Strawhat

I always thought (although I didn't pay too much attention) that Ferguson's hat was your standard top hat. Russell Crowe's looks like it might be a flat top bowler, although one source calls the crown a "puritan" style.

Very nice! I'm one who likes to see the continuation of color themes through crews, and making the mannequins opposites is very much an idea I like. If you're looking to experiment more with washes, I will give you the advice that was given to me: When you're thinning the paint (assuming, here, that you're using water-based paints) add a little bit of water at a time and then check the consistency by putting a drop or two on your fingerprint. When the wash pools between the ridges, but still leaves the ridges visible, you've got a good consistency. After that, it's just a matter of practice. Evilbleachman and Mako are top-notch painters. Their advice is gold. I haven't been around long, but I've been around long enough to know that.

Depending on the metal used, the mold can be many thousands of dollars. Secret Weapon Miniatures, over on Kickstarter, has called the costs for tooling (cutting) the molds for their 1'x1' battlefield tiles at $80,000 (US) per set. That works out to be $10k per tile--and that does not include design. Sorry, I missed the part where you said there were pieces you wanted made. Like Webmonkey said, injection molding is unlikely to be the way you want to go unless you're wanting hundreds, or even thousands, of pieces. There are several freelancers out there in the market, and there have been several advances in resin/plastic technology. You might have some luck if you start looking in the forums over at Trollforged. Ed Fortae is currently working with Defiance Games (the former owners of Wargames Factory) with their spincast plastics.

Might I ask what about washes puzzles you? Is it creation, application, or a bit of both? Believe me when I say that I can understand that the process can be intimidating--I started painting in the late 80s (WH40K: RT), but only really tried using washes relatively recently (on D&D Miniatures, the PVC ones, that I wanted to repaint).

I've only seen a few pictures of the sprues, so I can't say for certain, but it looks like Ghost to me. Ghost is/was the company that 'absorbed' Bastion (Ex Illis) and Wargames Factory, and are the only company that I'm aware of that uses the stacking frames technique.

I had not intended this thread to be my debut. However, since I am new here, I feel that this thread has a bit of significance for me. Ultimately, I am of two minds when it comes to limited editions: I understand the logic of them and I appreciate and like that Wyrd wants to do nice things for their supporters (customers or Henchmen), but as a newly interested party I am also frustrated when I want a company to take my money and am told that they would have gladly taken it if only I had gotten here a few months earlier. Certain companies and limited editions go hand-in-hand. If you're just designing cool miniatures, then limited editions are a bit like art pieces. It sucks, but not everyone gets to buy the good stuff, and I'm cool with that. Life isn't fair, after all. But when gaming pieces are taken off the market, it is (to me) another matter altogether. Life isn't fair, but a game should be as fair as reasonable. This is one area where I believe that Wyrd have done a great service to their customers by not giving limited editions new or different rules...even so, different base sizes are problematic by granting different advantages/disadvantages to what is essentially the same model. Also, since Wyrd is making more plastic models, the limited nature of certain pieces bothers my business sense. The cost for making plastic injection molds is high, as is their durability, and the turnaround is (to my understanding) lengthy. It runs counter to my philosophy to make something available for only a limited time when the molds are going to be good for much, much longer. Why sell 1,000 models when you can sell 5,000 (unless you're getting 5x the price)? There's simply too much missed opportunity for profit on some fantastic models. Now, this isn't to say that, even in games, I'm against limited editions entirely. One idea that occurs to me is that not of limited editions, but special editions. A special edition could be the same model but in a different medium, for example, if Wyrd produced a pewter version of a plastic kit with a slightly different pose or other details. Another example, and one that I admit to being quite taken with, would be to make a small sprue of additional parts that would allow for a bit more customization than the standard kit--a different style of hat, different weapons, a different body pose, basing inserts (or other base decorations), etc. That still gives existing customers the opportunity to have something exclusive, and wouldn't cut the "newbie" out entirely. Thank you for bearing with me. I now return you to my regularly scheduled lurking. :Hiding_Puppet: