3D Printing: Amazon Box Mimic

3D Printing: Baba Lysaga

 Here's the latest stuff I've printed:

A Slender Guy

Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut from Curse of Strahd

Leaf Boat

Blue Fairy

3D Printing: Toons and Squid

There's a running joke with my DM, that he throws a lot of squid at us, or at least uses them in weird locations.  It's probably not even true, but it became a thing, and so I figured he needed an actual squid miniature. 

Here's a Gazebo Mimic, based on the infamous Dread Gazebo anecdote.

Here's some boats:

And here is my first attempt at recreating the characters from the 80s D&D cartoon.  Most of them aren't great, because I can't find actual STL files for them, so I had to collect and improvise.  I'm going to gradually replace these if/when I find better models to work from.

Some notes on the individual characters:

Dungeon Master: This was the easiest, because someone actually did make an STL file for him.  I really should fill in his facial features, but I suck at tiny details.  I even tried a flesh wash, but I had to paint back over it because it accentuated the horizontal print lines.

Hank/Ranger: The hardest part of this one was picking from the many STL files available.  He has such a basic look, I found a lot of Ranger minis that would work.  I didn't realize this until after I painted it, but what I painted as his hair is supposed to be a hood.  But I like how it turned out.

Bobby/Barbarian: It was also pretty easy to find a barbarian STL to work from.  A child barbarian, though?  Impossible.  Still, this one will stand in pretty well.  I didn't print the unicorn, though.  I think I bought it at a zoo, and just glued it on a base.

Diana/Acrobat: This is my favorite.  I think the STL I found was called "savage warrior".  She was originally holding a spear, but I cut off the tip.

Sheila/Thief: This is a very undetailed mini, but it works for my purposes.  I love the minis that print easily without supports, and the conical shape of this mini made it an easy print.

Presto/Magician: My least favorite, and the first one I'm going to replace when I find a better STL.  I really needed a mini with his iconic hat, but every wizard I found with a pointy hat also had a long beard.  It's like nobody's ever considered the idea of a young wizard wearing a pointy hat.  This will do for now, as silly as it looks for someone to wear a hat over a hood.

Eric/Cavalier: You know what else is impossible to find?  A paladin STL that is holding a shield, but not a weapon.  

Overall, I think these minis result in the "Cheerleader Effect".  If you look at each mini by itself, you wouldn't connect it to the cartoon.  But standing as a group, it trips that memory by virtue of the color scheme alone.  I can't say I'm proud of the set, but they'll serve their purpose if I ever run an 80s cartoon themed adventure.

More to come, as I print more things!

3D Printer Update - Dinosaurs!

A while back I showed off my first efforts with a 3D printer.  Here's some updates.  First off, here's a few of the ones from last time, now painted:

Dice tray, now painted and felt-lined.

Dice tower.  I kept the interior green, because it would have been hard to paint it all.  But I like how it gives it a mystical feel.

Campsite.

Barbarian.  Now de-stringed and supports removed.  Still needs some paint touch-ups.

Now some new stuff.  Here's a different style dice tower:

Here's some dinosaurs.  I did not print the dinos (except for one of them), they're from some packs from a dollar store.  I printed the bases the dinos are on, then painted the bases.  I also repainted some of the dinos.  I'm now ready to run a campaign in Chult.

I did print this one.  You can tell because it sucks.

And finally, here is something completely different.  I tried to print a horse that had a platform on its back for holding a miniature.  Unfortunately, it printed badly.  First, it came out huge, like some sort of war elephant.  Secondly, I didn't put enough supports under its nose, so it came out looking more like a duck's beak.  So I leaned into the skid, and designed a new creature.  I present the four-legged war mallard:

Fun With A 3D Printer

For my birthday I received a "Creality Ender 3 Pro" 3D printer, which I've mostly been using to make D&D paraphernalia.  It's got a sharp learning curve, and I'm not very good with it yet, but I've managed to make a few useful items.

First thoughts:  I can't wait until 3D printers are so commonplace that they just work out of the box, like an ink printer.  I had to build this thing from the ground up, and the included instructions are no help.  You pretty much have to watch a YouTube video to get it put together.  It took me about an hour to assemble it.

Keeping it working is also a bit difficult, as you're constantly having to relevel the bed and other minor maintenance.  It's kind of a good thing that you have to assemble it yourself, because it gives you insight on to how it all works, which may help you fix it in the future.

D&D miniatures are particularly hard to print.  This type of printer simply isn't designed for such tiny details on one-inch-tall miniatures.  My luck has been mixed, but I've made a few decent minis.  The hardest part is placing supports.  

Mini with Supports

Unless a mini's hands are on its hips, then chances are it will need supports to print correctly.  Otherwise, when the printer gets to the layer where the hands start, the hands would be floating in mid-air and won't print properly.  Supports are basically scaffolding that lead up to suspended areas, which you cut off of the mini when it's done printing.  The slicer software you use to prepare the 3D model can add supports automatically, but it sucks at it.  It's better to add them manually, which takes some practice to get just right.

And then if your settings aren't right, or the filament is too old, or the stars are aligned improperly, your print will fail.  If you're lucky it will fail early, because the nozzle was clogged or bed wasn't leveled.  But you could also be 20 hours into a 22 hour print when it suddenly conks out.

Printer Fail, or Time Warp?

And that's another thing - 3D printers are sloooooow.  Most of my miniatures have taken about an hour to print.  My condition rings take about twenty minutes.  But anything of substance takes hours.  The biggest print I've done so far took seventeen hours, for a dice tray that was only 6.5" x 7" x 1.5".

The pics below show some of the better results.  I still have work to do on most of these prints.  I still need to shave off some of the excess filament and paint them.

Condition Rings for D&D Battles

Lots of Condition Rings

Dice Tower, Overhead View

Dice Tower

My 17-Hour Dice Tray

Xenomorph Miniature

Partially Painted Sleeping Bags and Campfires

Many Minis Preparing for Painting

A Somewhat Stringy Samus

Green Knight in Search of Sir Gawain

Gandalf the Green

Partially Painted Pussycat

If the Joker Used a Hit Point Tracker

Sorcerer Spell Tracker

Bard Spell Tracker

Hogwarts

Hogwarts

Hogwarts

Hogwarts

Dice tower in action:

Anyway, so far I suck but I'm having a lot of fun.  It's a very time-consuming toy, and with all my various interests, it's going to be along time before I'm an expert at it.  But that's fine with me.