3D Resin Printing - summary of the last batch

Having written my half year review I wondered how much I had actually printed. So here is a summary

• 5 x M3A1 Stuarts - for my British desert forces
• 1 x M3 Lee - a test for replacing my diecasts
• 1 x Gaz bus for my Russian Command
• 2 x Jagdpanthers - to match my single Matchbox model
• 1 x 28mm stagecoach - for Wild West games
• 7 x 28mm mounted Mexicans plus spare horses
• 3 x Japanese Ka-Mi tank hulls - to replace some that exploded (*)
• 3 x Japanese I-Go tank hulls - to replace some that exploded (*)
• 6 x softskins for a friend
• 16 x Spanish Round Hat Infantry - to use as French Legion Nautique in Egypt with a few left overs from before
• 24 x Russian Pavlov Grenadiers
• 450 x Russian Infantry - Mixed Grenadiers/Musketeers/Jaegers

Overall a very sucessful run with a low level of failures and only one FEP failure. Elegoo water washable ABS resin used throughout.

* These were printed after I discovered the problems with uncured resin remaining in the model voids, but I had not added large enough drain holes

Progress against plan 2026 - Half Year Review

Half way through the year and only 446 items completed, which is very poor progress, but I did get both the 3D printers running. It leave me with quite a sizeably painting backlog to complete by the end of the year Breakdown of progress so far:

1. Reworking my Napoleonic Russian Army - well underway
2. Enhance existing armies- well underway
3. 3D printing terrain (FDM) - started, but lots of learning to consider
4. 3D printing vehicles and figures (resin) - First run of the year completed
5. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures - Good progress
6. Enjoy Games & Shows- OK so far

Amplifying the above:

1. Reworking my Napoleonic Russian Army

• Rebase existing Russian Line Cavalry - completed
• Decide whether to replace or rebase existing Cossacks - tested rebasing and decided to stay for now with existing cossacks
• 3D print Infantry to replace Version 1 Springwood Infantry - all now printed
• Rebase Version 2 Springwood Infantry, plus new 3D printed officers, etc. - printed as above, now ready to paint and base
• Decide how to replace existing Militia (HaT) - decided to sell and have sold them, I have printed some extra infantry to replace them

2. Enhance existing armies - already planned are

• Napoleonic Saxons/Westphalians when I can find suitable STL files - still have not found suitable files
• 28mm Wild West terrain including a mine (non MDF) - completed
• Some more 28mm Gunfighters including some Indians- have printed mounted Mexicans and a stagecoach
• 28mm Gangs of Rome figures.- not started
• Some Spanish medieval infantry for the El Cid period- completed apart from some crossbowmen
• 3 units of Almoravid Heavy Cavalry- completed
• 3 units of SYW British Infantry - 4 units, half of which are painted
• 4 units of WSS Spanish (Walloon?) Infantry - purchased
• 3 units of WSS French Cavalry- not started and I have acquired another 4 units
• Legion Nautique for the French in Egypt 1800 - printed I now need to paint
• Hanoverian limbers for the SYW - completed
• a couple of units for the SYW - I decided on Hessians and have completed them.
• Assemble and paint Wild West buildings received at Xmas - I have assembled and painted them apart from some signage. I have also added some purchased buildings I now need to paint them.
• Support the stash reduction by painting useable items - started

2. 3D Printing Terrain (FDM)

• Test printing a Horsa using FDM- conducted a digital test and decided it was feasible
• Vietnamese hooches - Printed, but I need to finished painting them
• Western European buildings - not convinced by the files I have
• Spanish/Mediterrainean buildings - not convinced by the files I have
• New bridges - not started

3. 3D Printing Vehicles & Figures (Resin) - in the summer

• Napoleonic Saxon and Westphalian Infantry - not found suitable files yet
• Napoleonic Russian Infantry - Completed - all printed
• Maybe Napoleonic Russian Cossacks? - not needed
• Gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - slowly clearing them out, quite a number went when I sold my winter troops

4. 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 - cleared out my winter terrain, various naval projects and my 15mm West Germans
• Sell the identified surplus, probably on ebay - sold quite a lot now, but need to keep on selling
• Review stash (figure and plastic bits box) aiming to reduce from 3 to 2 crates by painting or selling the excess - no progress yet
• Identify replacement STL files for my 1st version Springwood Prussian figures for 2027 - not convinced by the files I have found so far

5. Gaming

• Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - OK so far
• Try to attend the same number of shows as last year - Managed to get to Vapnartak but unfortunately WMMS was cancelled this year and I only managed to attend Phalanx this quarter and Games Expo, which might count as a "wargames" show

On the Workbench - July 2026

In June I had still not recovered my painting mojo till late on, but I did get a substantial amount of resin 3D printed.

I hope to be working working on:

• Remaining two units of SYW British infantry (All primed)
• Complete the Vietnamese buildings (Primed and first coat now painted (base colours are now on I just need to finish off the final washes, etc. - still waiting to be finished)
• 3 units of WSS French cavalry (Assembled and washed ready for priming - Still)
• 4 more units of WSS French cavalry (from my latest purchases)
• Paint the wild west buildings acquired at Games Expo
• If time permits get started on the Russian Napoleonics I have printed

Also, I plan to attend Attack in Devizes

SYW British Line Infantry - part 1

This is only part 1 as I only produced two out of the four planned British Line Infantry Regiments so far, there are the 20th and 25th regiments, who both have yellow facings, the 20th being paler.

The figures are Redbox Jacobite Rebellion British, which are well suited to the Seven Years War. The 20th are at the front in the bright morning sunshine.

Almoravid Heavy Cavalry

A slow burner as I always have difficulty selecting the right colour palette for irregular troops

The base figures are Almoravid heavy cavalry from HaT and will be used with the rest of my Islamic forces either for El Cid and Crusader era skirmish and big battle games

Sunday in the Sudan

As is traditional after Phalanx we all particaoted in a big game over at Steve's in Salford. This year it was the Sudan. The Egyptians were defending the Riverside town and neighbouring village against a horde of Mahdists. The British plodded across the sand in the baking sun to their rescue.

My command, the cavalry and camelry

The Egyptians repel three assaults

Still holding on except the Mahdists have taken a building in the town.

By the end of play thanks to the staunch Egyptian defense there was no hope of success for the Mahdists.

Phalanx 2025

Myself and a contingent from the Beacon club put on Nantwich 1644 at Phalanx, as other members who had planned to produce a game were running behind schedule. Still is was a great game using a modified big battle version of Pikeman's Lament. These are pictures of the pre-battle setup as once action was started I spent most of my time organising the action rather than taking pictures. Nevertheless the battle turned out a narrow Parliment victory.

Other games

Seelowe 1940 Germans v's Home Guard

Culloden in 54mm, lots of entertaining conversions

Zorndorf - SYW Prussian Russian bash

Ramillies

An age of sail ship v's shore engagement, I would have liked to have time to find out more about the ships and the rules

And no picture of the Lance & Longbow stand where I would have usually been participating as it was too busy - well done guys

On the workbench - June 2026

So May turned out to be a complete distraction from painting. First my insurer decided to write off my car so I had to hunt for a new one, and then I realised with the sudden onset of hot weather I could get the 3D printer started again. The month ended with an outing to UK Games Expo, quite an experience. Also I managed to sell off all my Winter terrain and armies. But overall not much progress on the painting so I am working on:

• Almoravid heavy cavalry (almost there, needs a final push on all the detailing)
• Four units of SYW British infantry (All primed, half with their facings blocked in - no progress in May))
• Complete the Vietnamese buildings (Primed and first coat now painted (base colours are now on I just need to finish off the final washes, etc. They were already good enough to use in a game last month))
• 3 units of WSS French cavalry (Assembled and washed ready for priming - Still)
• Paint the wild west buildings acquired at Games Expo
• Complete the latest 3D printing campaign, mainly Napoleonic Russian Infantry, plus various ypgrades/replacements for existing vehicles

Finally Phalanx is on this month and the club is putting on the battle of Nantwich 1644

French Vichy Dewotine D520

Phew, last of May and I have finished my Dewotine D520 in Vichy colours. It started out as a wish to have something Vichy to support those French in Lebanon/Syria and North Africa. Once painted the decals disintegrated as soon as placed, despite being dosed with varnish first. So much for a £2 quick fix kit!. Step in Charles, while I had other problems to supply a set of French roundels. So a slight change to the paints scheme and I have

Looks the part

WAS Bavarian Freikompanie Prielmayer

I needed some light troops for my Seven Years War Bavarians, so they could act as a stand alone force, but they didn't use them as part of the auxilary force provided to Austria. So I cast the net wider to the War of Austrian Succession, there were three at that time and I selected the Prielmayer Freikompanie. The uniform came up on a forum so I used it.

The source I used

Also I created a command stand for my Prussin artillery

All the figures are from the Revell SYW sets.

WSS Franconian Grenadier Battalion

Having bought the Strelets War of Spanish Succession Austrian Grenadiers I had to find a use for them other than as Austrians as I had already created those by conversions. I discovered the Franconian Combined Greanadiers on Kronoskaf Project WSS (link).

It was involved in the battle of Schellenberg along with Austrian Grenadiers and and Swabian Grenadiers, so I now need to find a uniform for the latter to use up the remaining figures.

Some guessses were made to fill in the missing details in the uniform description. The flag came from a SYW Franconian circle flag recouloured to match the unit's facings.

On the workbench - May 2025

Well, April has been a mixed month. When planning I had forgotten to take into account the duties of a son on his mothers 99th birthday!! and then my car was involved in a collision with an opening van door as I was parking!*? So progress has been very slow.

So I'm still working on:-

• Almoravid heavy cavalry (basic colours all done)
• Four units of SYW British infantry (All primed, half with their facings blocked in))
• Paint the Vietnamese buildings (Primed and first coat now painted (cheap rattle can matt sand from ebay))
• WSS Franconian grenadier battalion (Primed)
• 3 units of WSS French cavalry (Assembled and washed ready for priming)
• A Prussian artillery commander base (Primed)
• Bavarian Frei Kompanie Prielmayer (Primed) (I found this from the stash after finding an image of the unit)

Wild West scenery

It's been a while , these scenic items were almost finished before I went away and finished shortly after I returned, but "real life" intervened. They were all printed on my FDM 3D printer and then assembled onto bases. In future I'll assemble them onto bases digitally before printing.

Crates

Fence post cactus

"Poka-dot" cactus, I plan to print more small versions for mediterranean prickly pears.

classic "tree" cactus

My mine railway and wagons, the tracks were based before printing. I still need to build a mine entrance and workings.

SYW Prussian Pioneers

Quite an unusual unit for my Seven Years War Prussian army, the short lived Pioneer regiment. It became the 49th fusilier regiment in 1758 see Kronoskaf for more details (link)

These were converted from the Revell Austrian artillery with fusilier hat swaps from the HaT Prussian infantry marching. Don't look too closely or you'll see the problem I had welding the two different plastics together.

Progress against plan 1Q26

So one quarter down and 295 items, which was not bad considering my time spent on becoming a grandfather and successfully getting the FDM printer going. Breakdown of progress so far:

1. Reworking my Napoleonic Russian Army - well underway
2. Enhance existing armies- well underway
3. 3D printing terrain (FDM) - started, but lots of learning to consider
4. 3D printing vehicles and figures (resin) - not started yet as too cold
5. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures - started, a certain amount cleared but still more to do
6. Enjoy Games & Shows- OK so far

Amplifying the above:

1. Reworking my Napoleonic Russian Army

• Rebase existing Russian Line Cavalry - done
• Decide whether to replace or rebase existing Cossacks - tested rebasing and decided to stay for now with existing cossacks
• 3D print Infantry to replace Version 1 Springwood Infantry - waiting for warmer weather
• Rebase Version 2 Springwood Infantry, plus new 3D printed officers, etc. - as above, waiting for warmer weather
• Decide how to replace existing Militia (HaT) - decided to sell and have sold

2. Enhance existing armies - already planned are

• Napoleonic Saxons/Westphalians when I can find suitable STL files - still have not found suitable files
• 28mm Wild West terrain including a mine (non MDF) - All printed need to assemble and paint
• Some more 28mm Gunfighters including some Indians- not started
• 28mm Gangs of Rome figures.- not started
• Some Spanish medieval infantry for the El Cid period- completed apart from some crossbowmen
• 3 units of Almoravid Heavy Cavalry- about to start
• 3 units of SYW British Infantry - about to start 4 instead of 3 units
• 4 units of WSS Spanish (Walloon?) Infantry - not purchased yet
• 3 units of WSS French Cavalry- not started
• Legion Nautique for the French in Egypt 1800 - not started, waiting for warmer weather to print
• Hanoverian limbers for the SYW - completed
• a couple of units for the SYW - I decided on Hessians and have completed them.
• Assemble and paint Wild West buildings received at Xmas - I have assembled and painted them apart from some signage
• Support the stash reduction by painting useable items -started

2. 3D Printing Terrain (FDM)

• Test printing a Horsa using FDM- conducted a digital test and decided it was feasible
• Vietnamese hooches - Printed, but still need to paint
• Western European buildings - not convinced by the files I have
• Spanish/Mediterrainean buildings - not convinced by the files I have
• New bridges - not started

3. 3D Printing Vehicles & Figures (Resin) - in the summer

• Napoleonic Saxon and Westphalian Infantry - not found suitable files yet
• Napoleonic Russian Infantry - just waiting on the weather
• Maybe Napoleonic Russian Cossacks? - not needed
• Gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - slowly clearing them out

4. 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 - no progress yet
• Sell the identified surplus, probably on ebay - sold a certain quantity, just need to keep on
• Review stash (figure and plastic bits box) aiming to reduce from 3 to 2 crates by painting or selling the excess - no progress yet
• Identify replacement STL files for my 1st version Springwood Prussian figures for 2027 - not convinced by the files I have found so far

5. Gaming

• Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - OK so far
• Try to attend the same number of shows as last year - Managed to get to Vapnartak but unfortunately WMMS was cancelled this year

In the Workbench - Apr 2026

Well at last I got the FDM printer working and I'm very happy with my "Vietnamese" buildings, unfortunately the decals for my Dewoitine disintegrated so it will have to wait till I find some replacement decals.

I'll be working on:-

• Almoravid heavy cavalry
• Four units of SYW British infantry (I've struggled to clean these up, but I found I had sufficient for an extra unit)
• SYW Prussian pioneers
• Paint the Vietnamese buildings
• WSS Franconian grenadier battalion
• 3 units of WSS French cavalry

SYW Hessian Infantry

While sorting out my British figures for the Seven Years War, I found that I still had some HaT SYW Prussian infantry figures in the stash. AS the British needed quite a bit of cleaning up they pre-empted them in the painting queue. They were painted as the Hesse-Kassel Erbprinz (yellow facings) and Ysenburg (buff) regiments.

Unfortunately the version of their flags with a white and red lion in the centre was not introduced until after the end of the SYW, so I just used the version with the Landgrave's cypher.

Henschel Hs 123 finished

The kind donation/swap from Alan Mc is now ready for action. So I now have a Henschel Hs 123 to support my WW2 German forces through Poland, France, the Balkans and even into Russia.

Unfortunately the decals for the Dewotine D520 that I was also working on disintegrated when I tried to apply them despite having had two coats of varnish applied first

FDM printer is running

At long last I am producing some 3D printed terrain from my FDM printer. it's quite slow as it is on the finest setting, but there are very little visible lines.

These are the excellent Rubican Oscar Mike buildings that are available on Thingiverse (link). There are a total of 9 different buildings. I have printed mine at 60% scaling for 20mm.

The roofs are removable and there are internal walls

I have also been printing some railway track, and wagons for my Wild West mine, along with some Cacti, all purchased last summer from MyMiniFactory (link) in last summer's sale.

M3 Stuart Honey tanks repainted

Back in the mists of time I painted three Matchbox M3A1 Stuarts for my Late WW2 British army. Since I replaced them with some more correct M3A3 these became available so I soaked them in dettol to remove the old paint and then repainted them in Cauter for the Western Desert.

WW2 German MMG teams

A small update as I complete some missing MMG teams for my early WW2 Germans, I had been using some late war version up until now. The fogures are mainly "First to Fight" with the comanders from the Airfix Pak 40 set.

El Cid era Spanish light infantry

Almost the last of the box of HaT Spanish infantry produced an archer unit and three units of skirmishers (two javelin armed and one sling)

I would have liked a unit of crossbow but you only get four in a packet of ninety six!