The Scruby 54mm figures have been neglected for far too long, as such part of our plan for 2009 is to begin re-releasing these figures. The original plan was to produce (at least) one new release a month starting in March (we missed March, but have figures in the works for April).
Early in February I finally had a chance to start working on this project. The first task was to sort the masters and patterns. The first pass at sorting was completed and three groupings were made in an effort to define our initial work. These first three grouping fall into the following eras: AWI, Napoleonic and ACW; Colonial came in a close fourth (plenty more figures, just not yet classified).
The next task was/is to reconcile the catalog listings with the masters/patterns. This requires pulling the molds for each of the figures listed in the Scruby Catalog and then performing a visual comparison between the master/pattern castings on the mold cavities. We then catalog the results. Now we have a master spreadsheet which contains Casting part numbers, Catalog descriptions, Scruby Mold Ids and Master/pattern status.
I chose to start with the ACW figures. Why ACW? Two of the main reasons for this are:
1) I’ve been working on ACW projects of late, so ACW was on my mind.
2) Restoration of masters fro ACW is a lot easier than restoration for AWI or Napoleonic.
I now have a spreadsheet which details the status of the 30 (ACW) castings from the last Scruby Catalog (I have another 6 or 8 older figures to add to the list as well). Of the 30 figures in the list we have masters/patterns for about half. Some of the existing masters/patterns are in need of minor repairs (broken bayonets and such). These repairs are easy enough, so I have no worries about those. We run into problems when it comes to the missing masters/patterns. In some cases I can pull the original gravity molds (used by Scruby to make pattern figures from the original masters) and work with those. However some of these are missing or in such poor condition that they are unusable. Where I do not have a usable gravity mold, I need to resort to more drastic measures. The more drastic measures include creating brand new sculpts in the Scruby style. Other times I can take a casting from an old production mold (99.5% of which are in very poor condition) and work back towards a replacement master. While this approach is a lot of work, it can produce figures that are nearly indistinguishable from Scruby’s originals. I’ve previously rescued some 40mm figures using this method – when my figure is viewed alongside a Scruby original it is very difficult to tell which is which is original and which is new.
When restoring (or creating new) masters I’ve decided that as much as possible I will work using the same methods/techniques used by Scruby. Materials used include: Solder, brass sheet, paper, latex paint and wax (I do try to avoid wax due to its low melting temperature). Sometimes, I need to use more modern materials such as Green Stuff, Procreate and Super Sculpy.
So far I’ve made a good start on two of the ACW figures (TT-81 – Kepi at attention and TT-119 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer, 1861 uniform, on guard). The work is progressing quite well and I should have these new masters completed by the close of the weekend. So far both pieces are all metal, but I may need to use a bit of Procreate on TT-119; getting the blanket/bed roll just right may require some softer material. I’ve lined up a few more figures to work on and I’ll be sure to report on my progress as the project continues. I’ll need to swing away from 54mm for a few days as I need to complete a couple of 40mm projects that are overdue, but I don’t expect those projects to take too much time.
We are thinking about starting a pre-order program for the 54mm figures. The program would be called “Club 54” and it would help us to prioritize our restorations & re-releases. Additionally, knowing that we have X figures pre-sold will make it easer to invest in the new molds. I’m still sorting out the details for the pre-order program (determining factors such as cost for each pre-ordered piece and pre-orders required) so we should reach a decision on how the program will work some time in the next week or two.
That about wraps things up for today, by next time we should have some news on a new Resistant Roosters release (I want to be sure sculpting has begun before we announce what we are working on) and if all goes according to plan we should have more releases in the Bloodaxe Moro Rebellion range…