Life in 3 dimensions -bonus episode

April 01, 2021

Happy Easter everyone

I've mentioned a few time over the last 8 weeks or so that I was awaiting an order of 3d printed parts. After much anticipation they turned up last week, so I thought I would do a bonus post to talk about them.

Why 3D?

Resin 3d printing has opened up a number of different options for modelers around the world. It allows for easy customization of minis, spare or out of print parts, and even unique figure customization. Buying a printer is an option but be aware that it's almost a hobby in itself to learn how to use it. It also requires special resins, which can give off gasses, so you need some special space to do it. Thos makes it a difficult option for some. I have a makerbot at home, but it is filament, which makes it suitable for terrain but not really minis. To help out I reached out to a friend of mine in Oz who has a 3d printing business.

3d for hire.

This is a good option if you want to take advantage of 3d printing, but don't have the time or money to invest in a printer yourself. There a few options around shapeways being the largest option. Shapeways has a number of different sellers within it where you can either request special orders or buy from a store catalog. The other option is a number of different individual businesses around that 3d custom print. You will often need to provide the stl file you want printed, these can be found at online repositories, the one I commonly use is thingiverse, but there are others. You will find a number of different file that are free to download and use.

My order

For my needs right now, after building all my marines I had a number of marine bodies left over, but no need for further bolter marines. I was short on heavy weapons and assault marines, so I went on thingiverse and found STLs for a marine jump pack equivalent and grav cannon equivalent. While searching I also came across a jump pack chaplain I couldn't live without. I have also saved some squad markings which I may come back to print later. I reached out to my friend Corey at STLlife printing who sorted me a reasonable quote and I placed my order.

The order arrives!

Most of the order went smoothly, but the chaplain definitely provided some challenges which caused delays. When everything arrived I was very happy, the jump packs are super clean and even sharper than the GW even. The stl for the grav cannons was a little light on detail, but the print had picked up what detail there was really well. The chaplain was amazing, but on arrival definitely much larger than a normal marine (check your stl scale guys!). I have decided such an imposing model will have to be the master of sanctity for the chapter, and will come up some back story to allow for his size.

Enough talk, here are the photos!

32 jump packs