Finally cleaning supplies have arrived and so has a 3d print!

 It took over six months but I finally got my hands on some more isopropyl alcohol so was able to run a 3d print this week!  I decided to start with my recent Rafm scale Hunter and got some decent results.

I didn't have a fully assembled hunter to compare him to so the above incomplete on will have to do.  I actually used it as a basis for sizing the 3d model (specifically the height to the top of the hips) but obviously I didn't account for the overall bulk.  My previous attempts including changing proportions but I don't think I'll do that this time but rather I'll simply resize it down to about 90-95% when I try again.  I thought the details looked a bit soft on the resin so I decided to prime the fig and retake the picture.

Why try again?  Besides just being too big, I didn't optimally place the parts on the print plate and had several flat surfaces parallel to it.  While that won't cause a complete failure, it did cause two other less serious ones on the shoulders.  Both shoulders have a loss of detail on the part of the model that was facing the build plate as resin collects there without draining.  Fortunately, it's not very visible from the front as the right shoulder has the problem on the back and the left on the top.  Additionally there is an aliasing step error where the shoulder was just barely off of parallel causing portions to print in steps at the layer resolution.  Initially I thought this was an issue called z-axis wobble but, upon looking at the sliced layers, I saw the real culprit.  It's not actually visible to the naked eye on bare resin or even primed in normal light but it could catch and pool washes in the final painting step.

 

Well, that's it for now.  I'll probably attempt another print run next week as unfortunately their is rain in the forecast for the next couple of days and I won't be able to post-cure my model in the sun.  As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment below!

Only Digital Bytes to Show...

 for my hobby efforts this past month!  I've been out of resin and running low on alcohol to clean the printed models so I haven't actually printed anything in a while.  I've kept busy though tweaking/converting 3d models for potential future printing though from scifi RPG character models to Star Trek spaceships to Heavy Gear stompy robots.

I restarted tweaking my old HGA Heavy Gear Hunter model yet again.  I had problems with the two prints that I previously attempted and I tweaked the loadout on this version to be a basic Hunter instead.   I previously attempted a multipiece print for my second try but wasn't happy with the results.  After some encouragement from Ashley over at the Paint it Pink blog (link), I decided to try it again and was eventually able to both split the parts and set up a ball and socket connection system between the parts.  

One of the flawed gems of the last console/pc generation was IMO the first Force Unleashed game (the followup was admittedly a rushed cashgrab abomination!).  I really liked the look of the Sith Stalker variant of the character model and never saw an official model/miniature other than a single toy figure in a larger boxed set.  I recently found a decent 3d model likely ripped from the pc game so it definitely needed conversion to a printable tabletop gaming 3d model.  I thickened up various bits to make them sturdier/more likely to print successfully as well as changed the pose as much as I could without any actual knowledge of video game animation.

 

And finally we have a selection of Star Trek ships that have been converted into something that more resembles a different era.  First up we have a DISCO ship that I've converted into an NX era ship.  The second is another DISCO ship that I've tried to convert into a TMP era Akira class.

 

Dorritos Class and D-10M 3d Models and Stats!

It's been a while since I updated the blog despite making some minor hobby progress in the meantime.  For some reason, I had an urge to throw together some new Star Trek ships for the FASAverse and worked on both an update to a classic Klingon design as well as a retro-take on the newest official Trek hero ship.  Both ships were created using CaptainMojo's parts kits on thingiverse (link here) so special thanks to him for making them available to fans of the classic game!  For the first time on this blog, I'm including the 3D model STL designs in addition to the stat sheets and tokens for those who want to use either ship on the tabletop.

A new Star Trek cartoon came out in the past month and it included a new hero ship that I thought I'd try to retrotrekify (is that a word?) into the FASAverse.  I haven't watched the show but supposedly the ship is a second line support vessel.  Due to the parts that I used to construct a FASA version with the same overall design asthetic, I decided instead to make this a torpedo destroyer instead.

The second ship is a minor update on one of my two favorite FASA designs, the D-10.  I decided to "fix" the minor quibbles that I had with the design including the overly flat/featureless secondary hull by adding gribbly bits to the bottom and putting a proper impulse deck housing ala the D-7 on the top.  I also enlarged the engines and sloped the top of the hull a bit to give it a bit more variation from the front view. 

In the background and rules, I consider this D-10M to be a dedicated command and support variant of the venerable design meant to lead fast moving and cloaked battle groups.  It lacks both the troops characteristically found on Klingon cruisers and research facilities on modern D-10 models, replacing them instead with additional support and command facilities.  Already fairly cavernous due to the hull design, the removal of those facilities as well as external mounting of the impressively powerful impulse engine allows it to fulfill both those roles.  While the offensive armament is unchanged from the most recent model, defensive capabilities are markedly increased with a more efficient variant of the KWE-3 engines and new KSP shielding as well as the installation of the power hungry KCD cloaking device.

For those interested in playing the ship with the FASA rules, here are the fan stats of this pair of vessels as well as printable tokens for use on a hex grid and the 3d models that I put together from CaptainMojo's parts.  Due to my unpleasant experience on thingiverse with my Winged Hussar models being unceremoniously removed without notice/warning, I've decided to host the files here instead.

DORRITOS CLASS 3D MODEL DOWNLOAD LINK 

  D-10M 3D MODEL DOWNLOAD LINK