Modelling bits for 3d printing

[Fleafa]

Timo is quite pricey, but has produced at least one of the excellent Kingdom Death models: http://gallery.kingdomdeath.com/White-Speaker
Clockwork Goblin are pretty affordable by comparison. The following figure cost around £75 including tax and postage, though I am in the UK:

[Malika]

I remember a year or two ago Timo charged about €75 for a single 28mm scaled miniature, maybe he has upped his rates since then?

I wonder however with services such as Timo, and Clockwork Goblin: would I also need to include the support element for the model, or is that something they do as well? (I feel like such a noob for asking this question)

[Subtle Discord]

It's my understanding that supports are created by the printing software with an algorithm that gives the printer some control over the placement. It can be done manually, but unless complete control is required it's usually better to let the software handle the job for speeds sake. Now this is just my understanding based on my research, so I could be mistaken.

I can respect the quality of the print; I'm looking for top surface quality in the products I will be producing, and from what I see in that photo, it's getting exactly what I'm aiming for, if not even better. However, £75 for what appears to be a single 28mm model seems very steep; that would be over $150 CAD for me, and that's a prohibitive price point. Again, maybe I'm mistaken and it's a larger scale?

I can totally respect that you get what you pay for, and I'm willing to pay for a master done right. It's an investment that works out over time if you crunch the numbers (again, something I need to do) but that needs to be balanced with many other factors. I'll know better ln a few weeks once I start actually talking with the printers I have locally. Still so much to learn and sort out.

[RageofAchilles]

The price you mention for a 3D print sounds very reasonable to me, unless you also have to pay someone to 3D sculpt it for you as well.

A typical price for a traditionally sculpted 28mm mini is £200-£300 GBP, so people who can 3D sculpt and get it printed themselves are saving a lot.

About 10 years ago a friend and myself were sculpting a range of 28mm fantasy figs aimed at D&D players. They were to be produced in white metal, but even though we were saving on sculpting cost, the rising price of white metal and professional casting halted the whole endeavour.



3D printing is so much better and cheaper than it was just a few years ago, in the future I can imagine taking3D model file to a high street store to get it printed while you wait

[Fleafa]

He's 32mm. I've only had quotes for components from Timo, tbh, and would rather use a UK company because that's where I live!
Clockwork Goblin have a cheaper machine which doesn't do a final smooth pass. Noticeable striations when catching the light at certain angles, but you can't feel them and they're invisible once recast and painted.
The only way to get cheaper is to sacrifice surface quality and detail reproduction. I know Kabuki use a service similar to Shapeways' FXD but with better surface quality, which may be thanks to post-print clean-up.
If you had to pay me to sculpt as well, prices for all but the simplest figures start at £300. It adds up quickly!

[Malika]

But how is the castability of those materials? Fxd seems to have some difficulties...

[Fleafa]

A vast majority of the components I sell on my store are from FUD or FXD masters.

[Malika]

But then you'd only clean the print lines, or does the layer of frosting also cause difficulties?

Reason why I'm asking is because I've got a bunch of bits I'd like to "get rid of" (as in have them quickly cast and sold), but don't feel they're worth a big investment.

[Fleafa]

I don't really clean striations or frosting unless it is bad. They tend not to show up in the casts after priming and painting.
If it were particularly important, I may mould and cast in resin and then clean up a cast, using that as a master. Resin is a great deal easier to clean up than the print material.
One thing I have started doing is dipping a toothbrush in acetone and giving parts a good scrub. I do it quickly and wash the acetone off with water, as I am a little scared the acetone will eat the print!

[Malika]

Been a while since I've last posted, but been working a lot on the robots. First up, some progress on the hounds.



I still need to figure out how to get the legs to work nicely, but I feel I'm slowly getting on the right path...

And here two variant bodies:



The humanoid robots have also had a major overhaul, one big change is that I've removed the spikes. I imagined these robots to be scrapped together from industrial components and felt the spikes make them a bit too 'punk' which didn't feel right here. I might have to look at the hounds' spikes soon as well...










And here an assortment of drones that still need more work:

[mangozac]

I like the changes - things are developing nicely!

[Malika]

Been working on some Epic scale tanks:


More pics and such over .

[Fleafa]

These look great. Should the dozer blades be just a little wider though?

[Malika]

Don't have access to my pics at the moment so I'll have to do this through link:











Oh yeah, and the tank (with 4 different turrets and two dozer blades) has been shipped off to .

[Malika]

Just shipped off a bunch of 6mm scaled upgrade bits for the :


From left to right: Front hull iconography plate, twin linked HMG, twin linked flamethrowers, twin linked subatomic heat weapons. Basically your three different types of Immolation tanks for the religious sisterhood. But could probably also be used for more inquisitorial themed armies.


From left to right: left missile pod, right missile pod, missile launcher turret, heavy laser cannon, light battle cannon, quad autocannons, medical transport front hull icon. I decided to ditch the roof part of the medical transport for multiple reasons: (a) it was too thin to cast at this time (b) doing it true justice would mean re-designing a hull a bit (c) economic reasons. Note that the medical transport is most likely an objective, so going all crazy on it regarding design work and printing/casting simply isn't worth the money.


Extra armour for the IVR tank, either plating or reactive armour.