This week saw us return to The Rivenlands D&D Campaign at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club. My clubmate and fellow founder Paul needed a mini to represent his Tortle Sorceror so he commissioned me to print and paint a supplied STL.
He's a chunky boy and basically pyramidal in shape. The mini came both pre-supported and unsupported, as is common these days. However, he also came as a pair of pre-hollowed out variants for those wishing to not waste resin or just wanting a slightly lighter mini.
This is the first time I've seen this done on a 35mm single piece character mini, so I printed a hollow one for shits and giggles. The only issue I had is that the wall thickness just wasn't thick enough to prevent the odd hole appearing when I removed the supports.
Painting
The customary zenithal priming was done and mounted to my base of choice (a two pence piece). I said he was chunky and barely any base was visible under his girthy feet.
Paul supplied me with a photo of a make by Empire of Minis so I didn't even have to make any colour choice decisions.
Base colours were a mix of Vallejo Acrylics, with midtones dry brushed on before picking out the highlights.
Serious Skin Problems
I really struggled with the skin on this model, in fact it was practically the last thing that got painted. The sculpt had no texture and yet he is supposed to be a tortoise like humanoid. Last time I looked they had pretty scaly lizard like skin and his was as smooth as a baby's bottom. I have a small collection of greens and they were covering really horribly over the zenithal, particularly where areas of shadow were converned.
I persevered though and resorted to mixing in a bit of some Crafter's Choice acrylic that I found in a Wallington "Arkwrights" shop.
G.. G.. G.. Granville! Fetch me that tube of G... G.. G... Green Paint!
This stuff is so random it doesn't even have a paint name, just a number (PNTA-134) but it's made by Royal & Langnickel and it did the job where my specialist miniature paints could not.
This just goes to show that when you are painting don't just dismiss your art materials because they aren't Vallejo or Games Workshop. Try out lots of different paints and you just might hit on some secret sauce.
I have been resin 3D printing for almost 2 years now and here are a few of the bits of kit which I have found to be invaluable.
Plastic Razor Blade Scrapers
Nothing gets a blob of resin off your LCD screen better than a plastic scraper. They don't damage the surface and they are cheaper than actual razor blades. You can also use them to pry your prints off the build plate and they are disposable so no need to clean them.
Once you have these, you will find they have a multitude of uses around the house for all those DIY projects that they were actually designed for.
Spare FEP film
You never want your printing to be sidelined by a dodgy FEP, so having a spare film is essential for when the inevitable happens. Changing out your FEP is just one of those skills you will need to master. Some say that you can tune your FEP for optimal performance, but I just use the German specification gudentight. I recommend buying from 3DJake.
Fun Fact: FEP is an acronym for Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene.
Silicone Baking Tray
Resin 3D printing is a messy affair, particularly when you are extracting your prints from the build plate. It is hard to not drip uncured resin onto your table, so I use a silicone baking sheet as a table protector.
Nothing sticks to silicone and these mats are super easy to clean and so cheap that you can cover an entire table in the things and still have change from a tenner (£10).
PTFE Lubricant (GT85)
Every now and then you will suffer from a print that just wants to stick to the FEP rather than where it is supposed to stick, the build plate. The best thing I have found to combat this is to give your FEP a good spray with GT85 and a gentle rub down. This creates a microscopic PTFE layer on the surface of your FEP guaranteeing that the print will release when the build plate rises.
Everytime I change resin, change my FEP or just engage in a spot of cleaning, I give my FEP a liberal coat and then buff it dry. GT85 will change your success rate instantly, no more failed prints, bits stuck to the FEB or layer peeling.
Plastic Funnels & Conical Paint Filters
Trying to pour your unused resin back into the bottle is a nightmare task made tolerable with the use of a funnel. Get some conical paint filters to strain out any bits of cured resin and your life will be so much easier and less messy.
The pound store is your best bet for funnels. You can get a bunch of filters for pennies at the usual online retailers like eBay or Amazon. A big shout out to Jayo3D who pack 2 or 3 filters in with their 1Kg bottles of resin.
Two Wash & Cure Station Tanks
It wasn't long into my resin 3D printing journey before my wash tank looked like a winter's morning. This occurs when the uncured resin suspended in your IPA cures and fall to the bottom of the tank making an amorphous plastic blancmange. Honestly, this stuff is horrendous to deal with, so having a second wash tank that you can decant into and clean your IPA is a must. I have found that running a few curing cycles on an empty tank can work wonders.
I found this on EthanTSavage's Cults 3D page and thought it was an awesome sculpt.
The aesthetic is undeniably Anime, and for me is reminiscent of the fabulous Tank Girl comic of the 80s. Whilst the movie ranks as one of the worst in history, I am a big fan.
I love Giant Robot anime, my favourite being Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still. If you haven't watched it you should it's just the right shade of bonkers to make a strange sort of sense and is a blend of diesel punk / magical superhero anime which is incredibly rare.
This was a very quick model to make taking me only a few days to complete. I used a skull base which I had originally intended for my huge demon model and slathered on the old poundland polyfilla to form a crust over the skulls.
This is my homage to the famous scene in Terminator 2
where the T800s are walking across the field of human remains crushing
skulls underfoot.
Anime fans will instantly recognise Spike Spiegel's red starfighter the Swordfish II.
This is an older file designed for FDM printing and is therefore a abit on the low-poly end of the spectrum but it is very well put together all the same.
Meet the Parts
I opted to print this on my Resin SLA printer and I was mindful of the large size of the model. The main core of the ship needed to be split in two using meshmixer and I took the opportunity to learn how to use the hollow functions.
I couldn't believe how easy this was and it's definitely something I will be using in the future when I make larger objects as I reckon it saved a metric ton of resin and didn't lead to those peeling and splitting issues I experienced when printing my 3D Printed Akira - Kaneda Bike.
Sub Assembly
Once I had worked out what parts I needed and got them all printed to my satisfaction, I began gluing up the sub assemblies.
The core body and nose were split in meshmixer so needed to be joined back together. Despite a really good print whenever I use mesh mixer I need to putty the seams. The hollowed out core and nose also needed the drain holes filled and sanded. I then doubled pinned the wings to this main assembly. In hindsight I should have spent more time on this as there was a little bit of an alignment issue between the wing root and the wing itself.
The back half of the model was an utter nightmare of badly fitting airfoils and I bodged as best I could.
The cannon barrel, cockpit and reversing gear were painted using various colour shift paints and left until final assembly
This was all given a solid black primer with my go-to rattle can matt black car paint from Poundland.
Panel Scribing and Underpainting
I knew I was going to want to try out the underpainting technique I've seen a lot of AFV modellers use to create their panel lines, but this model didn't really have any. I dug out a ruler and scribed the aileron's and the folding wing joins with the back of an x-acto blade. The rivet detail was simply drilled with a pin vice and a few other panel lines added. This was all recoated in black ready for underpainting.
I used a Daler Rowney FW artists white ink straight out of the bottle through the airbrush. I'm a pretty novice airbrusher and I have always struggled with thinning and getting the right consistency of paint and prerssure to prevent spidering.
However, this ink added the new complication of fisheyes. I'm not sure if it is the ink or the undercoat, but it was a real pain. Several coats went on and some had to be wiped off. I persevered and finally it was time to add the red coat.
Weathering and Paint Chipping
The Swordfish is an old ship and given the meagre budget that the crew of the Bebop operate with, there is only the money to do basic maintenance. A scuffed up worn out appearance was a must.
I use the sponge chipping method lightly dabbing some black on all the leading edges that would take the most punishment on re-entry. This was then highlighted with some bright silver from Army Painter.
A simple but effective method to weathering whilst maintaining a clean look and not taking an age to dry.
No model of the Swordfish II would be complete without it's pilot and the main hero of the show, Spike Spiegel.
I found a lovely model of Spike on MyMiniFactory which was a breeze to print and paint. I think it makes a great addition to the model. Shout out to sculptor EthanTSavage whose work is prertty amazing and scales up really nicely.
The Base
I considered lighting this model but to be honest it was a bit of a pain once assembled. I had a plan for routing the LEDs to the engine and the two spotlights on the nose, but I was not confident that the effect would be worth it given the low-poly detail of this model.
I did want a modern looking base and found the perfect match in a box style frame in a thrift store. Removing the glass and gluing the mdf backer in place proved a sturdy enough platform for a coathanger to be glued in place supported by a generous volcano of milliput on the underside.
I also took the liberty of drilling an extra hole in the corner for Spike to be glued in place.
One of the more iconic graphical elements to the show is the logo. I love the big kanji script but wanted the center to bear the name of the ship. I found a suitable image online and modified it with GIMP. I then converted the JPG to an SVG using Convertio and imported this into Tinkercad. I added a simple solid back to the object and exported as an STL.
From start to finish this took no more than 10 minutes. You can download the STL file for free using the Thingiverse link above.
Many Thanks to...
A big shout out to Lou Dalmaso aka Aztek Dummy on YouTube. I've thoroughly enjoyed his forays into 3D printed models and it was his channel that inspired me to give it a go myself.
This week, I are mostly been printing... A bloody great big Demon Bloke!!
Before anyone asks, my opinion on the Warhammer 40K and Games Workshop IP issue is, that I don't believe in direct recasts of currently available models. However, if you can sculpt something that is an homage to an existing IP or if the original miniature is out of production then I say it's fair game. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all.
I can't remember how I managed to find this model but I'm bloody glad I did. I don't play WH40K or typically use many demons in my own RPGs, but this was a love at first sight sort of thing.
Printing the body parts on my relatively small Photon Mono X was easy. However, his wings were a challenge and I had to once again turn to meshmixer in order to slice them in half and even then they only just fit onto the print bed. Even though the flat mating surfaces were printed flat on the build plate a good deal of sanding was required to join them together. the discrepencies were filled with milliput original to make them seamless and whole again.
I wanted the wings to be detachable for transport and so I pinned them with coathanger wire. Unfortunately they were so heavy and unbalanced that one pin made them rotate so a second finer pin was added. If I were to do this again I would seriously consider adding some mini magnets.
The included base was insufficient for this quite top heavy model and so I printed a circular one on my FDM printer. A square socket was carved out and the original base epoxied into place. This was then covered in my go-to basing medium poundland wall filler.
Painting
Painting was a game of two halves. The body got the traditional zenithal, airbrush base colours, washes, highlights and dry brushes treatment. For the wings I wanted something "Draconic" so I primed in black and then a layer of gloss varnish on the outside of the wings.
The outside surface is curves and I managed to stretch an old orange bag (the plastic mesh netting type) and used this as a mask. This is the same technique that the Kustom car painters use when they paint the roofs of lowriders using lace table cloths. I decided to go with the orange to violet colour shift paint from the Valleho "Space Dust" set.
This was a great base but needed a silver highlight at the top edge to pick out the scales. In hindsight using the gloss layer was a mistake. It was a nightmare task to pick out the top edges of the colourshift in some parts of the model due to the reflected light
The inside wings got a more muted leathery treatment with progressively lighter shades of brown through the airbrush and the finger spines were left darker.
Playtime
Since printing him, he has debuted as the big bad in a game of Dark Heresy RPG at Hobbits Hole Roleplay Club. I'm sure that he will also make an appearance towering over the streets of Mega City One in a prog in the not too distant future...
As soon as I saw this model I had to have it. For those of a certain age growing up in the UK our childhoods were indellibly etched with the presence of Mr Blobby. Spawned by a creative monster he graced (or rather bumbled) onto Noel Edmond's House Party on Saturday evenings circa 1996. This was a time before streaming and there wasn't even channel 5!! Options were limited and most people flocked to the most popular variety program of the day.
Sadly Blobby could not be contained in just a 1 hour TV slot and soon there were comic books cartoons a pop song and Blobby took over the UK. Of course this stratospheric rise to fame took its toll and overexposure led to a meteoric collapse in Blobby's popularity.
Needless to say this makes him ripe for a Judge Dredd appearance. I imagine that the residents of the Noel Edmond's Annex of Thatcher Block (Sector 55) are itching for a House Party with those Smurfs from the Jean Claude Van Damme block.
These are multipart minis with lots of options for arms and weapons. I printed some test pieces at 15mm and realised that I was going to have a hella fiddly time gluing individual arms on the blobby bodies. I resorted to loading the files up into meshmixer and created 10 different poses which I could then print en masse at 15mm scale. Meshmixer For The Win!!
To further embellish my Mega City One Miniature Storage Block
I thought I would add a couple of signs which can be magnetically
attached to the side or top of the case. This wall art was perfect when
scaled down for miniature use.
A commissioned print for my Dragon's Keep Roleplay Club chum Kat. We are currently playing in a Delta Green (Cthulhu meets the
X-Files) game as special agents and being the world's biggest Gillian
Anderson fan there was only going to be one FBI agent she wanted to
play.
I was a little dissapointed that these models came
as rar files and when opened I could see that they were designed in a
statuette scale for multipart printing. They are both very nicely
sculpted and I managed to support the files easily enough. Mulder also
came as a one piece print and Scully came as a two part print with
options for skirt or trousers which was also very nice. I would have
preferred a complete model in both skirted and trousered versions making
it easier for 28mm printing but this is a minor gripe.
However, the biggest problem with scaling statuesque prints down for tabletop games is that they are anthropomorphically correct. This means that they have spindly ankles, wrists and gun barrels which snap off at the slightest glance. To try to combat this I made them 5% bigger in the X and Y dimension in the hope of fattening and strengthening them up.
The quintissential Cursed Earth chariot and a must print for my 15mm Judge Dredd RPG games. This multi-part model is an excellent sculpt but originally intended for FDM printing. I scaled it down by 50% to fit perfectly my 15mm Lawmen.
Those of you familiar with the history of this iconic comic car will know that it was part of the Matchbox Adventure 2000 range and came in Avocado Green (1977-79) or Metallic Blue (1980-81), Neither of these colours befit the Justice Department of my youth and so I went for a Dark Blue with Yellow and Red accents.
I don't know what it is about airbrushing blue but I just don't seem to be able to find the right blue. I did get to try out some of my colour shifting space paints from vallejo on the turbine and exhaust which was nice. I think I need to airbrush an entire vehicle to get a really good idea of how they might work.
Justice Department insignia greeblies were sculpted in milliput and the windows got the classic Car Wars wasteland reflection treatment. You can find my poster art in my Judge Dredd mini posters collection
Regular readers will know that my scale of choice for Judge Dredd miniatures is 15mm.
I chose this scale because it is cheap, easy to paint and the legendary Laserburn Lawmen are a perfect proxy for my favourite era of Judge Dredd, the 80s. The problem is of course as with any tabletop game storage and transportation. Taking a leaf out of the old Kenner Star Wars playbook I resolved to create a miniature storage case in the shape of a city block which could add some play element to my games whilst hiding away all the neat surprises I have in store for my players.
The Framework
Fans of Aldi (a German discount retailer) will be familiar with the wonders of the middle aisle, and one such grocery shopping trip resulted in me bringing home this cheap plastic crafting drawer unit. This was swiftly clad in sheets of foam core on three sides and a carry handle printed on my FDM printer was bolted to the top.
Balconies
I wanted to extend play in 3 dimensions so the inclusion of some elevated features was essential. These consisted of 25mm wide strips of foam core hot glued at regular intervals up the block. Most of my minis are based on 1p coins so this is perfect for stationing high level snipers or as a launchpad for boingers or skysurfers.
Exterior Features
I
always picture these smaller blocks as being the work of brutalist
architects. They are concrete monstrosities more akin to prisons than
homes but they attempt to offer at least windows and air conditioning.
I
modelled a couple of "skins" featuring a door and windows which could
be 3D printed and then attached to the foamcore facade conveniently
hiding some of the wiring from the lights. This could easily be made
from mountboard, cereal packet or even thick paper if you do not have a
3D printer, but I have made the files available on thingiverse for free
just download Tower Block Apartment Front Skins.
Greeblies
No sci-fi model is complete until it is festooned with greeblies. Some are necessary to hide wiring but all of them break up that monotonous concrete facade. I downloaded some air con units from Thingiverse which were then printed out and positioned in the space between the apartment skins.
If you are interested I have written a blog about printing some of the Judge Dredd Greeblies.
Lighting and Signage
One
of the core features of any block is its plethora of crappy. Battery powered christmas lights are perfect for this and can
also perform double duty as balcony illumination. These were strung in a
zig zag pattern and then embedded in the underside of the balconies.
I then modelled some light covers to hide the tiny LEDs which added a certain amount of light diffusion aswell.
Block Name Signage
I then modelled a light box and frame to house paper block name signs for each of the blocks in my sector. This is a versatile system which incorporates 5mm magnets and magnetic strip so you can attach the sign to either side or top of the case. The hand drawn lettering I feel really sums up the art style of Judge Dredd during my formative years and they are super easy to knock out. Here are just two
I also modelled the infamous Peach Trees Block sign which I
printed in transparent resin on my Photon Mono 4K.
The lightbox design
incorporates hollow areas in the corners for the magnets to attach the frame (also magnetised). The inside of the box is covered with
aluminium foil to aid light reflection. Signs are easily attached and detached in seconds as your scenes change.
The Roof
The
top floor of the block would inevitably invite play so I made sure to create a 1" grid in the roof which was then further emphasized with short clippings of PLA filament to create a grid.
This was then painted and covered in some flock to make a rooftop garden. The carrying handle sticks out a bit but it's form over function
It's Magnetic Man!
Storing miniatures is the key goal, so it was crucial to make sure that they didn't move around during transport. I stuck some A4 magnetic sheet into each tray which has enough holding power to stop my minis from skating around uncontrollably. This is quite cheap on eBay and a good solution for smaller minis or ones which don't weigh much.
For those of you using 1 pence or 2 pence pieces to base your minis, make sure that you use only pennies from 1992 onwards, These are made of copper coated steel and are therefore magnetic. If, like me, you were using up your penny jar and didn't know this when you based them, then you can use thin steel foil or more of the sheet you used to line your trays.
I'm a big fan of Futurama and there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to print off a few suicide booths for the citizens of Sector 55. The model is very accurate but scaled far too large for my printer and so needed to shrink it to about 1% it's original size. The model is also hollow and at my 15mm scale the walls became impossibly thin for my resin printer to print consistently.
However, I did get a couple of decent prints which painted up nicely. I also created some posters of the signage which I've included in my Judge Dredd Mini-Posters pack.
This is a great little model for designed for 28mm miniature wargaming game infinity but I thought it was such an interesting shape that it would make a great centrepiece for any plaza scene.
Printing in 15mm scale was easy enough although the robot arm is incredibly fiddly. I chose to magnetise the roof of my stand to make painting and assembly easier which was a challenge at this scale. The robot arm is a little too big for this model so I had it leaning out in "attract mode".
In my games this is going to be Klaw Dogs, their moto is "Served Robot Fresh" and you can download this signage in the Judge Dredd Mini Posters Pack.
I have always wanted my own tardis for a Judge Dredd game. Not necessarily as a plot point but as a piece of background scenery. I'm sure that if any of my Judges are out on patrol they will spot this immediately and either blow it up or have it taken away as an illegal structure without the correct city permits.
Needles to say, if Judges ever encounter a timelord, they should arrest them on sight as an illegal alien. I believe that possession of a timetravel device also carries a significant sentence these days.
Having GM'd a few games now, the one functional (storywise) piece of street furniture I've always needed are holding posts. These are the ubiquitious plascrete features that adorn the streets of Mega City One to which Judges cuff their arrested perps to await pickup from a pat-wagon. They are tough, tamperproof constructions designed to stay intact in all but the most extreme conditions. They are able to withstand most vehicle impacts and abuse from smallarms or handheld tools making them the perfect safe and sturdy way to keep your perps locked up.
The holding post is my own design for my 15mm Judge Dredd miniatures but can easily be scaled up for 28mm games. It makes a great addition as an objective marker or cover for games such as Warhammer 40K, Cyberpunk or infinity and is available for free download at the link above.
A rare model are this collection of benches designed specifically for Warlord Games Judge Dredd Miniatures wargame. A great job on the model from Death Zap Studios who has also done some fantastic work on scenery and buildings for the Marvel Crisis Protocol boardgame.
This model is a fabulous set piece designed to complement any wasteland or outer rim world but I think it looks great in a Mega City One pop-up shop sort of fashion. It's hard to keep track of the changing trends inside the city and these prefab pop-up structures change vendors on a weekly basis much like the tastes of your average citizen.
I printed out a bunch of these funky little structures for my games.
