Happy Friday All!

The Digital Files have been sent via backerkit and My Mini Factory.  You should be able to access these now and have a full weekend(s) of printing!

We included Full Models of the Queen and the Characters. The lackeys and warriors are all separated bodies and heads. The skitterlings and spiderlings are also included and fun to look at.  

We only included the parts of the spider instead of a whole model because she is hugemongus! Marrowgnaw had to be separated into 4 file sections:

Physical Reward Backers

For those of you who don't have a 3D printer, you still might like to see the files and models up close.  There is a free 3D Viewer if you use windows or you can download it HERE. This viewer can open the .STL files and you can twist, turn and zoom the model to see Queen Bargnot and other in all their digital glory.  You can also google and find other free 3D viewers for your chosen operating system.

When you get your physical rewards, it is always fun to see how close we came to maintaining the fidelity of the models in the mass produced form too. That said, I encourage you to check it out if you have time.

Final Happy Yet Revealed

So....  We were having a meeting and like our meetings always do, they meander through lots of topics.  We were talking about doing the full terrain set and other things and one of us had the idea to make a trophy for your players when you conquer the hideout.  So wham, bam thank you ma'am (err your highness), Paul cranked out this little wall mount for your game room...

A small one of these will be in every physical box and is a perfect decoration for your player's local tavern. It also blows up nicely! We intend to make one of these for all the adventures we complete from Where Evil Lives. We will make a full 6-8" tall model available on our website a little later this year.  This is perfect for any life sized game room.

That wraps up this update. We are excited to get this digital rewards fulfilled and head toward the physical mailings soon. If you have any questions, be sure to comment or reach out to [email protected].

Thanks!
Dave

Join us HERE

or on twitch HERE

Howdy All,

Paul is online painting warriors and lackeys right now.

  Tune in here on the project page...

Thanks!
Dave

Happy July Everyone!

The heat dome over Utah, USA has set in for the long haul! We are in the 105 F neighborhood just outside the casting mines and afternoon temps in the shop are hitting 90+. Don't worry though, we take plenty of breaks, stay hydrated and take off early so we don't have too much heat stress to sap our energy and brain power.

Let's talk minis!  We've been diligently chipping away at your models and have some great stuff to talk about today. In this update we have...

Digital File Delivery!!!

Yes! The digital files are in the final prep stage for zips and loading to the distribution platforms. We expect to send your digital files to all backers sometime next week. We will be using the backerkit distribution list since every pledge level received the digital bundle too. For those who specifically ordered the Digital Goblin Box, we will add them to the MyMiniFactory site for you to download there as well. We realized too late that not all backers would want the files or MyMiniFactory spam and we will not be adding everyone's email to the MMF site. If you are a physical backer and want your email added to MMF, contact us and let us know.

Master Resin How To

We've been casting resin for over 10 years now and have built A LOT of models. The process steps through the digital modeling of the sprue, print masters and resin masters (blues).  We will save the resin production process for another update.

First off, we digitally model the sprue. With more dynamic models we have to 'cheat' our way to a 3D shape with a bunch of parts that can be made flat then assembled. We cut the model up into as few pieces as possible (one piece is best!) and lay them out in a poured sprue format. We have to consider how the liquid resin will flow to the lowest point and how the air that is there will escape during the vacuum process.

Next, we print a master part (or several) on our printers. The master prints retain many of the supports because it is easier to clean the supports on a resin master part. These master prints are fitted with a pour reservoir and then go into a master mold of very soft silicone. In the example below, we have printed several of the same masters to make a master mold so that we can make 10-15 master copies of the part quickly. If we only had one master it would take a week to the copies instead of a day.

Once we have our master mold, we make first generation blue castings. We use blue resin in our shop to make sure we never mix a master part with the normal grey resin we use in production. Yes, if you are wondering, we have accidentally shipped older grey masters to customers. A few of you might even have 'first generation' MCDM dragons if you've been with us that long!

The blue masters are then cleaned and replicated in mass so we can make production molds. This is how we 'blow out' the models so we can get the production cavities we need to make piles of the same goblin! We make several production molds for each goblin sprue in order to get to our desired order size in a reasonable timeframe.  In the case of Jagged Edge Hideaway, we will need 550 Loot Goblins so we will make about 6 production molds with 5 cavities each.

We will show the production molding and resin casting process in a later update.

Build and Paint Next Week

Next week beginning at 1pm MST on Monday we will be live streaming every afternoon while we build and paint the Jagged Edge Hideaway models. Paul is going to clean and assemble all the goblins in the box and then paint them throughout the week. 

All streaming will start at 1pm MST and run for 2 to 3 hours, maybe longer depending. We will send a reminder at that time and also on all our social media. We intend to sort out how to load this to our Trenchworx Media channel so you can watch these later if you like.

This is our tentative schedule...

I'm excited to see the streaming next week as we finally get to show off all the goblins and get our hands dirty.

Final Steps to Physical Delivery

We are now heavy into manufacturing of the kits. We think we will be able to start shipping pledges about the end of the month or during the first full week of August. Considering that, we will be closing the pledge manager and pre-order portal in the next week or so. At close we will lock addresses and get ready to ship!

That's a Wrap for this Week

Be sure to tune in a day or two or all five next week where you'll have a chance to talk with Paul while he is building goblins! He might even drop a few hints to the next lair(s) we have lined up. Thanks again, have a great weekend and most of all... STAY COOL!!!

Dave

Check it out HERE...

Happy Tuesday,

Join us as Paul builds and paints Morkey and Looty.

HERE

or HERE on Twitch

Thanks!
Dave

Afternoon All,

Today we will share what it takes to get the siocast parts of a model made.  We have to make about 13,000 of these little buggers and Siocast is the perfect medium for the warriors and lackeys. Siocast is a nylon based plastic material and is very durable and quick to cast.

How do we get to a finished siocast part? Step by Step Guide...

Finish Marrowgnaw and Howdah Sculpt!

Paul worked Marrowgnaw up over the last couple of months and she is a very impressive model suitable for any dungeon or game table! Paul has been printing and modifying other peoples models for 10 years at Trenchworx and had never had an opportunity to make a model from scratch. Not to be daunted by any formidable task, Paul chose Marrowgnaw as his first beast to sculpt! I think you'll agree with me that he has done a fine job!

That wraps up this week's update. We've still got a lot of other updates and manufacturing pics we want to share so stay tuned!

Thanks!
Dave

TGIF!!!

We just got Ulgna who was the last hero left to complete. The Goblin Box is shaping up to be a really nice kit of models!

With the final goblin foot troops in hand we can move on to the mastering step next week. The goblin characters will be going through our resin casting process with some fiddley bits as 3D prints on a few of the models. The Warriors and Lackeys will be siocast with 3D printed interchangeable heads. We will start showing off the mastering and manufacturing process and how we get from start to finish as well as a few tricks of the trade we think you will enjoy.

The Marrowgnaw model is complete along with the removable howdah. We are finishing up the goblins found on that sweet ride and the spider swarm that erupts from Marrowgnaw's corpse  when   IF she dies! Not to mention the elusive Skitterling!

Pledge Manager and Shipping

Nearly all of you have confirmed your orders. You will soon see an email confirming the order lock and final confirmation. Then the add-ons and shipping will charge your payment method on file. We were originally looking at a September fulfilment but since we do everything ourselves, we will be pulling that forward to this summer. This is very exciting because it will allow us start the next lair right after!

That wraps up this week's update and we hope all of you have a nice holiday weekend.

Thanks!
Dave

Hello All,

We hope you've had a great weekend. We've made some steady progress on the character models over the last couple of weeks as well as some prototypes for fit. We are spending more time on the characters since we want to do those in our traditional resin to really show off the details. Below are screen shots of the characters we've completed. Bill has done an excellent job capturing all of the details and adding a few new ones!

Over the next few weeks we should be finishing up the final models. Those include the goblins riding the howdah, the skitterlings, the spider swarm, Morkey the Assassin, Forcan the Curse Spitter and Ulgna the Goblin Spinecleaver (he's last cause he's huge).

We've also been processing some test prints of the models and will show those next time.

Surveys

The surveys have been sent and over 600 have responded. We are looking to charge shipping on Monday, June 3rd. If you haven't completed yours yet, you have a couple more weeks to do so.

The responses to the open question on what you want have been terrific! We've narrowed down the next project to a few choices as well as some critters we plan to publish direct to website later this year.

We were also really excited to see so many add-ons picked up. We will make sure to include more of the past MCDM models in the next project's pledge manager. This fella has been the most popular!

That wraps it up for this week. If you have any questions please be sure to ask. We don't bite!

Thanks!
Dave

Good Morning All,

We hope your April has been going well. We've been busy here planning and plotting model making activities and are excited to share our progress with you.

Lackeys and Warriors

Bill has been sculpting away at our favorite gobbos and has submitted the 4 Lackeys and 3 Warriors for final detailing and manufacturing modifications.

Once we get our models from the sculptor, we have a first pass review for the changes we need to make and note any features we need to add. This includes figuring out where we need fills to make sure the model forms during the casting process. For these fellas, we decided to pull their heads off as 3D print so we could have open mouths, toothy grins and nice undercuts at the neck lines. We intend to use a post for the neck and a socket for the head and make these are interchangeable between models. We also name the models so we know what quality checks we need to make during manufacturing. Plus, all models need names, its just cool. We will share their final form in a future update.

Painted Marrowgnaw

Paul finished painting Marrowgnaw after the live stream.  He is currently working on sculpting the removable platform that holds the goblins. Models get placed in the most unusual spots in our shop and here, we get to see Marrowgnaw storming the beaches of Normandy alongside some other figures.

Pledge Manager Inbound!!!

We've spent time the last few weeks getting our pledge manager setup. We've added some extra goodies as add-ons and broken out a few individual kits we think you might like to have. In the next few days we will be sending an email letting you know that the manager is ready to go.  We are aiming to close the pledge manager in early June so we can finalize manufacturing and get these kits on their way to you this summer.

That wraps up today's post. We are aiming to do an update every 2 to 3 weeks and should be manufacturing some models and bits in our next show and tell. Have a great weekend!

Thanks!
Dave

Yes! You did it! Thank you so much for your support.

We are very excited to build these awesome Jagged Edge Bandits for your tabletop. This was our first Trenchworx crowd funder in 8 years and we couldn't be more thrilled with the amazing support from all of you. The run over the last few days trying to catch that Loot Goblin convinced us we had to grab him. We decided to unlock the stretch goal and make a new digital model and include that pesky thief in every physical Goblin Box.

Over the next several weeks we will share pictures of the models as they are finished and have planned more live streams so you can see Paul paint them up. We will also invite you into our manufacturing process and show off some of the casting and printing techniques we use to make these goblins.

That wraps it up for today. Thanks again for your support and have a great rest of your weekend!

The Trenchworx Team

Congratulations! You just unlocked 3 more warriors in every box. That puts our counts at 33 Goblins & Monsters in the Big Box and 23 Goblins & Monsters in the Little Box. Next up is the Loot Goblin at $60K with just under 2 days to go. Maybe we have a chance at the Skitterling and Worg companions before its over!

Be sure to join our live stream tonight as Paul paints a goblin lackey and a warrior.  Stream live now and Marrowgnaw is tomorrow at 1:30 MST.

Thanks!
Dave

Welcome to April!

Congratulations! You just unlocked 4 more Goblin Lackeys in every box set. These will be duplicates of the existing poses and certainly confound PCs trying to make their way through the Jagged Edge Hideaway. We should be seeing digitals of these fellas any day now. Paul is looking to stream a painting session for them on Thursday night. Friday we are planning to stream Painting Marrowgnaw the War Spider.

I'll also draw your attention to the poll we are running to help us understand your interest in future MCDM monsters. Check it out and comment away.

Thanks!
Dave

Happy Hump Day All,

We got a lot of new backers today! Matt released his latest Designing the Game Video and gave us a shoutout.  Thanks Matt!!! We are now headed toward our next Stretch Goal of $50,000 for 3 more warriors added to every physical box and just under 3 days to go. Maybe that Loot Goblin is in the mix too.

Tomorrow night we will be having a live stream of Paul painting a couple of the completed goblins at 6:30 MST. Paul is printing the prototype of the Lackey and the Warrior tonight. The Lackey has a deer antler to stabby stab with and the Warrior has an imposing top knot to intimidate PCs invading the Hideout.

Plan to join us Friday afternoon too. Paul will be painting a prototype Marrowgnaw at 1:30 PST as we enter the last 24 hours of our project. That one is sure to be a thrill.

See you tomorrow!
Dave