Fresh from the printer

Just finished by first batch of 3D resin prints now that the weather is warm enough and I had a relatively clear run of days to work on them. Mainly they were printed with Elegoo ABS water washable resin, which works well on the figures

From top left to bottom right

• French Revolution Generals
• WW2 Russian Paratroops
• large tray 1 - see below
• large tray 2 - Napoleonic Russian Horse Artillery plus extra guns
• Napoleonic French Croatian Regiment
• Oddments - Camel riders, WSS Drummers and WW2 US drivers
• Napoleonic Austrian Gunners
• Naploeonic Polish Lancers
• WW2 US Paratrooos with M1919A3 bipod mounts
• Western Gunfight 32mm - Mexicans and Cattle
• Zulu War Cattle
• Napoleonic French Guard Chasseurs a Cheval
• Napoleonic French Guard Grenadiers a Cheval

Vehicles, etc

• Pair of German Nashorn
• Pair of German Hummel
• Three British Stuart M3A3
• US Dodge VC-1 Command Car 1939
• US Dodge WC6 Command Car
• British Stuart that will be replaced by the M3A3s
• British 5.5" gun to replace my old Airfix one
• Pair of open topped German sdkfz 9 "Famo"
• Pair of closed topped German sdkfz 9 "Famo"

Some reflections on my last 3D print run.

So my last 3D print run didn't start well as I failed to realise that the 8K resin I was using was IPA washable not water washable. But it did produce more resilent models and therefore it was better for printing 20mm figures. So I bought some IPA and an extra bottle of the resin and got to work. Unfortunately although the weather stayed warm the thick cloud meant that curing outside was very slow. Figures I could manage but the base plate was still tacky for the next run which could have affected the adhesion. Luckily it didn't and I managed to print everything I thought I would need for the winter until the weather warms up again. In total, I managed to print:

• Sufficient Napoleonic Russian limber riders to upgrade their limber riders and add a few more
• Four units of replacement Napoleonic French Middle/Young Guard
• Three units of replacement Napoleonic French Young Guard skirmishers
• Four units of replacement Napoleonic Italian line infantry
• Four units of Napoleonic Spanish round hat infantry
• One unit of Napoleonic Spanish round hat infantry skirmishers
• Another 28mm unit of SYW Prussian Jaegers
• An odd collection of scientists in lab coats (they were free and I couldn't reist)
• a pair of WW2 Schwimmwagens where I had added the crews
• A pair of WW2 Laffly V15R where I added the crew (thanks to Dani for the STL)
• A unit of Napoleonic French line infantry fusiliers skirmishing
• A single possible replacement WW2 British 5.5" gun as a replacement for my aged Airfix versions

So why so many? Well when an error occurs on wnat you hope will be the last batch and then you need to print a replacement but you then fill up the batch with your next idea and then it goes on.

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

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.

Starting up the 3D printer again

Slight change of emphasis for the latest batch, I am concentrating on printing Waco gliders for friends and filing in the space on the plate with the other bits and pieces I need.

As this was my first print after the winter I have a couple of problems to sort the Unic P304 somehow lost its front wheels and the glider fuselage had some distortion. The glider stl is a modification of the M Bergmann original and if anyone is interested in using it just leave a comment and I will send by email.

Latest batch of 3D printing

I've just finished my latest batch of printing and I've worked through most of my current wishlist.

A quick summary of the output From top to bottom and left to right

1. German Lf.5 limbers and AA wagons
2. German sdkfz 10's for my DAK, ready crewed and stowed
3. 2 x British Grants, scaled to match my existing Grants
4. 3 x M113 for my Bundeswehr
5. 12 x Napoleonic Prussian limbers modified from an Austrian STL file I had
6. Two pairs of 88mm limbers to go with my old Airfix 88mms that have long lost their limbers
7. German limber horses for the Lf.5 and the Russian ones as well
8. 3 x Japanese Type 97 Te-Ke light tanks (with a couple of misprinted hulls)
9. 2 x Lanchester armoured car hulls (to replace exploded versions) and a pair of Model T Fords
10. 4 x Russian universal limbers plus a heap of home designed gates
11. "The Fellowship" some fantasy figures looking like the LOTR characters
12. ECW dragoons both mounted and on foot scaled up to 28mm from 15mm

An experimental mixture

I have painted up a selection of 3D printed figures from different periods as an experiment to see how they turn out and in general, it worked quite well.

The confused general for DBA, scaled up from 15mm to 20mm and it is detailed well enough to scale larger if needed

Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish Governor of Lousianain the AWI printed in 28mm to go with my Spanish for Sharp Practice. A free figure from 3D Breed.

Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, the Wargames Illustrated Giants in Miniature scaled down to 20mm, somehow I managed to print a pair of them, so one of each will be a decoy.

Printer back in action

I've restarted the printer and I'm working on a mix of new stuff and replacements for the recent failures.

Cripes - when 3D printing goes wrong

It looks like a bomb has hit it.

All of these were printed hollow and I thought I had manged to drill and drain all the uncured resin inside. But the recent very hot weather has proved me wrong - there was still uncured resin inside and as it seeped away it blocked up the drain holes. It then expanded and forced its way out through the weakest points giving the impression of an internal explosion.

So back to the drawing board for these and attempt to find a better solution and replace the damage. I also have other models that have suffered collateral damage and have resin sprayed on them. Hopefully I can solve this by painting over with matt varnish.

And the printer is back in action

My first batch straight off the printer, but having checked all are about 10% undersized.

The Dutch Napoleonic Infantry are regretably undersized compared to my British Army. They match quite well to the original Springwood figures at 20mm sole of foot to eye, but not to the 22mm second edition Springwood figures that I used. The Pak$£ are also undersized, somehow I forgot to enlarge them from my previous print run and now I have three approx 1/87 scale versions!