I should probably get a 3D printer
It had to happen sometime. I have been keeping a keen eye on developments in the world of 3D printing for many years now. I’m not an early adopter by nature, so for me the trigger point has always been when I can effectively ‘press play’ on a printer, and get a miniatures of comparable quality to one I could buy out the other end, with minimal fuss.
I think we’re almost there.
The Kingdom of Mercia Kickstarter project grabbed my attention when I came across it at the week-end. The miniatures look great especially the knights and characters.
Fans of Warhammer (or Warhammer: Total War) will recognise the Bretonnian look and feel of this range immediately.
From the project description, a lot of work has gone into making these files ‘printer ready’ with versions with supports built in being made available as part of the project. I could buy something like an Elegoo Mars and use this project to kick off a new wing to my hobby. On the other hand there’s no harm in waiting until I have painted all of my current miniatures, and then pick up the 3D printing side of things. There’s only a few days left on the Kingdoms of Mercia project and I’m still on the fence, but I’m definitely starting to slide off it.
Scent of a Gamer 
3d printing really seems like it’s just about ready for “prime time”. I have a Anycubic Photon S resin printer and I can get good prints out of it. But the new round of resin printers are so much better with 4K mono screens – and even larger build plates. (I’m looking at a mono x to replace my two year old photon S). I will have to sell some hobby stuff to get the money to do that though lol.
And as you said now there are so many “pre-supported” just press play (not really that simple- but really nice) minis available. Patreon has exploded with options lol.
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Yes, there are so many options on Patreon now, I have been discussing these with a friend who has a ‘goo’ printer and some spare time in the schedule!
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3D printer? Nah! I thinks its about time one of my mates got one!
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This is my current situation – I have identified a willing friend with a printer!
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I got into 3d printing a year and a half ago or so, and it’s definitely enhanced my miniaturing a lot. It is a bit of a hobby in itself, I’ve noticed, so while I originally bought it simply as another tool, there is joy in tweaking the prints and fine-tuning printer settings, and even doing some of my own sculpting work!
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I expect I would end up doing similar things, which I why I think I will leave getting my own printer until I have painted more of my collection – one thing at a time!
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Yep Dave I am thinking the same.
You would have seen my blog with 30 projects for this year. I will be lucky to finish half of them.
A 3D printer at this stage is only going to create more unpainted “stuff” (a technical term for “highly sophisticated simulation apparatus”).
Reluctantly I will put off the purchase of one for a little while yet.
David
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On the plus side, 3D printers seem to keep getting easier and easier to use, so I don’t mind waiting a couple more years to jump in!
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I would go for it, but as Torgsblog said it’s not quite as simple as pressing play, presupported minis are a godsend, but sometimes they don’t work as expected. You need Various things to get the uncured resin off and then you need to cure the miniatures. They still take a good old while to print and the new round of printers although more expensive at the minute will print faster, with a bigger print bed.
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Thanks for that, and I have enjoyed watching your own 3D printing results. I think I will leave off getting my own for now and focus on painting what I have… which means I’ll be in the market for a printer some time in 2022.
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Be prepared to print far too much random crap 😉
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Totally agree, watching maenoferren’s progress has been very informative!
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I’ve been in the same boat, watching and waiting. Every now and then it will pique my interest, then I read more, watch videos, and by the time I’ve found out how much work is involved…I’ve talked myself out of it. My free time is all spent on assembly and painting at this point, so I don’t really have the time for the “hobby of 3D printing”. Maybe a couple of years, when the littlest one is more independent. I would certainly love to print my own minis, but even better just printing bits so I could customize existing minis more to my liking.
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Bits would be great, and terrain pieces are also very attractive in my mind
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Yea, terrain would be great, and misc game pieces too.
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Yeah, I’m in the same boat. I already have too many hobbies and not enough time (or space) to support them properly so am waiting until 3d printing is at the “consumer tool” stage rather than “enthusiast hobbyist”.
Maybe another 2-5 years, I guess.
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Yes, I look forward to them being somewhere around a toaster in terms of ease of use (mind you, I did burn the toast this morning!).
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The sculpts look really nice. Definitely better than other 3D prints I’ve seen and I can see why they’re tempting you. I wonder how GW and other big companies will be able to prevent people from just printing their own. I also wonder if GW is planning on bringing Bretonnia to Warhammer Old World considering this potential competition. Its all very interesting!
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Well, the most recent Old World map update added Bretonnian heraldry, so I would say it’s a good bet that they will be back.
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I am also watching and waiting. I think at the moment there is a fair bit of fast paced innovation happening, so I think waiting might be wise. I would anyway need a dedicated space in the cellar due to resin fumes etc.
Check out Loot Studios. They are designing some really nice miniatures. Files don’t really take up physical space, right?
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Yes, I would also have to reorganise under the house if I took up 3D printing as a hobby, the current space doesn’t suit doing things like overnight prints in a non-enclosed space.
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I understand water washable resins are less odorous, but one still needs to take care of the contaminated water. Perfect setup is a small workbench in the cellar and a direct exhaust via a window. I would assume the temperature will be more constant than in a garage.
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I think this was the same company that did the Lizardmen and Chaos Dwarf releases as well. Those look a treat!
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Lost Kingdom have some fantastic models. It’s a shame they moved from producing the miniatures as part of their KS’s to just selling the files. At one point it was looking like they were going into partnership with MOM miniatures and you would be able to buy printed models from MOM but i’m not sure what happened to that (whether Covid knocked that on the head)
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I would like to be able to buy their chaos dwarf models already built, for sure.
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