Hello chaps (and the odd chapette)!
Having received confirmation that shameless self-promotion is tolerated here, at least within reason, I wanted to go ahead and pitch my Kickstarter for a 3D-printed range of adaptable Napoleonic sculpts!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ag ... -stl-files
I know 3D printing is a bit of an acquired taste for some, but I'm hoping these models might sway a few people who'd been tempted by the idea - these models print totally supportless, come out great in 6, 10, 15 and 18mm and, what's more, come with preconfigured slicer files for printing whole battalions at a time. On my Elegoo Mars 2 Pro I'm able to print five 6mm battalions in less than three hours and for under £1!
Coupled with a Wash & Cure Station (about £100 from Elegoo), I'm able to get them cleaned, removed and safe without touching any raw resin or dealing with nasty mess.
Anyhow, enough hawking Chinese wares at you - what makes my Nappies special, eh? Well! This is loosely an "Early Napoleonics" range covering eleven nations; France, Austria, Russia and Prussia make up the core pack, themed around 1805-1806 and are complemented by two expansions - Great Britain, Spain and Portugal (in the "Peninsular Campaign" add-on) and Bavaria, Saxony, Sweden and Württemberg (in the "Germanic Minors" add-on). All of these armies have infantry stands, elites, command stands and foot artillery, with stretch goals (at the bottom of the Kickstarter page) offering means for further enhancement!
What's *really* special, for those who are so inclined, is the inclusion of original Blender files; pre-configured for exporting customised miniatures! Do take a look at this video to see it in action (there's also another on the same YouTube channel showing how to manipulate the models' heads to get some individuality among your ranks):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHJTOZBlFxQ&t=2s
On top of that, models are available individually or ranked in strips and a snazzy set of movement trays and nameplates are thrown in. If any of this has piqued your curiosity, please do consider looking at the Kickstarter page - you'll find a whole bunch of pictures, more information and links to some free files you can download to try printing!
And if you've not got a printer but feel mildly curious? Have a google for "Wargaming3D Idiot's Guide to 3D Printing" for a nice "everything you need to know" breakdown of printing in resin. Personally I could never go back to buying regular models but I suppose I do have a bit of a vested interest!
Thanks for reading guys and I hope you like the project
3D Printable 6-18mm Napoleonics
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- john de terre neuve
- Posts: 2118
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Re: 3D Printable 6-18mm Napoleonics
It is interesting to read your message and I did watch your video. I recently started a project in 6mm for the WWII ruleset "O" Group. I had already been print vehicles and buildings with fairly good success by scaling down 20 and 15mm models. I had absolutely no success with figures though. I bought some 15mm STL files and had no success scaling them down to 6mm and printing them in resin. I actually could get the model printed but when I tried to remove the supports invariably they would break at the feet. I believe it is an excellent idea that you are designing models for 6mm with integral bases (ie the base is not designed for individual models but for unit as a whole, a nice 5 man MMG base or a 10 man infantry base). I will follow with interest.
John
John
- john de terre neuve
- Posts: 2118
- Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:37 pm
- Location: Massachusetts
- Contact:
Re: 3D Printable 6-18mm Napoleonics
wow, I just had a look at your kickstarter, amazing amount of info and the painting guides are just incredible.
I have my ACW and Napoleonics in other scales so I will not be a taker here but if you go the WWII route with another kickstarter, I will be first in line.
I have my ACW and Napoleonics in other scales so I will not be a taker here but if you go the WWII route with another kickstarter, I will be first in line.
- Henry Turner
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 3:25 pm
Re: 3D Printable 6-18mm Napoleonics
Thanks for the reply, Johnjohn de terre neuve wrote: ↑Thu May 27, 2021 7:53 pm It is interesting to read your message and I did watch your video. I recently started a project in 6mm for the WWII ruleset "O" Group. I had already been print vehicles and buildings with fairly good success by scaling down 20 and 15mm models. I had absolutely no success with figures though. I bought some 15mm STL files and had no success scaling them down to 6mm and printing them in resin. I actually could get the model printed but when I tried to remove the supports invariably they would break at the feet. I believe it is an excellent idea that you are designing models for 6mm with integral bases (ie the base is not designed for individual models but for unit as a whole, a nice 5 man MMG base or a 10 man infantry base). I will follow with interest.
John
I think the key to success with getting your figures adaptable is to work from the lower scales and then scale *up* - by sculpting the figures in 6mm, you're able to ensure all the minimum thicknesses and such are sufficient for printing - then if you're scaling up (and thus thickening everything) you know everything's going to work fine. Unfortunately, if a model's been specifically sculpted for 15mm, and the sculptor's taken the approach of having no element below a minimum thickness (in my case, I don't like to have any protruding parts thinner than about 0.4mm, unless they're small), then scaling down's going to lead to weakness/fragility.
Another thing I'd say is that, as you identify there, supports can be a problem for 6mms - as the head of a "light" support (in LycheeSlicer at least) is 0.2mm, that's still a thick enough point of contact that fragile details on a 6mm are just going to break off with said support! That's part of why I decided these figures had to print supportless, because they wouldn't stand up otherwise.
About basing - the figures are both individually based (on 5mm round bases) and on strips, they also come with pre-configured LycheeSlicer files that have them both arranged on their individual strip bases (allowing figures to be swapped around/the base altered) and also configured into whole battalions. Wanted the users to have access to the same files I'd used to both set up the strips and set up my actual prints
Thank you very much for the positive feedback about the presentation of the project! It's been a couple of weeks work just on the page - really wanted to, err, "get it right" this time and make a proper job of things! You might see my last project was an ACW one and, while it was well-received, delivery and the way I put the project forward/what I promised was a little rocky. But I'm very much someone who learns by doing!
I wish I could recommend you some 6mm WW2s - I know they certainly exist (I've seen pictures here and there), but I'm afraid I have no personal experience. I can only suggest finding miniatures purpose-built for printing at the scale! I'd like to give WWI a stab at some point; perhaps when that's done I'll get along to WW2, I just sort of wrote it off as a time period likely to be well enough covered already, and I'm a bit keen on me Black Powder :p