So if you've been following this blog over the last couple months you'll know there's been a series of changes to it. I deployed an entire new theme for the website giving it a cleaner more stream lined look and improved the navigational abilities in the website. I expanded my model exploration to beyond Warhammer 40,000 into Gundam Models. Well now I am expanding again, but this time into social media. Yes, I now have a Facebook page, and a Twitter account. The primary points for these venues are to get more exposure to the blog so while I'll post little tidbits on Facebook and Twitter, they will be with the focus of announcing new posts here on the blog. So want to follow me? Please do. I have also launched a YouTube channel where I will be posting video tutorials, project logs and additional information. All of this info will likewise be viewable on this site but still be available on the YouTube Channel who find it beneficial to see what I'm talking about. The Channel can be found here.
As a compliment to my new YouTube channel I've added another new page to the website that will list the videos and keep them organized.
Facebook Twitter YouTube
I'm also making a bit of a change to how I work with this website. If you look at the “Projects” page you see new context there, including a "Upcoming Projects" section. Well that is where I will be listing projects I am intending to get to or have purchased the materials to undertake but have not yet begun work on. This is intended to do two things; one is give my readers an eye into what I'm going to be working on over the next couple months and two help remind me what I had intended to do when I bought stuff. Yeah I suffer from the 'AW! That'd be cool!" syndrome of I'll have an idea for something, get the stuff to do it, can't start on it right away, so I put the stuff on hold and get back to it a few weeks or months later... and I've forgotten what my exact plans for the model was. So the "Upcoming Projects" section will be a place where I can list that sort of information and give you guys some previews of what I'm going be working on in the hopefully not too-distant future.
The blog is also going to be moving to a 2 post per week schedule with posts being made on Monday and Friday. This is largely so that the posts themselves will be worth reading. See I can make 3-5 semi-short posts a week, or I can make 2-3 solid length posts a week. What do I mean by that? Well a semi-short post is a post that amounts to about ¼ a typed page worth of content. It may have a couple pictures, but once everything is really said and done these types of posts amount to little more than “Hey I got this done. Looks cool, huh?” A solid length post is a post that when rendered into a typed page will be ½ page or more. How long will this be here on the blog? Well here’s a point of reference, this post up to this point is 1 page. This new posting schedule will begin next Monday. So just to be clear, that does mean that there is not going to be a post on Friday of this week.
Now, there is something else special I have to talk about. In the past I have talked about the quality of Dragon Forge Designs bases for 28mm scaled miniatures. Well over the last couple years I’ve gotten to know Jeff, the owner and operator of Dragon Forge Designs, quit well and a couple days ago he told me he was putting together a Kickstarter for a new set of bases. Hoping to help him by getting the word out about his Kickstarter, and to help my site out by getting more readers, I asked if he would do an interview with the Resurrected Hobbyist and he agreed.
So Jeff, my readers have seen me talk about Dragon Forge Design’s bases, and I’ve always been enthusiastic about my estimation of their quality. What was it that got you into working on models originally?
When I was about 8 years old, I got a World War II air plane kit. I can’t remember if it was a Warhawk or a Spitfire, but regardless I can remember it was a lot of fun to put together. With that under my wing, I’ve been putting stuff together for 40 years now because of that.
What was it that motivated you to begin making bases?
I was building an Imperial Guard Army with themed bases. And I had to make the same thing over and over again for each model.
I can see how being able to make 10 bases 3 times, rather than one base 30 times, by casting, for something like an Imperial Guard army would have its appeal. Can you tell us a little bit about your bases and how you make them?
The biggest challenge in the process is coming up with an idea and then developing that idea into a concept. I tend to spend a lot of time on Google, looking for references and images. Once I have some good reference images and a more solid idea, I work out more specific details by sketching. Once I have the sketches complete, I can actually get into the process of creating my masters, collecting the materials I need and sculpting parts as needed.
Now you have several different sets of bases. How do you develop the concept for each set? For instance, how do you define the difference between your Ancient Ruins set and your Lost Empires set?
It varies a lot between the different sets. The easiest answer is to say I wanted to give the Lost Empires set a more alien feel to it, like it could be a lost non-human empire, while the Ancient Ruins would be something more human.
Speaking of ancient ruins, you've recently announced that you will be starting a Kickstarter for a new addition to the Ancient Ruins series of bases. Can you tell us a little about that?
Ancient Ruins is one of the older series I have yet it is still very popular. It has needed an update as it was always requested. I decided to use the Kickstarter process as a means to both announce the release of the expanded series and to get greater exposure for it.
I've used the Ancient Ruins set myself several times. It does add a considerable amount of characters to a model, particularly with armies like Word Bearer Chaos Space Marines, or Black Templar Space Marines. What kind of update is it going to be getting? Will the current range get replaced by new sculpts or are you adding more designs to the existing range?
Nothing is being replaced. The Ancient Ruins series will be getting an expansion through the Kickstarter. The new bases will ultimately be available on my site (http://www.dragonforge.com) once the Kickstarter pledges have been filled. The expansion will add additional bases in all of the sizes, everything from 25mm up to the large Knight Titan sized bases.
Nice, so this Kickstarter will effectively be doubling the size of the Ancient Ruins range. What kind of Time frame are you looking at getting the pledges completed?
Everything will need be sculpted and molded. Honestly, time frame for completion will all depend on the size of the pledges from the Kickstarter. It’ll be easier to cast a $4,000 worth of bases, then say $30,000 worth of bases. I’m a one man operation so I need to protect myself and give a date far enough in the future to make sure I can meet it. I want to avoid becoming one of those people who promises that something will be ready in X months, and then two years later I’m still working on completing it. Since this is my first Kickstarter, I can’t honestly say how long it will take to meet all the pledges.
I can appreciate your situation and I feel my readers will as well. You're only one person, and while you produce exceedingly high quality products, the tradeoff for that high quality is the time factor. But I will stand by my prior statements, regarding your products, that as long as the quality remains as high as it currently is, I have no problems waiting 4-6 weeks for an order. Thank you for your time Jeff, and I’ll be looking forward to the Kickstarter when you get it up. Just a reminder to my readers, the Dragon Forge Kickstarter should be up with in the week. And I’m sure all of my readers will be checking it out. I will be posting a link to the Kickstarter when it goes live.
As a compliment to my new YouTube channel I've added another new page to the website that will list the videos and keep them organized.
Facebook Twitter YouTube
I'm also making a bit of a change to how I work with this website. If you look at the “Projects” page you see new context there, including a "Upcoming Projects" section. Well that is where I will be listing projects I am intending to get to or have purchased the materials to undertake but have not yet begun work on. This is intended to do two things; one is give my readers an eye into what I'm going to be working on over the next couple months and two help remind me what I had intended to do when I bought stuff. Yeah I suffer from the 'AW! That'd be cool!" syndrome of I'll have an idea for something, get the stuff to do it, can't start on it right away, so I put the stuff on hold and get back to it a few weeks or months later... and I've forgotten what my exact plans for the model was. So the "Upcoming Projects" section will be a place where I can list that sort of information and give you guys some previews of what I'm going be working on in the hopefully not too-distant future.
The blog is also going to be moving to a 2 post per week schedule with posts being made on Monday and Friday. This is largely so that the posts themselves will be worth reading. See I can make 3-5 semi-short posts a week, or I can make 2-3 solid length posts a week. What do I mean by that? Well a semi-short post is a post that amounts to about ¼ a typed page worth of content. It may have a couple pictures, but once everything is really said and done these types of posts amount to little more than “Hey I got this done. Looks cool, huh?” A solid length post is a post that when rendered into a typed page will be ½ page or more. How long will this be here on the blog? Well here’s a point of reference, this post up to this point is 1 page. This new posting schedule will begin next Monday. So just to be clear, that does mean that there is not going to be a post on Friday of this week.
Now, there is something else special I have to talk about. In the past I have talked about the quality of Dragon Forge Designs bases for 28mm scaled miniatures. Well over the last couple years I’ve gotten to know Jeff, the owner and operator of Dragon Forge Designs, quit well and a couple days ago he told me he was putting together a Kickstarter for a new set of bases. Hoping to help him by getting the word out about his Kickstarter, and to help my site out by getting more readers, I asked if he would do an interview with the Resurrected Hobbyist and he agreed.
So Jeff, my readers have seen me talk about Dragon Forge Design’s bases, and I’ve always been enthusiastic about my estimation of their quality. What was it that got you into working on models originally?
What was it that motivated you to begin making bases?
I was building an Imperial Guard Army with themed bases. And I had to make the same thing over and over again for each model. I can see how being able to make 10 bases 3 times, rather than one base 30 times, by casting, for something like an Imperial Guard army would have its appeal. Can you tell us a little bit about your bases and how you make them?The biggest challenge in the process is coming up with an idea and then developing that idea into a concept. I tend to spend a lot of time on Google, looking for references and images. Once I have some good reference images and a more solid idea, I work out more specific details by sketching. Once I have the sketches complete, I can actually get into the process of creating my masters, collecting the materials I need and sculpting parts as needed. Now you have several different sets of bases. How do you develop the concept for each set? For instance, how do you define the difference between your Ancient Ruins set and your Lost Empires set? It varies a lot between the different sets. The easiest answer is to say I wanted to give the Lost Empires set a more alien feel to it, like it could be a lost non-human empire, while the Ancient Ruins would be something more human. Speaking of ancient ruins, you've recently announced that you will be starting a Kickstarter for a new addition to the Ancient Ruins series of bases. Can you tell us a little about that?Ancient Ruins is one of the older series I have yet it is still very popular. It has needed an update as it was always requested. I decided to use the Kickstarter process as a means to both announce the release of the expanded series and to get greater exposure for it.I've used the Ancient Ruins set myself several times. It does add a considerable amount of characters to a model, particularly with armies like Word Bearer Chaos Space Marines, or Black Templar Space Marines. What kind of update is it going to be getting? Will the current range get replaced by new sculpts or are you adding more designs to the existing range?Nothing is being replaced. The Ancient Ruins series will be getting an expansion through the Kickstarter. The new bases will ultimately be available on my site (http://www.dragonforge.com) once the Kickstarter pledges have been filled. The expansion will add additional bases in all of the sizes, everything from 25mm up to the large Knight Titan sized bases. Nice, so this Kickstarter will effectively be doubling the size of the Ancient Ruins range. What kind of Time frame are you looking at getting the pledges completed?Everything will need be sculpted and molded. Honestly, time frame for completion will all depend on the size of the pledges from the Kickstarter. It’ll be easier to cast a $4,000 worth of bases, then say $30,000 worth of bases. I’m a one man operation so I need to protect myself and give a date far enough in the future to make sure I can meet it. I want to avoid becoming one of those people who promises that something will be ready in X months, and then two years later I’m still working on completing it. Since this is my first Kickstarter, I can’t honestly say how long it will take to meet all the pledges.I can appreciate your situation and I feel my readers will as well. You're only one person, and while you produce exceedingly high quality products, the tradeoff for that high quality is the time factor. But I will stand by my prior statements, regarding your products, that as long as the quality remains as high as it currently is, I have no problems waiting 4-6 weeks for an order. Thank you for your time Jeff, and I’ll be looking forward to the Kickstarter when you get it up. Just a reminder to my readers, the Dragon Forge Kickstarter should be up with in the week. And I’m sure all of my readers will be checking it out. I will be posting a link to the Kickstarter when it goes live. 
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