The Taproom

This topic has 6,719 replies, 38 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by Barliman.

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December 14, 2008 at 9:17 pm #3874
Barliman
Participant
I know what you mean about the exchange rate, Master Dave. Paying for three mounted Fellowship figures just about tapped me out! The cost was more horrible than Nob.

And the answer to your query, Master Marshal, is that The Man has specifically mentioned three new ranges to me in the past few weeks.
December 15, 2008 at 1:06 am #3875
jdbrown55
Participant
Are these including the Easterlings or are they on their own?
December 15, 2008 at 6:29 am #3876
Barliman
Participant
Well we’ve known about the Easterlings for years (literally…), so they hardly count as ‘the past few weeks’ – in which case the answer should be pretty clear, I think.
December 15, 2008 at 3:09 pm #3878
Gavin
Participant
ddaines wrote:

I just hope the £ improves against the Euro , and soon.

I feel your pain. Now you know how it feels like for me, mostly

However, I need a new game board. The old one has mold on it. I have been on-and-off tempted by GW’s realm of battle game board. I can make one. But I am tempted by the fact that the thing looks to be quite transportable – and I am moving sometime in the next few months. (I was meant to move before, but it will happen eventually). If I make something from plywood and styrofoam and plaster, I won’t be able to guarantee the same.

Kinda half thinking of ordering one of the boards from Maelstrom games, having it shipped to my brother in London and getting him to send it to me in Canada – still save me about 40 euro in total. But its a lot of money either way.

Gavin
December 16, 2008 at 4:01 pm #3891
Gildor
MMP Elder
Gentlemen,

in a day or two the Pony and all its appending services will be closed for a short maintenance….
You can find all the details already posted on the Flowing Waters of Ekkaia section.

Thanks for your understanding…

Master Butterbur, could you be so kind as to begin closing the casks , ask for Nob and Bob to tend to everything so that everything is ready for closing… and an reopening in time for Christmas
December 16, 2008 at 4:55 pm #3892
Barliman
Participant
That’s a relief – I make my best turnover during the Yule overdrinking season. I’ll get Nob to kick everyone out in good time for the decorators, but can we leave the Tree up? It would be a sore trial to have to decorate him all over again.
December 16, 2008 at 11:11 pm #3897
Gildor
MMP Elder
mithril.faerylands.eu is up and operational… please pass the word around you…

the forum MMP has not been migrated , it will be during next week – and mithril.faerylands.eu still works for a couple of days…
December 17, 2008 at 8:44 am #3900
Theobald
Participant
Huuooooommmmmm … so, you want to leave me here all alone, Master Barliman? …. huom … you asked me not to move, as far as I remember …. rhuoommmm … alas
December 17, 2008 at 9:58 am #3901
Barliman
Participant
Sorry about that, but I know you aren’t a hasty chap so I didn’t think you’d mind. It will give you time to mull over the changing seasons or the colour of the sky (I’ll leave the curtains apart) or whatever it is that trees think about.

Oh, and I finally got my Dol Amroth chaps yesterday. These are very much up to the standard I was expecting, and reminded me again of something we haven’t commented on for a while – the precision with which multi-part Mithril figures fit together. It always makes me wonder why other manufacturers invariably have such difficulty achieving this.
December 17, 2008 at 12:11 pm #3902
hsf62
Participant
Barliman wrote:

It always makes me wonder why other manufacturers invariably have such difficulty achieving this.

That is very easy Master Barliman…. because they are not Mithrils!
December 18, 2008 at 7:32 am #3906
ESTEL
Participant
hsf62 wrote:

Barliman wrote:

It always makes me wonder why other manufacturers invariably have such difficulty achieving this.

That is very easy Master Barliman…. because they are not Mithrils!

Yes, hsf62 is absolutely right, this indeed must be the one and only answer.

Maybe it is, because Mithril has more “old-fashioned” production methods, while other companies do mass-producing. So we as customers always have to answer ourselves, what we want: high price products + high quality or low quality + higher price products. 😆

NAMARIE
estel

AND: a lovely Christmas to all visitors in this bar (except those Orc-scum from outside, writing bad things onto Barlis beloved walls !!) !
December 18, 2008 at 8:53 am #3908
Barliman
Participant
I think the precision fitting may also have a lot to do with the fact that Mithril still use good (?) old-fashioned lead, whereas other companies use assorted non-toxic alloys that suffer from unpredictable shrinkage problems.
December 18, 2008 at 10:52 am #3909
hsf62
Participant
You also could cast Mithrils in this alloy without any lead and they still would fit together, because there are two very important people working on this fit. One is Chris who gives these little guys the special flair and makes sure they fit together and the other one is the mouldmaker who fits these guys into the mould to ensure no detail is lost.
If these two people work the way they do here with our beloved Mithril, the parts fit together.
Others don’t go into that much detail and then it is not a surprise the parts don’t fit together.
The metal is not really the importantpart.
December 18, 2008 at 11:23 am #3910
Barliman
Participant
I’ll bow to your technical knowledge, though I’m assured by many of my contacts that the metal is often an issue, and that lead is indeed the best medium.
December 18, 2008 at 1:33 pm #3911
Gildor
MMP Elder
So I may have some information here…
First the mouldmaker at Mithril is Dan Joe… Then the alloy

This info can be found on PrinceAugust site … Though there is indeed lead in the alloy, the details and sharpness are due to the proportions used by the other metals used in this special, exclusive, PA alloy “Model Metal” or their 5Star Metal (without lead)
there is Tin (to replace lead mostly), Bismuth and Antimony ( one is to lower the fusion point, the other is for fluidity and thus capacity of detail) I am no expert and master hsf62 will certainly have more info than me, but I tried myself at casting … once, with the Warforge elves army and I bought several ingots of this casting metal.. It is awesome how it is easy to cast and all the details it keeps.

In the end the conclusion would be to quote Prince August expertise in castings… with great talent sculptors… it is not especially Mithril… Now if you look at Pegaso Models or Andrea Miniatures you can reach such a level of details but ONLY on the 54mm figurines, andrea 32mm is far less goodlooking than Mithril (but I suspect it is only due to the sculptor, not the caster)
December 18, 2008 at 2:00 pm #3912
Barliman
Participant
Thanks for the info, Master Elf. I’ve often wondered how well the PA Elves would cast up, so your comments on that score are reassuring. I actually bought a set of moulds myself, but have never as yet found the time to do anything with them. Looking after the bar takes too much time! But I iontend to try one day. Someon said they come out a bit ‘flat’. What’s your own view?
December 18, 2008 at 3:23 pm #3913
Gildor
MMP Elder
their native design make them look flat (and actually their helmet too…. I don’t like their helmet) but it also depends if you press the two parts too strongly maybe?
in the end most of mine look cool and rather mithril like but you can’t expect a level of detail and flawless casting from a “public” mould and series…. they are not as smooth as the mithril ones but in an army involving both mithril and warforge they would be excellent (in dioramas etc)… the painting would help a lot…. the base though is not rectangular but oval…. but well, in dioramas you usually remove the base…
December 18, 2008 at 10:12 pm #3914
Gavin
Participant
The PA 32mm Elves look…well, not bad. I am not terribly fond of them. I don’t hate them either. The helmets and designs definitely put me in mind of a sort of Last Alliance or even Black Sword era elf design. I converted a few of the High Elf types I had (look on my gallery on the Mithril site), taking the heads from the PA Wood Elves. I did cast up a few High elves to serve as the Fellowship Thranduil’s guard for the still unpainted Battle of the Five Armies diorama. If I have time in the next few weeks, I’ll paint a few up and upload the pictures here.

Gavin
December 18, 2008 at 10:29 pm #3915
Barliman
Participant
I lshall ook forward to seeing them. Maybe they’ll inspire me to (try to find the time to) cast up some myself. I’ve never in my life done any casting thus far, so it will be … er, interesting.
December 18, 2008 at 11:30 pm #3916
Gavin
Participant
It’s reasonably straightforward, but its kinda labour intensive and frustrating too. You can cast a dozen figures using the exact same method – and maybe get two “perfect” castings.

Ya know, I might be willing to cast you a few, if you want.
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