Chain Mail Tute by OB

OK Ive shown how to do chain mail in my BSB WIP so I thought Id put it in here. Of course since I showed that wip I realised I didnt show you the easiest way to do great looking chain mail so I will include that in here as well. I will try to show examples of all the different types where I can otherwise you will have to use your imagination.

OK lets start. I am using GS but this works with any sculpting medium.

There are several ways of making chain mail. I use a couple of different methods depending on what I want as a final result.
Heres a few examples.
This tool was made by drilling a .5mm hole into a piece of round spru. Then a 1.5mm hole  then a piece of wire was inserted and a part of the side was cut away. As you can see I practice on blu tac to get the hang of it before I start on GS.

I rushed this and wasnt happy with the results but the aim is to push the tool into the one before to simulater the link interlocking. As I have done I practice on blue tak. It is by far the best looking method if done right but this tool was a little too large and te results probably show. Still I would recommend this method if you can get hold of the right tool.

Heres how my chain mail turned out.

You could just as easily use the pin method and come up with alot better results. Unfortunately I didnt take my own advice and rushed this so its not as neat as I would like. But I think it still turned out OK.

This is probably the most common method used. This one is done with a piece of sharpened spru. You can use a needle, piece of wire or anything small and round.


The trick with chain mail is to take your time and try to be neat. Cover the area you are going to do with GS and make all the fold etc. Then very carefully start making your chain mail. The neater you are the better the result.
An example of the pin method

This is by far the best tool I have in my arsinal of sculpting stuff. If you dont have 1 I recommend you get one and get one fast. I use this thing for a plethora of different things besides cuting stuff. It can be used to make wood grain or make horns look more realistic.

My son actually worked out this method so my thanks go to him. I was using the pin method and he was watching and mucking around and picked up my saw and said wouldnt this be quicker. And yes it was. If i was to do this with a pin it would take about 2 hours. with the saw it takes about 10 minutes.


Anyway hope that helps. Let me know if you need more of an explaination of just to heckle.

Cheers Aris.

That's really helpful, having just done some pin method chain mail (which I'm not a fan of, at all). I can see that the saw method is really situational though- alot of smaller models couldn't be done like this.

They sure can. I did a heap of bret knights and chaos characters with this. You just have to use the edge of the saw. You would be surprised how small an area it will fit into. You can also use a fret saw blade but they are not as fine.

Nice !

Dint think of the saw as a chainmail tool but can see it on your Ogre that it can do some really nice result. Ive always went with a small needle and I think the saw will be way better for my next projects. The hole stay in line, which is really difficult to achieve with the needle, and thats what I was looking for... Good thinking !

genius idea OB. I'll deffinatley be using the saw technique next time I need some chainmail doing. Thanks a lot

Thanks
Corai

I'm not really that sure about how to make the tool for that first method, and the pin method does look like I would work at a pace of 1 square inch per hour, so if I ever need my own GS chainmail doing I'll be getting myself a saw out, too.

Ingenious mate, this is the answer for a growing problem with my modelling so I can't thank you enough!  That's at the top of the shopping list for the weekend.

OB, get your kid an ice cream on me.

That saw method is fantastic.

My kid is 23 I think he would rather have a beer. But I will tell him Cheers

I had a quick look today for that saw blade but had no luck, can you tell me what type/size it is?  That would be great if you could.

Well I have 2 and the blade size is approx .5mm and .3mm. I bought mine from a large hobby store but I have seen them in hardware (DIY) store. I think you can get them from the net but not sure where your are. The blades were called diamond blades (not sure if thats a brand name). I'll have a look around the wed and get back to you.

Good luck.

heres a couple of links in OZ
http://www.hobbyco.com.au/product/show_item.php?plu=ATL400
http://www.hobbyco.com.au/product/show_item.php?plu=EX30440

Hope that helps