I'm steadily (and very slowly) pushing on with my to do pile. There is still no chance of me getting the vaccine anytime soon as the roll-out here in Japan is incredibly slow.
In the meantime I have painted up my first 3D printed minis. A friend of mine recently bought one of these modern marvels and printed up some figures for me. I have to say that I am impressed by the quality of the minis.
I'm trying to put together a collection of Samurai-era Fantasy models to use for Saga: Age of Magic and saw these Oni figures online. My friend was kind enough to print them out for me. They are from a designer called Artisan Guild and they are very nice indeed. The two headed chap above is on a 50mm base, as is the black fellow below. The red boys and girls are all on 40mm bases, so you can get an idea of scale.
These figures have all been printed on a resin printer, so I was dubious at first as I really, really don't like working with resin. Thankfully my friend had done most of the clean-up work after the printing and I just had a few odd supports to trim off. The detail is really good and the figures went together perfectly on the first try. Unlike traditional resin casting, there were no bubbles and no warping to be seen. A couple of the models have very faint lines where the printer didn't quite line things up perfectly, but they are barely noticeable once painted.
The figures are all very characterful and are great for skirmish type games. I would still prefer plastic for more rank and file, mass-battle games, but I'm sold on the benefits of 3D printing. Sadly due to the number of chemicals and the smell they produce I don't think my wife will ever let me get a 3D printer myself, which is probably for the best. Having the ability to produce armies of minis from home will eventually lead to me having to buy an extension (or two) for my house.
I'll keep plugging away at the lead mountain. Finger crossed there will be more to come from my painting table soon.
Great work Stuart - this looks to be a rather terrifying lot!
ReplyDeleteI'm still cautious about 3D prints myself, but I do have the great fortune of having some great friends with printers, and thanks to them I have some cool additions to my collection. This lot looks lovely - well, scary!
Thanks Greg. I think 3D printing has it's limits at the moment, but the technology is improving by leaps and bounds.
DeleteA very fine job, Stuart! Yes, the 3d printing road is slippery; next to my metal and plastic piles there is now a resin pile. But I agree that the results of the modern printers are pretty awesome, as can be seen from your photos. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm pretty sure that we'll be seeing more and more 3D printed minis in the painting challenge as the printers get better and cheaper.
DeleteFine bunch of demons Stuart.
ReplyDeleteThank you Peter.
DeleteOh man, those Oni are superb. Well done Stuart. I'm a big fan of resin printers and these really hold up well.
ReplyDeleteThese figures are indeed very well printed and even better due to your excellent paintjob!
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