From Barks: Setting up a 3D printer

I am such a hobby butterfly. I really need a deadline so I can focus on one thing, or else I end up flitting from one unfinished project to another.

Last week I completed a Papuan stretcher bearer team, but I popped it up on my own blog first for Anzac Day, so it doesn't really count for the Challenge.

Papuan stretcher bearers from Eureka

My main hobby activity was assembling a 3D printer, a Creality Ender 3 (I'm using Cura for slicing). This is a very common printer with a big user population and hence lots of helpful videos and subreddits. I assembled and calibrated it in a few hours, and printed a 'Benchy': a standardised benchmark print of a cute tugboat that has a number of challenging features- overhangs and fine details etc.- that runs your printer through its paces.

Oh god, what have I got myself into?

Looks better!

Benchy!

I'm not yet planning to use it for figures or vehicles, but certainly scenery and boardgame accessories are on the printing queue. It is sitting happily in my living room at the moment, where I can hover over it like an anxious parent.

From Barks: Soviet NBC troops

Is there anything scarier than Soviet gasmasks? I used this quarantine challenge to finish off ten of these Eureka figures I started many years ago, and to add another five from scratch. I had to try and match my originals, and both my paints and style have changed in the meantime!

I was surprised at how quick they were to paint- no faces, camo, hands, boots, extraneous wargear, purity seals, skullz etc... They're lovely figures, and now I've gone and ordered myself a copy of Zona Alfa...