Battlefront Factory Tour

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Battlefront Factory Tour
With Adam Simunovich, Jeff Brooks and Khairul Effendy

Adam Simunovich

Adam Simunovich

I’ve gone to Kuala Lumpur for six months to work with the men and women at the Battlefront factory and understand the nuances of what they do. It has been a busy first couple of weeks getting to know everybody and their work.

With so many different products and processes the amount of knowledge is quite impressive. For one tank we can be printing covers, laser cutting tokens, casting metal parts, pouring resin hulls, and grinding, sorting, and packing parts thousands of times a day.

But it’s not just all work, you can’t come here and not help but get a sense of how excited everyone is when we start making something new.

There are nicely painted miniatures everywhere and they are always keen to hear what else the studios or executives have come up with.

To help give you an idea of all this I have taken a bunch of photos illustrating the different departments, processes and people involved, as well as some of the miniatures and tables about the place.

Metal Casting
Battlefront Factory Tour
Above and below: Cutting the feeds and vents in a production mould.
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 Above and below: Four casting machines continuously spin the moulds.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Below: Carefully demoulding the pieces and checking the quality.
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Battlefront Factory Tour
Above and below: Rows of production moulds in storage.
Battlefront Factory Tour

Resin Casting
Below: Pouring resin into the silicone moulds. Below: Demoulding a Ruined Church.
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Battlefront Factory Tour
 Above and below: A freshly cast Ruined Church
Battlefront Factory Tour
Below: Grinding off the base of the model, where the resin pours into the mould, is important so the model sits flat.
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Battlefront Factory Tour

Flexible Resin Terrain
Some of our Battlefield in a Box terrain products are made with an additive that makes the resin flexible, so pieces like roads and rivers can curve over hills and other terrain features on the tabletop.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Battlefront Factory Tour
Battlefront Factory Tour

Painting Terrain
Battlefront Factory Tour
Above and below: Spray booths are used for applying the base coats to the Battlefield in a Box range of pre-painted scenery.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Below: The details and finishing are painted by hand.
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Battlefront Factory Tour

Polyurethane Resin Casting
Casting the light-weight semi-flexible polyurethane resin which makes some of our newer products is somewhat similar process, but it uses two-sided moulds. The moulds themselves are made with a firmer, denser, pink-coloured silicone.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Above: The two-sided moulds are clamped firmly together before being filled, to ensure that the parts form correctly.
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Below: After the moulds are filled with liquid resin, they are placed in a vacuum chamber to remove any air bubbles.
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Below: For terrain pieces which don't have a flat bottom, such as the second floor of the Ruined Church, we use the same technique, but with the rigid polyester resin that our tank models and many terrain pieces are made from.
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Once the parts are cured and demoulded, they are checked and, if necessary, feeds and 'flash' are removed. 
Below: Checking Team Yankee tank commander sprues.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Below: Parts from the upcoming pack of signs for Team Yankee.
Battlefront Factory Tour

All of the Dungeons & Dragons Collectors Series miniatures are made using this method. 

Below: The Count Strahd von Zarovich miniature from the Castle Ravenloft Curse of Strahd adventure.

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Plastic Models
Our plastic models are made in two specialist factories in Kuala Lumpur. While we would one day love to have the capacity to make plastic parts in-house, working with local production partners, where we can closely coordinate design and quality assurance, is the next best thing.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Above: The schematic for the Leopard sprue. Below: Cutting the metal 'tool'.
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Below: The completed Leopard sprue.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Jeff Brooks

Jeff Brooks

It hardly seems possible that I find myself in my tenth year here in Malaysia. The experiences I’ve shared with the whole staff here during that time have been incredible. Since moving here from NZ in 2007, demand for the products we make have done nothing but go up and up. For instance, when we trained our staff to cast and paint ‘Battlefield in a Box’ products, demand for these items proved to be too much for the limited space we had available.

We ended up finding partners in China to work with us on these products, letting us offer a whole lot more than we were capable of doing at the time. Adding new capabilities like laser etching/cutting, large scale printing, and casting in new materials for product ranges like Dungeons & Dragons had our teams jammed into every space we could find.

With our new facility, we’ve massively increased the space available from what we had before. This, along with our ever-growing team, is going to allow us to not only explore new manufacturing methods and materials, but also to bring back ‘in house’ things we had our Chinese partners doing. By making them here, we’ll have much more control and flexibility- allowing us to do things a partner just couldn’t manage. 2016 is an exciting year for Battlefront, and we’re all thrilled to be a part of it!

Playing Mats and Tokens
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Above: The factory also produces printed gaming mats suitable for a variety of games...
Below: ...as well as the tokens and templates that make it easier to play Flames Of War and Team Yankee.

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Picking and Packing
When packing products, contents are checked against a production ID board to ensure they are correct.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Battlefront Factory Tour Battlefront Factory Tour
Above and below: Checking and packing blister packs.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Battlefront Factory Tour Battlefront Factory Tour
Above and below: Packing plastic 'clamshells' for box sets.
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Below: Packing terrain pieces.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Below: Boxes and blisters are labelled with production dates and packer codes (important for finding any QA issues).
Battlefront Factory Tour

Khairul Effendy

Khairul Effendy

The move to the new factory was truly a challenge for us as it involved months of preparation. We needed to plan the packing and shutting down of the old factory as well as coordinating with our movers to ensure that the move went as smooth and efficient as possible.

The timing of the move was very critical as we were also preparing for the release of Team YankeeRegular meetings were held with our suppliers and vendors to ensure that the move didn’t interrupt with materials supply and such. That we were able to complete all physical move in just 2 weeks was a testament of our dedication to ensure the least amount of time spent in the move so that we could start with production of Team Yankee codes as fast as possible.

Everyone has settled in well in the new factory. We were able to increase the size of most departments to accommodate the continuous increase in orders received from the sales offices. We’re confident that the new facility will allow us to fulfil their demands as we as a company continue to grow and release more products in the future.


Outside the Factory
Battlefront Factory Tour
Above and Below: Entrance to Battlefront KL.
Battlefront Factory Tour
Battlefront Factory Tour
Above and Below: Detailing the rear of the factory.
Battlefront Factory Tour