Entering the 3rd Dimension

Recently I was chatting to HuntPR, and he informed me of his plans to get into the world of 3D printing.

3D printing isn’t something I’ve ever really been interested in, but since we have a 3D printer at work that I’m gonna have to start supporting, I thought it might be a good idea to start looking into it.

Now I should start this by clarifying that I’m only looking at FDM and not resin. I don’t like the idea of having toxic resin in my house and the hassle of having washing and curing stations. I’ve also got far too many models already, so don’t really have the need to print my own. That being said FDM printing is the go to for terrain pieces.

And I love terrain.

For me, having an awesome looking table is the main draw for tabletop wargaming. Having a game that is cinematic is more important to me than game balance or a great ruleset.

Now I also have many terrain kits that I am yet to build and paint, so I should really heed my previous thought and not start printing my own, but terrain can be used across multiple games and there are kits that Games Workshop either won’t make or don’t sell anymore.

Anyway, after a little bit of internet research and a handy Amazon spring sale, I decide to opt for the Anycubic Kobra 2 neo.

So far I have been impressed. While the results are not perfect (layer lines have always been something that has put me off 3D printing) the Kobra 2 Neo is a lot quicker than some of the other entry level printers.

So, what have I been printing? Well I’ve kinda made the decision that for 10th edition 40k, I am going to back one faction. This will be the army that I use for any 10th Edition tournaments that I go to and so will be the one that I invest the most time and money into, including picking up the codex. Any other factions I will just play with the index rules.

The faction that I have therefore decidesld to back for this edition is the Tau. I’ve run them in two doubles tournaments but feel I’ve not spent enough game time on them, so they will be my focus.

So Tau terrain it is, and after seeing this giant Tau tower on Broadsword Wargaming‘s YouTube channel, I had to take the plunge.

I found the files for the tower and other pieces on MyMiniFactory.com by Phoenix Forge AU and I was reminded of the Tau board at Warhammer World.

This was now my inspiration.

So with being new to the world of 3D printing I downloaded the sample file, which is a hover platform. Decided that I wasn’t too fussed about it being a hovering platform so just printed off the top level.

The print was a success, so I printed off a second one to try out the 120% speed on my printer.

The second print was marginally quicker and there were a couple of printing mistakes but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with some filing or hiding with paint.

I’m really impressed with these models so I dived into purchasing the bunker pack which allowed me to print off this rail gun bunker.

The base of the bunker to the most time to print (obviously) and clocked in around 8 hours. I’m pretty sure it would take double the time on another printer.

With the bone filament colour I had chosen it is difficult to see how the layer lines appear on the models. I therefore went for a quick paint scheme to see how they would look.

This is the hover platform that was printed on the fastest speed.

On all of the prints, there seems to be one side where the layer lines are most noticeable. Drybrushing will highlight (not in that sense) these layer lines even more, but not in a way that ruins it for me.

Layer lines have always been the part that has put me off 3D printed terrain, but I think that for the most part these have come out ok.

While I could spend a lot of time sanding them down, that is just far too much effort and I think that I can now live with them.

The fact that you can get some really interesting and themed terrain that you can’t from GW I think is a big win for 3D printing.

While 3D printing isn’t as good as the plastic kits from the likes of GW, the cheapness and the amount of options out there make it a really good option.

Has anyone else joined the world of 3D printing and if so, how have you found it? It gets quite addictive when you find cool models to print. Kinda makes you want to have more printers to keep up with your own demand!