Hasslefree Miniatures Releases Three New 28mm Miniatures

28OCT

Hasslefree Miniatures Releases Three New 28mm Miniatures

Author: admin  //  Category: 28mm, 28mm figures, 28mm miniatures, miniatures

One of the premiere 28mm Miniature companies, Hasslefree Miniatures, has just announced three new figures. The first is called “Destiny” and is part of their Adventurers line. She definitely packs a punch and resembles the late Rosalind Cash, queen of the drive-n movie circut. I’m dying to see what she’ll look like when painted.     The second is a new version of “Smudge” from their Pirates/Space Farers line. He’s a good doggie, the kind I’d want guarding the cargo bay of my starship.

Finally we have the metal version of rogue merchant Privateer Godwin. I’m impressed with the detail on the great coat

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Finally, Privateer Godwin has a female partner-on-the-seas, “Andreah”, who is due out next month. Very fetching hair style on this lady and love the heavy metal piece at her side.

Hasslefree has been producing 28mm miniatures since 2004. They are a family business run by Kevin and Sally White. It’s a family affair, with everyone pitching in out of their home in England. Kevin’s working in the miniature field since the early 90′s. I’ve purchased a number of 28mm miniatures from the company and all have been outstanding

28mm Miniatures Special: H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror and Other Stories

   From Japan comes three tales of American horror writer H.P. Lovecraft done with 28 miniatures(not sure of the exact size, but they appear to be close). The stories are shot on video with minimal movement and maximum eeriness. I’ve seen plenty of Lovecraftian adaptations over the years and this has to be the most original. This is part of a new direction in Japanese animation called Ga-nime. The DVD is not the easiest one to obtain, but it can be found at various anime sites. I highly recommend it.

From Wikipedia:

Ga-nime (画ニメ^?), a portmanteau of “illustration” (画 ga^?) and “anime“, is a relatively recent trend in Japanese animation to create highly aesthetic short anime films using non-traditional animation techniques, often directed by artists who have limited involvement with the anime industry. Typically, these films will utilize a series of illustrations accompanied by voice acting and music, with the only motion provided by extremely simplified limited animation, computer animation, camera movements such as panning and zooming, or stop-motion animation. They are generally produced by only a handful of staff members, with the director often writing, illustrating, or even scoring the piece themselves.

The end result is to create the video equivalent of a Night Gallery painting. American miniature artists can learn a lot from watching this production. Much of the video concerns the artists who create the set on which it is filmed. One of the extras has the Japanese miniature artists working on building the scenery for the production. It’s also astounding to see how much of a role sound plays in the production: when a figure ruffles through a book, you hear the pages shuffle.

Three stories are adapted: “The Picture in the House”, “The Dunwich Horror”, and “The Festival”. Although the dialogue is in Japanese, it is so limited as not to cause any problems if you don’t understand the language. Furthermore, the plot is easy to follow if you’ve read any of the stories. It helps to be familiar with the stories; I found “Picture” easier to follow than “Festival”. Furthermore, I should mention the miniatures are not animated, they are moved off-screen when the plot requires it. An American 28mm miniature sculptor or artist should follow the Japanese lead.      

Knights of the 28mm Miniatures

Knights are some of the most clever creations in the 28 miniature world. To create the armor and plates needed for this level of realism is astonishing. Here is fine examples which was sculpted by artist Oliver James using Procreate epoxy putty from the Kraftmark company:

 

The countless hours spent in creating these miniature figures are amazing.

One of the more impressive sculptors in this field is Tom Mason, who I was able to meet at GenCon and sit in on one of his classes. Here is one of his works:

I'm surprised that the sculptors don’t use video microscope projectors to show the detail to the assembled students as a way to highlight the incredible detail going into each of their productions. Many of these sculptors construct their own tools.

Here is a 28mm miniatures which was created for a proposed

Game of Thrones campaign by artist Tom Meier:

Note the fine detail which has gone into this figure. I had the privilege of watching this gentleman work at his GenCon booth years ago. I was transfixed to watch his hands create such small highlights from epoxy putty. It is truly magic to watch these artists at work.

Hobby Craft

Kraftmark has it's first outlet in Alaska: Hobby Craft. They are a prominent hobby store in Anchorage.

Steel Fist

Check out this knight sculpture by Mr. Oliver James. You can view many of his creations here

West Wind Productions

West Wind Productions becomes our latest retailer in the UK. They carry many interesting historical and fantasy miniatures.

Have a Kraftmark New Year!

We at Kraftmark would like to think everyone who made 2010 a smashing success. We couldn’t have done it without all of you.
Everyone at Kraftmark, from the Developmental Research Facility, to the Global Transport Division, to all of our foreign branches, wishes you and yours a Happy Holiday and productive New Year.