3D printing: Ruined Lighthouse and Kingdom Death inspired terrain.

In the continuing quest to improve the terrain of the fabulous Kingdom Death Monster game I've added a set of 3D printed fallen and broken columns.

The printing in the area around the faces was a bit dicey and tended to have spaces and holes.  Nothing really serious but worth noting.

 I went with a tawny marbleized look for the columns because I imagine the twilight world of the Survivors to be covered in dirt, dust, and mold.  The ground faces tend to be alabaster because they might be newly deposited while the columns seem to have fallen long ago.

In any case they were an experiment in painting marbled surfaces and I learned a lot about painting in the various veining.

A sampling of the current state of the Kingdom Death inspired terrain set. 

 The biggest downside of this set is that the minis do not always sit easily on some of the elements that are intended to share a playable space with... its doable, just not pretty to look at.

Fortunately the columns and some of the larger things, like egg piles and sacks, are not intended as playable spaces so its not really a problem and the do look a lot better than the flat cardboard they replace. 

 Eerie lights emanating from the crystals complements the light variations on the mini bases.

I think that completes the terrain for the game.  I've printed replacements for all the cardboard terrain counters that I've found in the game and the Spidicules expansion... If I find anything else there will be more!

 Moving on to the Ruined Lighthouse from the Rampage: Lost Isles Kickstarter.

The first happy lesson was that printing this with black material was both less expensive (Black seems to be the cheapest color of PLA roll around by a couple of dollars a roll) and much, much easier to paint up.

Shown throughout with some of the excellent Raging Heroes Void Elves for scale.  This is important as, due to the limitations of my build space, I was compelled to print the model at 99% of its intended size.

 Because the material is black the primer stage was less demanding and full coverage of the crevices was not required.  This saved a lot of time and consumed much less primer than the tan, white, or gray material. 

 Rampage is really good about updating their products post release and I get regular emails about updated files.  Generally speaking these files seem to be re-scaling models that might have been proportioned for 20mm square bases to the increasingly common 30mm round lipped bases.

 Another great thing about Rampage is that many of their large models have .stl files for both large and small format printers.

In my case... my printer (Snapmaker) is on the petite side of small... which means that I am unable to print this size of model without using the small format files...without dramatically reducing the model dimensions.  Because of the inclusion of the small format files I'm able to print this model at 99% of its intended size.  Score!

 The model is quite large and I noticed that it printed with small holes for magnets!  Sometimes Storing and transporting big terrain models is problematic so I popped magnets into the designated holes and it went together surprisingly well... with a satisfying snapping sound to boot!

Here is the model broken down for storage/transport. I'll be adding magnets to many more buildings as, in addition to making them easy to deal with when not in use, it really opens up access to the interiors while on the tabletop!  Double win!

All in all this took me a time fraction of the time it takes to paint an equivalent model in another color.  Printing took a couple of days but cleanup and adding magnets time was under an hour.  Painting was done in two short afternoon sessions.









An early experiment with texture rollers from Greenstuff World (Thanks for the heads up Ed!).

While these will be great for Twisted! I'm really going to want to switch to a less spendy putty or clay and roll out big sheets of texture.  Then I'll want to get, or make, some small size biscuit/cookie cutters and punch out circles and squares.  I'm having difficulty locating circles and squares in the right sizes for this but its early days and I haven't put a lot of time into the search... hmmm... maybe some pill bottles are the right size.... we'll see!

Back to the desk to experiment!

New Void Elf Blood Vestals Sci-Fi version

With this batch of the new sculpts of Raging Heroes' Blood Vestals (Sci-Fi version) I decided to make them a little less of a direct port from the, semi nude, Dark Elf Witch Elves and painted a grey leotard instead of the bare breasts.  This makes them blend better with the Games Workshop Dark Eldar that I primarily use them with.

  Even though the original Void Elf Blood Vestals are awesome models I was very pleased with these updated versions.  They applied a lot of lessons learned to these models which are a great addition to, and blend well with, the original set.

 Raging Heroes, at this stage of their development, are primarily used as proxies for other game systems.  I've become a fan of proxies over the years and think that their existence, and strong showing on the tabletop, help drive innovation in the industry and encourage the biggest companies to work harder.  Raging heroes units have a lot of built in variety and often come with an assortment of alternate parts. I use these mainly as Dark Eldar Wyches and and Ynnari cultists.

These models were constructed from one pack of Blood Vestal Troopers and one pack of Blood Vestal Command.

The bladed weapons ended up being an eerie green that I think of as exotic materials, energy, or poison.  Its a quick application of Hexwraith Flame (GW, technical) with some accents using Splintered Bone (Reaper)

 The hair starts with Krylon Khaki base coat dry-brushed with Sandstone craft paint and then again with Pure White (Reaper).  A 50/50 wash of Nightmare Black (Reaper) and Glaze Medium (Vallejo).  Highlights by adding Pure White (Reaper)

The desk is full of terrain and magnets at the moment... as well as some greenstuff rollers...

So I'm guessing terrains and possibly some Heresy Girls, Jailbirds, and/or Twisted minis will finish up next.

Back to the desk!

Heresy Girls resin vs 3D print

 The Heresy Girls Kickstarter was a small, low cost, project that provided .stl files and/or actual resin cast minis.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to see how well my Snapmaker could print detailed miniatures in 28mm.

I have a fair bit of experience now with coarser topics like buildings, vehicles, bases, and terrain and thought the Snapmaker might have some difficulty with the finer elements on the humanoid figure.  This turned out to be the case although I think its a limitation of the printing format more than a Snapmaker specific issue. 

 The test models are proxy female Eversor Assassins. The bases were 3D printed on the Snapmaker.

The Snapmaker at its finest resolution was unable to print invisible layers on the humanoid body and, due to the low melting point of the PLA material, options for sanding are limited.

I think I'm going to have to move to an SLA style printer to get reliable detailed models to print.

At any rate the first set of pictures is from the Snapmaker.  Where printing lines were noticeable I dusted them with a blue and white dry brush to make them stand out.





 I ended up liking the effect well enough and envision it as a visual distortion field.  This might work well enough for some types of Sci-Fi troops like Assassins and Infiltrators but would be out of place in troops of the line.

 Its also possible that the models could be rotated to reduce the print lines but the main problem seemed to be adhesion in some areas that led to distortion.  The head of this model is actually the extra resin head that was included in the manufacturer provided model and was not printed by the Snapmaker.

This is the model as supplied by the manufacturer. As you can see there is a lot of detail that was missed or mangled by the Snapmaker. 

 I like the quality of the model overall.  It required very little cleanup, details are sharp, the resin is flexible enough to survive use, and takes paint readily.

I got several files and reference models so I may do a few more test runs.

 This set shows the models side by side and really highlights the differences between the resin model and the 3D print.

 The 3D model could also pass for some kind of eerie undead... might be an interesting way to zombify some fantasy troops!

We're back from Tokyo and I'm starting to get back into the paint room.  I think some Reaper War Pugs and a pile of Raging Heroes Blood Vestals might be next.

Back to the desk!

Reaper Halfling Ranger and Dogs

 A quick project for a friend's new RP character.  A Reaper Halfling Ranger and St. Bernard companion.




These began life as Reaper's 02769: Woody, Halfling Ranger from the Dark Haven Legends Line and 77422: War Dog.

The guidance for Woody was to have some light blue in the shirt, non metal armor and a woodland consistent coat/cloak.

I went with a warm skin tone and auburn hair. I also carried the blue color out to the fetching of his arrows thinking the blue to be some sort of signature.









I added some freehand patterns to the coat to to help it read against the green but still have a woodsy feel.

The sword is simply done and might be revisited in case he happens to acquire a magic one!

The bases have a woodland theme... I had thought about cobblestone or an interior floor but.... hes a Ranger!









The animal companion is a St. Bernard so Iadded a quick little brandy cask.  Its an anachronism but should help with the illusion that this is a St. Bernard.  I did the chest-piece crimson but omitted the white cross emblem so I can add a symbol in when, and if, he gets some kind of distinguishing mark or brand. 













My initial take on the color ended up being a bit too yellow so I re-shaded to get a brown that is more in the St. Bernard spectrum.  Its on the lighter end of the color spectrum for them but at least its more identifiable as brown!

















He had a second dog and wanted it to be clearly a different dog so I went with a Rottweiler pattern which is practically the opposite of the St. Bernard.













This also has a crimson chest-piece but I'm not certain its intended to be at all related... so that might get adjusted later as well if there turns out to be a relation or a marking.  Otherwise red is a good color for an adversary!

 The two dogs together.

 Woody and the Dogs.  They are quite sturdy.. even massive... next to the slight Halfling.

 ... and a final look at Woody and the Dog.


Back to the Desk!

3D Printed Sci-Fi wheeled APC and wheeled ARV

 The Jailbirds got a couple of new vehicles this week but they, themselves, were out of reach for photos!  We'll make do with some of their potential adversaries like trusty Canoness Veridyan (GW).

The vehicles were 3D printed on a Snapmaker at high quality.  The files came from a Duncan "Shadow" Louca vehicle Kickstarter.

These continue the badlands nomad theme that is basically a Flesh Wash (Secret Weapon) over the standard Khaki workup.

 The wheels were painted Rubber (Secret Weapon) and the weathering was done with Secret Weapon technical paints.  Old Mud, Caked Dirt, Engine Metal, and Rust Shadow.

Rust Shadow makes an excellent liner and gives a "Borderlands" style shadow.  I think it will look really great with some other vehicles colors which I'll get into when I'm doing some of the civilian vehicles pressed into service by the caravan.

 Repo-Man! is a very vital vehicle for the Jailbirds.  Their gear is mostly second tier except for their bikes which are cutting edge.  The Jailbirds basically drag anything they can get off the field although they tend to focus on wheeled vehicles since they are easier to operate and maintain in their caravan lifestyle.

 The Jailbirds are much more organized and uniform that the typical "Mad Max-esque" Badlanders as they also form semi-regular military formations.  Basically they wear uniforms of a sort and their vehicles are identifiable as part of a regular, if somewhat eclectic, military unit.

 "Tailgater" with Mantic Star Saga marines and Forgeworld ripper swarms for scale.  I used magnets for the turret and for the hatches with the idea to optionally use Raging Heroes Ash, Tank Gunner as a vehicle commander.

 Repo-Man shown with Travelling merchant (Anvil Industries) or Trader Joe as he is known to the Jailbirds.

I saw some construction cranes the other day that had all the moving surfaces finished in a rubbery black color and thought that would be better than a shiny metal, attention attracting, surface.

A last look at Repo-Man with Raging Heroes Void Elves for scale.





















Last, I did basing and prep for a couple of Reaper minis for an RPG character.  A halfling Ranger, a couple of big dogs, and a triad of pups.  One of the dogs to be a Saint Bernard the other probably a Rottweiler or something similar to make the dogs easy to identify.

The Order of Vampire Hunters: Upyr and Burrowers plus 3D SF Vehicles and terrain WiPs

 The Upyr are vampire "Daywalkers" that are among the most dangerous of the vampire "trash mobs". While immune to sunlight effects and being, relatively, sturdy fighters they are not dangerous by themselves and can be dispatched by Pete and the Extractor just as any other vampire type.  Their main advantage is ignoring sunlight rooms in the lair and slowing down the Hunters especially when they arrive as a random spawn.

These were painted in the same way as the warriors but have a few extra layers of Sunny Flesh dry-brush and paler red wings.










Unfortunately they are uni-pose and since they will be stored in their formed plastic game tray I didn't want to do any physical modification.  Keeping in mind also that they are board game pieces I kept their paint schemes uniform for easy identification during play.

 The Burrowers were also painted similarly to the warriors with the but for the omission of the red wings.

















Like the Upyr these are cast in a single pose.










Moving into the 3D printed stuff there is a wheeled ARV (Armored Recovery Vehicle) that will join my Jailbirds Faction.  As motorized nomads and scavengers I think the ARV will be an important addition to their motley collection... so I may print up one or two more... can't leave loot on the battlefield!





This is another wheeled APC that the Jailbirds will press into service.  Its more boxy than their other vehicles and I can imagine that it was "liberated" from one of their many adversaries.

One of the benefits of these PLA prints is that they are easy to magnetize.  Since they are not a solid block of resin, or a hollow hard plastic cast, you can easily punch a magnet sized hole in the skin and the magnet will still be supported by the interior lattice structure.

The crane of the ARV and the turret of the APC are magnetized. 

I need to come up with names for these vehicles both as general type and as individuals.  Suggestions welcome! 

Finally some progress in the Kingdom Death inspired columns to replace the 2D cardboard terrain in the Kingdom Death Monster game.

I've been working on some marble-like effects and still want to narrow and define the black veining a bit before washing them and doing some final highlights.

Back to the desk!