The “My Friend the Micronaut 2013” opening sounds like it was a huge success. There are a ton of pics on the Micronaut 2013 Tumblr page now, so thanks to everyone who attended and snapped some shots! The show’s webstore is now up on the Grass Hut site for your perusal. There are three Allarounds left for $150 each and the Blockman prototype for $275. I’m pleased to say that my 3D printed figures are in good company, as they are listed right alongside the incredible works of Brownnoize Productions. Sanjeev is cranking out some incredible stuff. His Shapeways-produced Powered Suit Fake Type is an multimedia tribute to the original Diaclone Powered Suit toy. What speaks to me more, however, is his home-printed Powered Bio Suit (PBS), a Diaclone Powered Suit scaled up to Microman size. I’ve been following this project behind the scenes for a while now, and I am so excited for Sanjeev to finally be debuting such a rad project. It’s funny that we both independently came to similar conclusions with what we wanted to do with our consumer-grade 3D printers. I am sure we will be seeing some Blockman and PBS crossovers in the future. There are also some other terrific Microman-centric works for sale in vinyl, PVC, canvas paintings, and more than one other 3D printed project, so make sure to check it all out on Grass Hut’s site.
“My Friend the Micronaut” is a yearly show at Grass Hut Art Market where artists from around the world display Microman/Micronaut-themed work. The show is the brainchild of Grasshut front man Bwana Spoons, who has done many Micro-themed pieces over the years. This year, I was asked to participate by show co-host Microbry, and I jumped at the opportunity. The Prometheus Rising Heavy Industries Allaround power suits are 1/18 scale, designed to look at home next to Micromen and their many robotic allies. The “Buffalo Squad” being deployed at Micronaut 2013 is the Allaround’s first release, done up in a Diaclone inspired scheme and given a proper PRS weathering treatment. These are also the first painted PRHI 3d printed figures to receive the acetone treatment, and I could not be happier with the results. Micronaut 2013 opens on August 1st, and hopefully there will be some good coverage! There are five Allaround figures, including a commander with the mag-rifle, being released at the show, and any figures not sold in person will go up on Grasshut’s online store.
I’ll be sure to put up a link to the show when it goes live. Microbry has set up a Tumblr page with details on the participating artists, and the lineup is great. Pay special attention to Brownnoize Productions. I’ve seen some of the 3D printed mecha goodness that Sanjeev is sending to the show and it is not to be missed. Also at the show will be the first completed test figure of the next Prometheus Rising Heavy Industries toy, which should blow up more than a few skirts when the photos start rolling in 😉
As soon as I posted the first Bounce Tortoise to come out of the acetone vapor treatment I have been experimenting with, I started getting requests for some kind video of my process and equipment. I spent the weekend working on a couple of Allarounds, so it seemed like the perfect time to shoot some video. Spend fifteen minutes with me and watch some Allaround parts go from the print bed to finished smooth, shiny acetone slicked parts ready for assembly.
The thing that has been slowing down Prometheus Rising Heavy Industries so far has been the post-processing and sanding of printed parts. Even though I was happy to leave some print texture on some parts of my figures, there was still plenty of cleanup that went into each figure. I have been hesitant to start a big production batch because the thought of all the sanding that would be needed was pretty intimidating. A couple weeks ago, an interesting post on the RepRap Blog for homebrew 3D printing made the Twitter rounds and kept being sent to me by different people that knew I was big on home printing.
When I redesigned the Bounce Tortoise, I made the leg bosters and backpack separate parts, allowing me to design other loadout modules for different Tortoise variants. After doing the highly mobile Bounce Tortoise, I knew I wanted to do something heavier. The Striking Tortoise was designed around a shoulder weapon mount backpack and shock-absorbing outriggers for the legs. The first heavy weapon I designed was the Saber Missile Pod. I have plenty of ideas for other artillery type weapons and a couple crazy things, but the clean geometry of a missile pod seemed like a great place to start. I kept the colors simple on this guy to keep the focus on the new accessories, but I could see some variation of these colors becoming a production scheme down the line.
The guys over at the Moderately Geeky Podcast put on a great show where they discuss what’s cool in action figures, movies, television, and whatever else they’re into. They are apparently interested in 3D printing and fans of homemade mecha toys, because they asked me to come on the show for an interview about Prometheus Rising Heavy Industries. We talked for around an hour in their latest episode, Episode 37 – The Overly Robot Edition.
For those asking, the Rise of the Robots show items are now available on FOE Gallery’s website. Four Bounce Tortoises went to the show for sale, and there are two remaining on their site. You can buy the 1/12 scale Bounce Tortoise Desert version and 1/24 scale Bounce Tortoise Metro version on FOE’s webstore here!
After painting the prototype 1/12 Bounce Tortoise green, it seemed obvious that the first production model would be tan. This suit has been assigned to a desert world deployment for too long and shows it. This unit also features a rotary armor piercing cannon instead of the standard beam cannon. He is on display and for sale at FOE Gallery’s Rise of the Robots Show.
For the Heavy Industries line’s debut at FOE, I wanted to run the range of finishes, so I needed a mostly clean 1/12 Bounce Tortoise in something other than green or military drab. A quick look at my shelves revealed the perfect color combination from one of my favorite franchises, Macross. Funky test-type tan and orange combines mecha legitimacy with sci-fi weirdness in just the right way. The Ostrich version Bounce Tortoise is on display and for sale at FOE Gallery’s Rise of the Robots Show.
The 1/24 scale Bounce Tortoise stands around four inches tall and features swivel joints at the shoulders and hips. It is the ‘Kenner Star Wars’ figure of the line, featuring simple construction with plenty of detail that fits in your coat pocket. This Tortoise is painted as a nod to my historical armor modeling with a mottled two-tone camo and more subtle weathering. It’s currently on display and available for sale at FOE Gallery’s Rise of the Robots Show.
The “My Friend the Micronaut 2013” opening sounds like it was a huge success. There are a ton of pics on the Micronaut 2013 Tumblr page now, so thanks to everyone who attended and snapped some shots! The show’s webstore is now up on the Grass Hut site for your perusal. There are three Allarounds left for $150 each and the Blockman prototype for $275. I’m pleased to say that my 3D printed figures are in good company, as they are listed right alongside the incredible works of Brownnoize Productions. Sanjeev is cranking out some incredible stuff. His Shapeways-produced Powered Suit Fake Type is an multimedia tribute to the original Diaclone Powered Suit toy. What speaks to me more, however, is his home-printed Powered Bio Suit (PBS), a Diaclone Powered Suit scaled up to Microman size. I’ve been following this project behind the scenes for a while now, and I am so excited for Sanjeev to finally be debuting such a rad project. It’s funny that we both independently came to similar conclusions with what we wanted to do with our consumer-grade 3D printers. I am sure we will be seeing some Blockman and PBS crossovers in the future. There are also some other terrific Microman-centric works for sale in vinyl, PVC, canvas paintings, and more than one other 3D printed project, so make sure to check it all out on Grass Hut’s site.
Prometheus Rising Studios 