Jessie's Prints - Episode 30 - Mr.Blobby

This week, I are mostly been printing...  Blobby Blobby Blobby

Mr Blobby - Digital Taxidermy

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!! 

Zorg Industries Wall Art - Thingiverse:4815231 

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.

Mulder & Scully - Maco3D

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.   

As you can see they don't look at all overweight.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 29 - Killdozer - Goes Anywhere Kills Everything

 

This week, I are mostly been printing...  THE KILLDOZER

Killdozer / Landraider - Thingiverse: 734066

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 

Jessie's Prints - Episode 28 - Mega City One Street Furniture

This week, I are mostly been printing...  Street Furniture

Suicide Booth - Thingiverse: 734066

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. 

Robot Food Stand - Thingiverse: 1645528

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.

Tardis - Thingiverse: 153977

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.

Holding Post -  Thingiverse: 6023582 

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.

Sci-Fi Benches - Thingiverse: 4293393

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.

Sci-Fi Merchant Stall v3 - Thingiverse: 5924557

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.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 27 - Greeblies for my Mega City Miniature Storage Case

 

This week, I are mostly been printing...  Greeblies!

I've been working on my Mega City Miniatures Storage Case for a few weeks now and part of this project has involved me creating an printing accessories to stick on the side. Whilst these have been designed with my 15mm Judge Dredd games in mind, they are sufficiently dystopian to be used in any cyberpunk or shadowrun games.

Apartment Facades - Thingiverse 6001311

I needed a montonous series of identical facades for the front of the block.  So i quickly knocked these up in sketchup.  I made a left ahand and a right hand version for a little bit of variety and they print out in about 8 minutes on the Photon Mono X. 

Air Con Units - Thingiverse 4974429 

I didn't even bother scaling down these 28mm air conditioning units as they fit my needs perfectly and come in 4 different models including battle damaged versions.

Block Light Enclosures - Thingiverse 6012356

These simple shapes help to diffuse the light from the rice grain fairy lights I used to provide cheap and simple lighting to the block.  There is a small triangular detail at each should you wish to make these into futuristic street lamps.

Block Sign Box - Thingiverse

I cranked up the SLA printer for the first time in like forever with the express intention of printing out an enclosure which could house a string of the supercheap fairy lights I have used as lighting on my block.  The corners include recesses for magnets so that you can add different signs to represent different blocks in the Mega City.  

I keyed the mating surfaces to make gluing them together much easier  The box is self contained so you can mount it on the Top or sides of the block using magnets to add that little bit of variety.  I recommend covering the inside of the box with tinfoil to bounce the light around and give that extra punch.

Block Signs - Thingiverse: 6034749

My games mostly take place in Sector 55 and so I wanted block signs to reflect my little corner of Mega City One.  I made a blank lid which could be printed in transparent resin and either paper signs glued on top or if you want to go real fancy you can make individual models for each block with raised lettering.

These are split in half to fit on the bed of my Photon Mono 4K and I have included keyed edges to make it easy to glue them together.   

Another way to create your block signs would be to print them onto acetate or OHP paper and fix them with magnets on the outside using the alternative frame I modelled.  I've included a GIMP file in the download which you can use as a template for your block signs.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 26 - The TIme Traveller

This week, I are mostly been printing...  Steampunk Time Traveller Girl

Whilst crusing around the STL sites (as you do) for a version of the H.G. Wells time travelling sedan chair, I came across this wonderful model on the site Pinshape.

The Timetraveller by Gokcen Yuksek

Wow what a model.  It's big snd impressive and scratches that anime and steampunk itch.

This really stretched the capabilities of my Photon Mono X build volume.  The base had to be split in two and some of the months rails didn't print properly so some PLA was used to join the months together.  However, The figure printed perfectly first time and I excitedly glued her together and to her base.

She comes in 25 parts, the body and base (7), the hour ring (2), the month ring (1), a small square controller (not pictured) 1) and the year ring (13).  I resisted the temptation to glue everything together as the rings are meant to float freely allowing you to rotate them.

Gokcen has released several of her models for free on pinshape and most of them have this same whimsical steampunk aesthetic.  Don't be surprised if I have a go at one of her other models.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 25 - Efreet

This week, I are mostly been tasting...  Middle Eastern Delights

Regular readers will know that my favourite D&D setting is Al-Qadim but it was never well supported in terms of minis.  Time has been kind to the genre though and there are plenty of neat minis that can be downloaded all over the internet including. 

Efreet - Pinshape 48509

As soon as I saw this guy I new I had to print him my other two Djinn are a bit too weapony and this guy is all about giving out wishes.  I'm really pleased with the paint job on this guy and his muscles benefitted from the zenithal highlighting that I've been doing lately.

Talking of Al-Qadim, I recently acquired a copy of the Caravans boxset for the collection.  Whilst in these woke times there is absolutely no chance of WotC revisiting this setting on account of "Cultural Appropriation", I absolutely love how different it is to regular D&D.  If you are interested or have never heard of one of the best settings TSR ever came up with check out my Al-Qadim article.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 24 - I like Big Girls, I Cannot Lie

This week I are mostly been printing big women.

My foray into large scale 3D printed models continues in the early weeks of 2023 as I have printed off a series of large scale ladies.

Becca - Cyberpunk Edgerunners (Cults 3D) 

The standout character from last year's Netflix Original Anime Cyberpunk Edgerunners was of course Rebecca.  A cute little anime girl with a foul mouth and a fouler temper, Becca is the eptomy of the live fast die young aesthetic of cyberpunk.

There are a few Becca STLs out there some good, some bad but this is the only one I could find which was free.  That's why the pose is so weird but then so is Becca.

Harley Quinn (Fotis Mint via Printables)

When I heard that Fotis had put all of his sculpts onto Printables I jumped at the chance to print one out and chose Harley Quinn.

She is the spitting image of Margot Robbie and printed pretty well as a single figure with the exception of the back of her head which is nore an issue with my attempt at supports than the model itself.  The base printed seperately and I don't know what happened with scaling but it is a bit of a chonker.  This is going to be a real challenge for me to paint as I'm not very good with actual faces.

Ylenia Bloodthorne (Capritor Miniatures)

My clubmate Dan backed this Capritor Kickstarter and sent me the files to download and print for him.  This is my first foray into 78mm multipart minis and she came out okay.  I had little instruction in terms of sticking her together (hence the weird arm position) and she is so fragile that if you breathe on her she will snap.

This is part of the issue with resin printers and more specifically the resin you print with.  Sometimes a mini will just be too spindly to survive and Ylenia is in that category.  But I guess what can you exect for something so highly detailed and anatomically correct.

Jessie's Prints - Episode - 23 - OMG Akira is 40!

Today I learned that the classic Anime Akira is 40 years old.

Thanks to Katsuhiro Otomo for bringing this groundbreaking work to life and making such an impression on me as a teenager. 

Fortuitously this coincided with the completion of my 3D Printed Kaneda Bike model which I began back in July not long after I got my resin printer..

Where can I download a 3D Akira Bike Model?

Well handily you can download this model from Thingiverse

Life is a Journey not a Destination

This is a big model meauring 9 inches long and 3.5 inches tall and Kaneda is 4.5 inches tall, so too big for my Photon Mono 4K.  I had to slice each half of the bike using Meshmixer and in hindsight I should have hollowed it out because it used up a huge amount of resin.  

The sheer weight of the parts of the bike (480g) or the way I positioned it on the bed created some defects with tearing of the seat on the left side and the right rear tear drop and seat being mishappen.

It was a major job to get it all aligned and fitting nicely and if I had my time again I would probably scale this model down a touch.  I followed the glue-up with some milliput to gap fill and a lot of sanding.  I decided to reslice the control panel as the misalignment of the join between the parts was just too much for me to bear and I'm glad I did.

Kaneda came out great on the first try but I had to reprint his right hand after the fingers broke off during painting.  Kaneda is a bit low poly compared to the bike and I guess that few people bother to print the figure as a result.  Rescaling may also fix this issue to some degree but I would definitely try to learn how to smooth out those facets in blender or meshmixer.

The Future is Clear

The next challenge was to make the canopy without the use of a vacuum former.  I printed out the supplied canopy and then filled the inside with milliput.  With a screw driven into the milliput I created a sort of buck (red) which I could hold with a pair of molegrips.  I then clamped a piece of acetate (green) in my workbench and heated it up with a hot air gun (Thank you middle aisle at Aldi).  

When the acetate was sufficiently hot and drooping I plunged the buck into the acetate.  Overly dramatic? Perhaps, but this is seat of your pants modelling and, despite it being a completely sketchy process, it worked amazingly and I got a stunning result on only the second try.

It Ain't a Picasso

Painting was surprisingly pain free with the bulk of the work done with automotive rattle cans and plenty of masking tape.  Touch ups were done by spraying the paint onto a card and then brushing onto the model.  Surprising effective thanks to the self levelling nature of rattle can gloss paint.

Panel gaps were lined in dilute black acrylic and the detail work on the dashboard buttons and screens completed in short order.

Stickers or Decals?

IMHO an Akira bike without decals looks wrong so I scoured the internet to find decent images, harder than you might think, purchased some white decal paper.  You won't believe the hours I spent deciding if I would go with the poster version solo pill logo or the "Good for Health Bad for Education" roundel version for Kaneda's back patch.  I borrowed a laser printer (thanks Paul) and printed up a sheet.

What a nightmare!!! The laser copier couldn't cope with the decal paper and it made a right mess.  I briefly contemplated printing out a set on sticker paper, my rational being that in-universe these are actually stickers applied by Kaneda himself.  I persevered and managed to cobble together a set I was reasonable happy with.

The process of application was also troublesome with some of the toner coming off and the decals wrapping back on themselves.  If anyone has tips on making your own decals please pop a comment in the box below.  If you want to download the Akira Bike decals please feel free.

Final Touches

I scratchbuilt a headlight lens from plasticard and the indicators got a lick of paint.  Necessity is the mother of invention and, when it came to the mirrors, I turned to the foil inside a crisp (chip) bag.  Yes, trash went into the making of this model.

I'm pretty pleased with the end result especially given that this is the first really big model I've scratchbuilt.  There are some things I would do differently like creating two decals for the dashboard.  There are somethings I might go back and fix like adding some neon piping around the tyres.  It's never ending really, but for now (at least) I have stuck a fork in this project, I'm done.

With all modelling it's less about the finished article and more about what you learned and how you stretched yourself along the journey.  Please feel free to share links to your own modelling stories in the comments below.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 22 - Some Stuff For Friends

This week, I are mostly been printing...  Stuff for Friends

Bigby's Sign of the Horns - Thingiverse 4048680

My current DM Mark is a bit of a metalhead and in honour of his awesome DMing I printed him this equally awesome spell effect for the famous D&D spell Bigby's Hand.  I hope I get to see it in play in the not too distant future. 

Baby Yoda Lithophane - Thingiverse 4073323

Printing a Lithophane has been high on my agenda for some time and as I was due to meet my 3 old work pals from the Ministry of Defence what better way to celebrate our reunion after Pandemic.

This has been my biggest resin print to date and I really wanted to push the printer to see what it could do.  I am blown away by the mid bending properties of Lithophanes and how, on a budget resin printer, I can make photorealistic 3D art.  

Amazing and definitely fits into "optical Illusion" territory.

Displacer Kitten and Displacer Beast - Thingiverse 4830184  / My Minifactory

Fellow Dragons Keep member Kat told me that her DM had recently gifted her a Displacer Kitten as a moving-in gift so I quickly sourced this super cute mini and an equally awesome displacer beast to represent the kitten when fully grown.

Of course no birthday gift can come without a presentation gift box and my old 3D Printer sacrificed some of it's foam packaging for a custom box.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 21 - Some Characters

This week, I are mostly been enjoying printing some characters I found on the interweb.

The Dungeonmaster - Thingiverse 3850163

People of a certain age will instantly recognise this little fellow.  He looks harmless enough but back in the 80s he kidnapped a bunch of American kids and put them through all manner of trials and fights against dragons and monsters.  Today's generation would have none of his nonsense I am sure.

If Hollywood is listening, someone please make a live action remake of the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon.  It will be a guaranteed hit.

Bender "Bending" Rodriguez - Thingiverse 32188

There  are a lot of Futurama models out there (I do want to print a cosplay brain slug and a Planet Express) but having a Bender miniature means I can keep those anoying meat bags at bay.  I needed to scale this one down and poor Benders antenna was just too fragile at that scale. 

Destroy all humans!!

The Monster and The Bride - Thingiverse 3782040 and 3844313

In a previous episode I printed the mad scientist Dr. Frankenstein and his able assistant Igor.  It would be churlish of me not to include his two most famous creations, the monster and Frankenstein's Bride.

Both these sculpts are by GloomyKid on Thingiverse who seems to push all my buttons when it comes to the models he chooses to sculpt.  Awesome work dude.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 20 - Cthulhu Characters

This week, I are mostly been answering...  The Call of Cthulhu

Victorian Tough with Dog - Pinshape 48509

I know our current Call of Cthulhu game is set in 1923 but who can pass up on the opportunity to print out a tough guy villain and his dog?

Pirate Pugilist - Thingiverse 3981631

Sam is playing an east end ruffian called Chester "Pretty Boy" Lyle.  A bareknuckle boxer Chester bears the scars of hundreds of bouts in some of the seediest dives that London's docklands have to offer. 

The Colonel - Thingiverse 3107434

Usually found sleeping in his easy chair in The Garrick Club, Colonel St.John Smythe saw plenty of action in his youth fighting for Queen and Country across most of Africa.  He now earns a well deserved retirement and occassionally tells of his exploits across the dark continent to anyone who will listen.

Dr. Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein needs no introduction and wasn't intentionally looking to build up a collection of classic horror minis, but when I found this one I just had to download it.  From sculptor Roman Bevza, I just love the pose and especially the action of pulling on of the rubber gloves.

 

Igor - Thingiverse 3926251

Frankenstein's erstwhile and capable manservant is another of Roman Bezva's creations and of course I had to print him aswell.

Private Investigator - Thingiverse 4231499

Steve is playing a retired policeman turned private investigator by the name of Ryan Wurmshurst.  No case is too small and his rates are very reasonable.

Researcher - Thingiverse 4499796

Every Cthulhu game needs a character with excellent research capabilities who can answer the call for "Library Use".  At the moment this is the stand-in for Thelma "Ginger" Purdey, our courageous girl about town.  I am currently on the hunt for a more appropriate miniature.