Thursday, December 30, 2010

The first Leviathan Mortis has been listed on eBay

Casting took considerably longer than planned, two days of fussing with new molds and adjusting vent and sprue size. I suppose it’s to be expected but it sure is frustrating.

Because of the current production rate, I have concluded that I need to move this out of house sooner than later and will be working toward that end.

Until then I had to choose a way to sell, that would allow the greatest number of people a shot at purchasing a kit... I settled on the auction format. I know it’s not ideal and bidding may go over the suggested retail but the market supply and demand will set the price and if there is extra profit, it will go straight to the contract caster to get that end rolling.

I refuse to take pre-orders because I will not sell something that is not in a box and ready to ship.... Been there, done that, and won’t do it again. There are just too many things that can go wrong, and I would prefer not to anger my customers with unreasonable wait times.

I apologize and hope you understand my decision. If the auction format drives the price too high, I would ask for your patients while I work out the production issues. How long will it take? Likely several (2-3) months for the contract caster to start production.

Have a safe and happy New Year, and happy bidding….

Item number: 230568665580 click here to be taken to listing

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Casting has started!

I will have two and possibly three Leviathan Mortis available by the 31st.

When they are packed and ready to go I will make an announcement here. I may list one of them on eBay in auction format, to allow those who may have missed the chance at the first run to purchase a kit if they feel they cannot wait until the production rate is up.

The first few models will be a Limited Release Edition, and will include the Crusader Head and a right hand Vulkan Cannon in addition to the normal Mortis head, Scythe and Claw.

The limited Edition Mortis will only be available for a short time, likely five kits. After that the Vulkan and Crusader head will be available separately.

Total Package Value: $400.00  ($350.00 Mortis/ $45.00 Vulkan/ $5.00 Crusader head)
Limited Edition Price: $375.00



Production will be rather spotty; I need to cast up two for Pat over at Senji Studios, a Mortis and when the molds are done, a Crusader, to take care of a trade for the wonderful buildings he made. Possibly two more for other obligations, and then start work on the Crusader molds for it's release.

I'm still in talks with a couple of production shops for contract casting and I will need to make production molds.... In short, there is much still to be done and casting needs to be juggled between tasks.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Updated Website

While I was waiting for the re-printed part, I took the time to hack and slash through the website. It is still not completely done, the Game page needs a lot of work and I threw together the pics for the Vulcan Cannon page.


All in all, it loads faster and is far kinder to maneuver through. You still cannot buy anything; I have the PayPal buttons set so it will not complete the transaction without stock on hand.

No rest for the wicked... I start benching the re-print tomorrow and molds to follow.

Stay tuned! I will update the Blog with a final release date when I have it... Just keep in mind there may only be a couple of kits available on the day of release.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Leviathan Mortis Instructions

Instructions for the first release are complete. That was about as much fun as a root canal, but at least its done.... Enjoy!
Just click on the images below

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Waiting on Prints

My go-to guy for prints, Moddler, is out of the office for the next couple of days and slammed with work. I will likely have the re-printed part on Friday. I will need to bench the part and make a new family mold. Unfortunately, this will slightly delay the first release. It will take approximately 10 days to get everything done once I have the item in my grubby little hands.

Rest assured, workers in my high tech production facility will be flogged daily until this problem has been resolved.


Thursday, December 9, 2010

Leviathan Mortis First Build

It has been quite the journey getting here, but it is very satisfying to hold the final model.

Please accept my apologies about the website, I know it's broken... I just have not had time to get to it. It's on the to-do list. I keep the blog up to date so this is where you can find all updates until I can sort out the website.

As expected, it has been many long days to prep the molds for production. I had really hoped to show a nicely painted model on Pat's wonderful diorama but time will not allow that right now, I’ll have to come back to it when the Crusader is ready for the build. I wanted to make sure my customers could see a real world model and not just a CAD render, so primer will have to do for now.
 Although I prefer to take my time on a build, I assembled this kit in just a few hours, skimping on much of the pre prep work and clean up so I could get cracking on the instructions. I did find one part that will need to be re-printed and new molds made so there may be a slight delay on the December 15th release date. This is still my goal and I am working hard to stick with it.
I will take what I have learned from this build and make notes in the instructions, there are a few components that need to be assembled in a specific order or you will be cussing up a storm. I will also include notes on how to build a resin kit and what tools and glues work best. I dislike pinning resin models and was happy to find that the only part that needs the reinforcement was the spine. As you can glue the spine in place and then drill from the bottom of the pelvis and from the top of the chest right into the spine area it was a fast and easy pinning job.  For a 136 part model, I am happy to say it was a fairly simple build.
Still sooo much still to do; Complete the instructions, new molds and prep of the re-printed component, web site (I doubt I will get this done before the 15th, so expect the first few sales to be on Ebay) and all the other items I am sure I have overlooked.

Ultimately I need the casting contracted out, sooooo...

**If you are a contract caster or garage kit producer of resin models and looking for long term work, contact me at mark@dreamforge-games.com for details.**

Quick recap:

Release date... shooting for the 15th, depends on the re printed part turn around time. This will likely be on Ebay as I doubt I will have time to fix the broken website before then.

Retail $350.00 (Kit will come with the Crusader head as well as the Mortis head)
Optional Vulkan Cannon $45.00
For now, enjoy the pics!
Here is a shot for scale, using a 30-32mm MERCS Mini.
Here is a shot for fun ;)