New Era for Mithril ?

Unfortunately……

well, after 12 months of silence (yes, twelve months), I finally reached out and got an email from Chris Tubb… at last but not least, he provided me with some good news mostly regarding those new technologies and line of work

As he allowed me to partake with the info here are some insights:
“So much digitally produced stuff looks generic and “soul-less” and I was very anxious to avoid this. I think a lot of designers use the pre-made figures, hands, accessories that come with the program, but I avoided this and made everything myself. I sculpted a lot of heads and hands etc in clay at slightly larger size and scanned them into the program , so as to keep the right look. I also scanned in existing Mithril figures and had them sitting next to my new sculpts on the screen to get the sizes and proportions right. There is also a tendency among 3D designers to over-detail everything, as detail is so easy to replicate and I think this also needs to be avoided. […] The good news is that the workflow is a LOT faster now and many projects that were unfeasible with traditional modelling have now become more realistic.As well as being up to date with the Fellowship releases I am already working on a new set of regular Mithril releases. […] I have used several printers in the last months but the best so far, on which the Mithril figures are printed is a Projet 3000. I have some figures on the table in front of me as I write and I am very pleased with them”

well these are some good news I think… I was curious and looked for some exampled of 3d prints with Projet HD 3000, take a look here :
http://www.pdmodels.co.uk/en/articles/portfolio/3d_printed_miniatures

Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to seeing what this “new set of regular Mithril releases” will turn out to be. Mastering this new technique certainly seems to have enthused The Man. Excellent news.

Hi !
I “up” this thread because I was wondering about the new Mithril Range..
I’ve had some explanations with all your comments, dear gentlemen of all races, so many thanks !
But … maybe I’ve missed something , how they are casted ?
They print only the master and then used this one to do the mould and cast the figures in metal like in the old time ?
Or another way ?

[… my comeback in the MMP gives me a regain of interest for Mithril figs …and it’s not the lonely question I have… I will check other pages first ]

well .. that’s “on the air” now …for the better and the worse !

Maybe, in the future we (well … not necessarily me ! ) could buy only the 3D file and print the figures at home !
And then it could be possible to modify the file for doing conversions ! 😎
Far easier maybe ?

By now I gave up hoping that the new way of producing the figures (Z-brush) could one day cope again with the “old way” of production. I think, unfortunately too many things have been massively changed to the worse. My major disappointment is based on a poor quality of so many “MZ-figures”, sometimes a lack in craftsmanship in casting and last but not least on the way the company gave up one of its very significant characteristics (the grey primer!). The publication (pictures) of the figures are simply based on computer-renderings which sometimes have (in detail) nothing to do with what you get once you bought them. To me that comes a bit too close to cheating in some cases. Finally that good-old fine quality of an easy assembling of several parts of some of the figures I also do miss very much.

Yes, you get it right. I am very sad about this development and not only “slightly” disappointed.

Hi everybody,
I want to buy the reference MS 494, “Haradrian chieftain”, but after what I have just read, I can ask the following questions: Did you have this model in your hands ? and since it seems to be an old reference, does it have the same qualities ?
Thank you for your answers.
PS : In case of a positive opinion, if you have an extra MS 494, I am interested, I find it splendid !

New figures are much more better than the first one in MZ series…that’s my comment… Improvement is more than visible.

After this coronavirus pandemic, new recesion will make them much more shrinked than are the present miniatures…. 😆

That’s what I was expecting before buying any MZ reference.
I only bought the first one, and got VERY disappointed with it’s quality. (the quality I would expect from a metal miniature that costs 15-25€)
I might try to get a couple of them then, to check it for myself.

Which reference would you say that marks that change, dear Master Thingol? (even if it’s approximate)