MAN-E-FEATURE// Ted Terranova talks Quad Stugs and the future of Rivet Wars…

Released at the beginning of last month to the delight of a loyal legion of Rivet Wars fans, Ted Terranova’s Quad Stug took the war torn world  of the Allies and Blights to a whole new level. The first in the series to feature multiple parts, the beautifully detailed resin figure was painstakingly designed, hand cast, prepped, and assembled solely by Ted. With such a massive project now successfully completed, we though it was about time to catch up with the man himself again (read our extensive Rivet Wars interview here) to discuss the Stug, the problems he faced in getting it off the drawing board, and of course, his plans for the series in 2012…

The Quad Stug is the ultimate 80’s toy that never was, what inspired its design?

What inspired the design was all the cool walking vehicles I’ve seen over the years.  I think Dougram was one of the first toy lines that exposed me to a walking tank as a kid.  That line has all types of cool walking vehicles and transports.  I think I had maybe one dougram toy as a kid but I’d spend hours pouring over the tiny catalog that came in the box, looking at each toy and trying to figure out what it did.  Then I’d draw pictures of it and variants.  I also had some copies of Hobby Japan and I’d do the same, looking through those for cool mecha.  Then there were other influences like Ghost in the Shell and Orgus, which both had great walking tank type vehicles.  And just putting a tank on legs seems so cool, I just always wanted to do it.

The Quad Stug is easily the most ambitious Rivet Wars release yet, were there any particular hurdles you faced from getting it off the drawing board to its finished state? How much harder was it to prep/cast compared to your previous works?

Yeah it was a bit more ambitious, at least for me.  It was the first time that I’ve tried to make a multiple part toy.  I received a lot of great advice from more experienced toy makers and they all suggested going with multiple parts so that I could have more detail.  It made a lot of sense, and was the correct decision, but it added a lot more work.

The first hurdle was the size.  It was much bigger than anything I’d ever made so the 3D print itself was more difficult to get done and had a higher cost.  Because of this I made the print hollow, to reduce the material.  Unfortunately when I was making the molds, the pressure from the pressure pot crushed the 3D print.  I was pretty devastated.  I couldn’t afford to print it again and if I quit I’d have nothing to show for all my work.  So I pulled the silicone apart and dug all the pieces of the print out, glued it back together as best I could and tried again. The second time it worked and I had molds!  If you see the finished toy you can see the cracks in the bottom of the tank.  I wish it was perfect, like it could have been, but in a way those cracks remind me of how hard this process is and how much I learn each time I make a new piece.  And everyone was cool with overlooking the flaws and calling it battle damage 🙂

But that wasn’t all.  The casting was much more intensive than I’d planned since I had to pour four legs and a body for each tank.  Then I had to clean up all those pieces which entailed cutting off all the flashing, grinding down some parts, cleaning it all and then assembly. In the end though I was so happy with it.  When I held it in my hand I couldn’t believe how good the weight and size felt.  And I learned a ton more about making toys and I hope this will help me with future projects.

[Rivet Wars concepts]

What’s next for Rivet Wars? We’d love to see the monowheel, heli backpack and armoured suit realised!

Right now Adam Pratt and I are collaborating on a Quad Stug limited release.  Adam is custom painting five stugs and I am creating some art that will be included with the Stugs.  I haven’t seen what Adam is doing yet but I know they will be insanely cool.  And there are only going to be five.  We should be announcing that soon and by then we’ll have all the details.  They should be up for sale by mid april at the latest.  Very exciting!

After that, part of me wants to just make a real toy.  Get a factory to make something that is really nice and comes in a box and that I don’t have to put together in the basement.  And something I can sell at a low price and offer to anyone.  It really bugs me that I can’t make enough grunts or vert tanks for everyone.  I just don’t have the time to do it and the molds break up after a while.  I’d really like to make thousands of grunts and have them in a big box and just sell them by the pound LOL…

But I am also looking at making a Rivet Wars game.  A few people have encouraged me in this area so I am talking to people about a board game or miniatures or a video game or just some way you can take these little guys and play with them using some kind of rules.

And I’d like to continue the comic, but again, I need more time so that’s on the backburner.  So as usual, I’m not sure where Rivet Wars is headed, but I will say that 2012 will be an exciting year for Rivet Wars and I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

[Rocket Firing Tracked Motorcycle box art concept]

Aside from the toy releases, how else can we expect the Rivet Wars universe to develop over 2012? Are there still plans for a world map and more backstory?

Yes, the world of Rivet will continue to expand.  I really need to get that world map together.  I have many sketches but I need to jump into illustrator or photoshop and really nail something down.  I’ve been reading a lot of material related to WWI and the world is similar to that time period. There are many small nations embracing the idea of nationalism while other large areas are still ruled by kings and dukes who essentially just own a lot of land and therefore rule that land.  That’ll be the Blighters, a more old school aristocracy, frightened by the changes they see in other nations, frightened of losing the grip they have on their lands.   And scared people make bad choices like starting wars.

I’d also like the reveal the storyline I’ve been working on and some of the characters.  I think it’s a pretty cool story, but I’m not a writer, so hopefully it’s decent enough.  And then there’s all the little things like getting the logos, nation names, etc all figured out. But my greatest concern is people losing interest.  That I’ll be too slow in bringing new things to the table.  It’s that concern that keeps me drawing away while I’m watching TV and coloring stuff at night before I go to sleep.   I feel very lucky that so many people are already interested in Rivet Wars and I want to make sure that I keep giving them enough exciting stuff to make it worth their interest…

Anyone interested in purchasing the Quad Stug will be happy to know that Ted still has a limited supply available in his shop priced at just $28 each. The concept box art featured above has also recently been released as a t-shirt on RedBubble, avialable in a variety of sizes and colours for just $23.62 plus shipping.

Stay tuned for more info on the upcoming Adam Pratt x Rivet Wars Stug custom project over the coming weeks…