great time.

Got to meet George from Toybreak, Matt of Onell Toys, Steve of Sketchbot, and The Sucklord!  Also met up with Darrin, Jared, Connor, Roger, Steve and so many others.  I got my toys signed by Joe Ledbetter and a print signed by Geoff Darrow of Hard Boiled fame!  I met Ben Caldwell and Eric Canete, two artists whose work I really admire.

I was also shocked at how many people were like, "hey, so you're that rivet wars guy!"  It was amazing how supportive people were and encouraging.  I handed out, sold and traded a lot of toys and gave George his XL Rivet shirt :)  So much fun and good will going around.  Lots of people who just love making cool stuff and that's what it's all about.  Such an inspiring weekend.

Making shirts for the show.

NYCC 2011 grunts

The show floor

Onell Booth.  Look at all the great stuff.

New Cintiq.  That base is so big.

First sale of a grunt to Mr. Pepe.

Ian, Andrew, Steve and RA showing
how cool Reckoning is!

Best food ever.

I see some chogokin in there.

Met up with Connor and Jared.

Jared's cool work in progress sculpt.

The Sucklord checking out Rivet Wars!

3D printing kit.

A real american hero.

These remind me of the evel knievel
 toys from back in the day.

Voltron or GoLion!

Reckoning Troll toy!

Ashley Wood paintings.  Start
at $5k :(

Joe Ledbetter!  Picked up two of these
and got them signed!

3A cool stuff.

Just awesome.  Is that Ilya?

Met Matt of Onell toys.  What a great
guy.

Some cool 4 horsemen stuff.

Love this.  Had that toy when I was a kid.

Met George of Toybreak and Steve
of Sketchbot.  These guys have
really inspired me.

Roger Harkavy!  We go back 10+
years collecting Japanese robots.

Super 7!  Roger introduced me to
Steve.  Super cool guy.

Yes son, I know boba fett.

Saturday's take.

My take for the show! 

Scaled allied grunt rolling out!

I finished  a mold for the new allied grunt figure and made a casting. This figure is in scale to the vert tank and the quad stug.  It looks really nice.  The detail was meant for this scale and it really comes through.  I also got some tips on finishing the 3D print from Ralph Nese and that has made a real difference.  The character is smooth and really tight.

 The plan is to make a bunch of these to have for NYCC.  Maybe in an exclusive color and packaging.  I'll be walking around comicon friday and saturday.  I'm hoping to run into people so I can show them the latest work I have.  A rivetwars t-shirt is in the works so you can look for that :)

Painted Grunt by Adam Pratt

Artist Adam Pratt has done an amazing paint job on one of the large allied grunts.  He really knows how to give any figure he touches a sense of life and realism.  So inspiring to see things like this.  Adam has always been a supporter of Rivet Wars and it is his work especially that keeps me pushing to produce more and better work.  Great stuff.

Quad Stug print arrived today!

I received the 3D print of the Blighter Quad Stug today.  It is insane!  It is so big.  It dwarfs the vert tank.  I took some pics of it next to the scale allied grunt.  I have to get some molds made and start shipping these guys out.  I can't wait to set these guys up in a battle scene.  Now I totally have to make an allied bazooka trooper unit to help take these monsters out.  Let me know what you think.

FYI the legs are separate so that I can cast them independently.  I modeled in a little joint so that the legs can be attached at different angles.  They fit so nicely I just slipped it together for the pics.

Allied Grunt Prototype are in!

I just received the prints for the Allied Grunt.  I decided to make one toy at the scale of the vert tank and a second "hero model" in a bigger scale.  I just thought it'd be cool to have a larger figure.  Here are some pics I took of the models.  I hope to make molds by this weekend and maybe have some for sale next week.  Let me know what you think.

Sculptor, Ralph Niese, shows us his vision of Rivet!

Ralph Niese is an AMAZING sculptor, and you can see it in these pictures.  He thought Rivet Wars seemed like an interesting project so he did this sculpt, just for fun, in one hour.  In one hour!  Look how small and detailed that is. He's just an amazing artist.  I'm hoping he'll have some spare time to finish these.  Just too cool to see his take on the Rivets.