3D printing has finished for now!

So I have worked though my current wishlist for the printer and produced the following for my own use, all 20mm unless identified otherwise.

From the top left tray going clockwise and similarly within each tray
Tray 1

• Four Horsa gliders bath-tubbed in a similar way to my Wacos - there were some glitches in printing all of them but nothing that some simple modelling cannot fix.

Tray 2

• Two Renault TN6 buses for my extemporised French infantry transport
• A pair of Crusader gun tractors to provide alternative tow for my 17pdrs
• A Daimler armoured car hull to replace one that exploded and one that failed to print properly
• A failed Opel Blitz bus where I have printed replacement wheels but will pass onto a friend to enjoy repairing
• A collection of French WW2 drivers I've created for those vehicles missing one
• 28mm ECW gun crew scaled up from 15mm
• Three copies of Russian cameraman Yevgeny Khaldei and some US tank crew
• Russian heavy gun crews for a pair of 152mm Ml-20 guns that are already being painted
• A couple of Richard Winters

Tray 3

• On the left 64 French Napoleonic Command figures ready for their upgrade
• Top right - Von Lettow Vorbeck and an askari
• A 15mm Opel Blitz bus and a H39 for friends at the club

Tray4

• A pair of Dodge Tanake for my French Foreign Legion
• Four M8 Scott HMC to replace my old heavy metal versions
• A Staghound hull to replace one that exploded
• Parts for the SWS and LRCs
• Five Humber Light Reconnaissance Cars (LRC) - three of these need repaired
• Four WC62 (6x4) Beeps for US 57mm tows, one need the side screens and windscreen replace as they were too fragile
• A couple of Armoured Schwerewehrmachtschleppers (SWS) to replace some diecasts - shame I can't find an unarmoured version
• Two Opel Blitz buses for myself, one early war and one late

Mediterranean Fallschirmjager rebased

Basically a rebasing effort of my existing Fallschirmjager, which originally had plaster/tetrion basing. It did cause some damge to the lower legs so there was an amount of repainting.

I also added a couple each of anti tank rifle teams and 5cm mortars plus a few extra figures to make up numbers

French Dragoons in Egypt 1800

Although the French Dragoons fighting in Egypt in 1800 could have the same uniform as back in Europe I decided to represent their summer cotton uniform instead.

I choose to represent the 14th (dark pink facings) and the 20th (pale yellow facings)

On the Workbench - July 2024

Well, the year is half over and I'm well ahead on my objectives, but the decision is which Napoleonic army to start rebasing next? I've decided to tackle the biggest, but the most useful, the French and allied forces, over 1,500 figures. The other main task will be to sort out the 3D printing now (hopefully) I have two. During the summer I will concentrate on printing the figures and vehicles I need, while in the winter on the terrain. Specifically for July I will be working on:

• Rebasing my German Mediterranean Fallschirmjager and adding a few extra heavy weapons - underway
• French Dragoons for Egypt 1800 - currently being based
• Continue working on my 3D printed oddments as I add more
• Continue 3D printer production to produce more Horsa gliders plus some other new STL files I have bought
• Try and get my FDM printer working
• If time permits start working on the French rebasing

Finally I will be down in Wiltshire for part of the month visiting family and also attending the Attack show Devizes on 20th July.

Progress against plan 2Q24

An excellent start to the year with 1846 items completed, however about two thirds of those were reworking/rebasing.

Compared to my much looser plan than usual I have done the following:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible - underway
2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection - underway, but I've still not seen anything to tempt me into a new period.
3. Maintain or ideally reduce the stash - ongoing
4. Exploit the 3D Printer - Now in the middle of my second print run, with a higher success rate than earlier in the year when it was colder. I have also bought an FDM printer for terrain, although it is not working yet due to a disc drive malfunction
5. Enjoy Games & Shows - underway with trips to Vapnartak, Hammerhead,the Easter big game and Phalanx.

Amplifying the above:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible.

• Start on the Napoleonics (this may take a couple of years to do) - I made a start on the British last year - I've completed the British, Portuguese, Brunswick and Spanish plus my figures for skirmish games
• WW2 Winter Russians - Completed
• Early War German Fallschirmjager - Removed the bases, but not quite started on the basing

2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection in no particular order

• 15mm DBA Italian wars army (for the forthcoming inter-club tournament) - bought a Hungarian army but it didn't have all the necessary options, so I sucessfully used some borrowed "Florentines" for the games - This project is now shelved and the Hungarians sold off
• 28mm Female Gunfighters - not started yet
• Add a unit of WW2 Japanese SNLF - completed
• Extra units for the Crusades - completed
• French Dragoons for Egypt 1800 - underway
• Modify the SYW Austrian Grenz to use for Prussian Frei Korps - not started yet
• Some extra Aztecs for skirmish games - not started yet, but I have trialed a couple of 3D printed figures
• Various figures and terrain need for Montgisard 1177 - completed and sucessfully ran the game at both Vapnartak and Phalanx
• WW2 BEF infantry (I plan to 3D print the extra needed figures, etc.) - I decided that the pint files were not good enough so the project has been shelved.

3. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures

• Re-assess each existing period, army, and units to consider if I am really going to use them - not started yet
• Reduce the stash (figure and plastic bits box) from 4 crates to 3 - underway
• review my 1/300 collection and decide its fate - not started yet

4. 3D Printing - the bulk of my immediate needs have been printed so I will work on

• gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - not started yet
• components for houses and other terrain - not started yet - I am planning to use the FDM printer for this
• work on how to make/modify files to meet my specific needs - underway, I've enhanced my 1/80 Waco and I've created a similar bath-tubbed Horsa glider that has printed OK

5. Gaming

• Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - underway only one weekend missed so far due to other commitments
• Attend at least as many shows as last year - The list of shows are Vapnartak, Hammerhead, an Easter big game and Phalanx.

More progress with the 3D printer

I've been investing in quite a few new STL files and working on a number of others and now it's time for the printer. The most major effort was a bathtubbed Horsa glider, which pleasingly printed perfectly.

Others were a bit mixed as expected for a first run. The Opel Blitz bus failed to print its left wheels, ditto the Light Reconnaissance Car and the Daimler hull losing one wheel. The M8 Scott, SWS, ML20 and Crusader Gun Tractor were all fine, together with the French drivers I created.

Renault TN-6 Bus

I bought an STL of a Renault TN-6 the claasic Parisian bus of the 30s and 40s that was also used by the military. it was cheap, but I discovered in was for an FDM printer and needed to be printed in pieces and then assembled. Luckily I have learned enough to be able to build it virtually and this is the final version straight off the printer.

Just a little fettling to do like increasing the diameter of the support poles in the cabin.