Pica pica Games upcoming plans and input welcome

[stargatedalek]

 

This is going to sound foolishly ambitious I know, but keep in mind several of these are almost complete, and assuming this comes to fruition it would probably be next winter before a release (perhaps sooner if I can find someone to partner up with for casting, but I don't want to solicit anyone before I've finished).

I'm hoping to "launch", three separate lines with six new figures added to each every year. There is no set scale yet, and it's unlikely I will stick to any single scale, but feedback on this is appreciated.


The first has been underway for some time; "Bio-plastic" is an invertebrate line following a different group for each batch. This first batch is one of my favorite groups, true crabs. Some of these have been done before, some not, but I hope to make even the previously done species stand out.

All of these are already started in some capacity. Most of them use texture stamps taken directly from specimens or incorporate high resolution 3D scans of specimens that I've received permission to use, so I can assure the absolute best accuracy possible!

Alaskan king Crab: Paralithodes camtschaticus
Yellow-Clawed Fiddler Crab: Uca perplexa
Horned Ghost Crab: Ocypode ceratopthalma
Common Elbow Crab: Rhinolambrus pelagicus
Hime-énkougani: Carcinoplax surugensis
Dark Finger Coral Crab: Atergatus subdentatus


The second line; "Forgotten" is going to be focused on underrepresented extinct animals. I tried to balance the species choices between ones that I myself want to do, and ones that I've seen requested in the past. A few of these have armatures made, but I'm still open to feedback on species choices. This first batch is the rather non-catchy "non-reptile extinct marine animals".

Xiphactinus audax
Hibbertopterus scouleri
Bananogmius ellisensis
Lyrarapax trilobus
Cheirolepis trailli
Boedaspis ensifer


Now for the fun part, the third line; "Collectors Choice" will be entirely decided by vote, every year, for as long as it goes on! It will feature one bird, reptile, invertebrate, fish, mammal, and an extinct animal from a given region.

Suggest a geographical region below, and I'll count them up after a week or two and then people may vote on species. Keep in mind I probably won't be getting to these until after finishing the other two lines.


Nothing to show yet, what progress there currently is looks like a bunch of disassembled crabs (and a bit of it actually is...) and some generic fish shaped outlines, so really nothing worth posting. I was going to wait until finishing a few of the crabs before posting this outline, but I decided I might want to take a break from them and work on some extinct fish in the meantime and I'd appreciate feedback on those before I progress.

As it stands I can't give any information regarding potential costs or material availability, but, and this is absolutely not a promise, there are companies nearby that do die-cast parts, so I will at least look into that if there is any interest.

[CetaceanFan]

Nice idea, my friend!
I love the fact that all of the species that you hope to include in your series are very obscure.
I'm also very excited for the Xiphactinus. 

[bmathison1972]

if I understand these are lines you are creating? Will they be orderable as-is or are these to be made on one of the 3D printing sites? You know me, you make arthropods I'll take 'em. That crab line-up sounds cool.

[stargatedalek]

if I understand these are lines you are creating? Will they be orderable as-is or are these to be made on one of the 3D printing sites? You know me, you make arthropods I'll take 'em. That crab line-up sounds cool.

Yup

These are going to be orderable as-is, although I can't promise through whom yet. Presumably either through myself at very limited quantity if I have them cast locally, or through whomever does cast them if I can find a willing partner.

Aside from the scans I also use 3D printing to create some of the armatures, it makes it a lot easier to scale things.

I've been wanting to do crabs for a long while now, so they were an obvious starting point.

[brontodocus]

Aw, I just stumbled across this now... hey stargatedalek, this sounds interesting, I wish you a lot of success with your line!

[Jetoar]

Really cool idea  Stargatedalek  .

[widukind]

Sounds interesting

[Beetle guy]

Succes, sound very interesting!! some insect nimph, larvae or pupae would also be great ;-)

[stargatedalek]

Succes, sound very interesting!! some insect nimph, larvae or pupae would also be great ;-)

You will not be disappointed

Sorry for no recent updates, I've been having difficulties getting more materials, but most of the fish are nearing a point where I'd be comfortable showing them off.

[bmathison1972]

Succes, sound very interesting!! some insect nimph, larvae or pupae would also be great ;-)

You will not be disappointed

Sorry for no recent updates, I've been having difficulties getting more materials, but most of the fish are nearing a point where I'd be comfortable showing them off.

Awww...I thought the crabs would be first 

[stargatedalek]

Awww...I thought the crabs would be first 

The crabs might take a while longer because I'm not making them entirely from scratch, and I'm still waiting on some parts to be printed (and for a specimen of Alaskan King Crab to reference for texture, I'm considering swapping it for our native Snow Crab [Neolithodes grimaldii]). Once I have the parts they should be presentable quickly, but printer repairs sadly are not.

[AnimalToyForum]

How's this project coming along? Any updates?

[stargatedalek]

How's this project coming along? Any updates?

Actually I do have some updates! I was waiting until I heard back from someone locally but I can at the very least show you guys what I've been up to in the interim.

Sadly it seems that casting is currently beyond my reach, so I've been pursuing this project more broadly with the goal of creating one of a kind sculpts instead. The species list is staying don't worry, but it means I'm also going to be making chickadees and finches to try and sell at craft shows in between. By sculpting on top of 3D printed armatures it saves considerable time especially when producing the same animal in repetition, and it also allows me to easily alter poses or use closely related species as requested without increasing costs.

If everything goes well I'll finally have a lot more guarantees with the printing process itself* within the next few weeks and can finally start on some serious projects, and I'd like to do a full follow through on all of the steps for this one if I can. I'm leaning towards Hibbertopterus.

*Really does seem you can't make commitments while only owning one of these things, they never seem to work for more than a few weeks at a time!

I started these ducklings a few weeks ago as a proof of concept and a bit of a practice and haven't worked on them since then. I'm not fully satisfied with them, but I think I've gotten down how to make light feathers flow or "puff" depending.

[stargatedalek]

Apologies for the extremely delayed response, I was hoping to have some solid information right away last week but as it turned out I had some expectations that needed lowering.

First off; materials. I was hoping to have access to ABS or soft plastic material to print more fragile parts, but sadly both of these are currently beyond my reach. ABS produces nauseating fumes and though not dangerous strictly speaking still requires a lot of ventilation, and so I simply lack the infrastructure to use this material safely. Soft material in theory is within my grasp, but it requires very specific calibrations which would increase production time exponentially and will likely have a negative impact on detail anyway.

This does however come with some good news, basic PLA doesn't require any bells and whistles, and we've decided on the "basic but reliable" model of printer. I already have it in hand but it isn't set up yet. I'm hopeful I can start printing models within the next few weeks.

Some minor changes to my plans are necessitated, but overall things will continue as originally planned. The species lists for the first series of Forgotten and Bio-plastic remain unchanged, though there are going to be some pretty extreme changes to the Collector's Choice format.

Rather than producing X number of each species, a demo version of each species will be made and subsequent individual models will be started upon order. This allows you the buyer to specify things that only 3D printing would allow! You can not only choose from a predetermined list, but actively work with me to create and decide on the pose, base, and in most cases colour scheme of your model.

Every model is 3D printed and hand painted, with few exceptions most will have details sculpted by hand, and those that aren't large or detailed enough for this will be treated to minimize print lines and any print or assembly artifacts will of course be repaired. If desired, I can prepare a model as if it were a kit, for you to assemble and paint yourself.

Every Pica pica Games model is custom designed and built largely by hand just to fit your needs, and at prices comparable to molded and cast products because of the efficiency available using this 3D printing technology.

My "new" plans for the Collectors Choice line is to read any suggestions here for a location for the next few weeks, then together we can narrow things down from there. The idea is that each season of the line will have a diverse selection of animals that naturally coexist, each with its own base, and a little something extra along the lines of a skeleton, or perhaps a 1:1 skull, for the real anatomy nerds of us out there. The primary idea of this particular line is extant animals, primarily because this line is intended to be consistent in presentation and it's difficult to find "supplementary" material for extinct animals (fossil scans etc.), but there would of course be at least one extinct animal in a batch, potentially more depending on the location.

Some suggestions already are Yunnan Province in China, Northern Brazil, and Zambia, which are all wonderful options.