Re-furnishing the Study

This is where my Pain(t) Station desk used to be

I have not been doing much on the hobby front lately; first of all because we went on our annual family camping vacation the last two weeks of July, and then because it is so hot here in Denmark that it takes a lot  of guts to do anything but cower in the shadows.

Last weekend though, we spent packing and moving stuff from my late Mother-in-Law's estate outside Haderslev, and I have been busy emptying my trusty old desk in order to replace it with the somewhat larger and nicer desk formerly belonging to my, also late, Father-in-Law.

I also took the opportunity to organize some of the mess along the radiator under the windows (I have placed the bookcase 15-20 cm from the radiator, and as it has legs, I expect some kind of convection to happen when the radiator is on). Some of the figure cases are all but empty, and as soon as I have removed the last minis from them, I shall sell them off to free some space.

I have built another filament spool tower for the Prepping Station. I now have LotR minis on the right one, all kinds of mixed stuff on the other.

Yesterday I finally got the new desk put in place. I can store most of my paints in and on the desk, now, and as the Miniaturicum paint rack fits behind the elevated desktop, I am going to put something underneath it to be able to reach it while working - and I am going to print some racks to sit beside it, as there is plenty of room left.

So, next up is to find some suitable STL models for the extra racks, and boxes or the equivalent to elevate the racks.

In two and a half week we have Lea's postponed confirmation, and I shall be busy making preparations for it (moving stuff out of the living room so we can set up tables for the celebration, tidying up the garden and coutyard, etc., etc....), but after that, I expect to find time to work on the Smials for Frodo's Quest (and other projects).

3D Printed: Stone Buildings

I finally got the Ulvheim stone buildings cleaned up and ready for painting. I have printed second storeys and roofs for both the 100% building and the 110% building, and I also printed trapdoors and ladders. This version is the 100% building.

Here you see the ruined second storey. I really like how it is designed so that the stairs still leads to the remains of the upper level.

This is the 110% version.

And here it is with another ruined upper level. The stairs still work!

I expect Ulolkish to take them home with him tomorrow and then soonish give a shout whether he considers the 110% print fitting, or if I should print an even bigger version before going completely to town printing ruins.

3D-Printed: Rohan Settlement WIP

120%

I have not done much hobby stuff over the weekend - it was work weekend, and the garden allotted most of my spare time.

But the printer has been busy, as I am experimenting with upscaling Terrain4Print's Small Fantasy Viking House.

As you may recall (otherwise you can check below), I did not find the inherent size of the model convincing for 28mm miniatures, as the doorway stands below  the height of the shoulders of most minis.

Thus, I did a 120% upscaled version, which you can see to the left. It is better, but if that Royal Guard were to enter, he would still have to crouch quite a lot!

I would like the (most of) my buildings to actually look like something the minis could be living in, so I had to make another test. Luckily, my printer had nothing better to do this weekend, so as long as there was PLA on the spool, I could just knock myself out.

The 100% Version

130%

My third print was scaled up by 130% instead, and although I am almost there with that, I think that I shall print a 140% version, before deciding on the size for printing the larger house offered by Terrain4Print.

I am also printing some palisades, and the platform above the gate is printing as I write this.

The palisades are modular, and the files include a pin for assembling the pieces, but I had to scale it up to 105% to get a snug fit, so you may want to print a test or two if you start printing the palisades.

I am waiting for my filament pusher to get a re-stock (should happen next week), as I am running out of some of the filaments I am using (I prefer the light grey PLA for gaming models, as the details pop better than with other colours), but I shall be printing some more palisade pieces (including some 90 degree corners), until I run out of brown and grey stuff - then I shall allow myself to let the printer be employed for non-gaming purposes for a while.

3D Printed: Stone Townhouse

 Another design by Terrain4Print is the Ulvheim series A building and ruins on Thingiverse.

My first print of the intact version (with remixed upper storey and roof by Talismancer ) was at 100%, but I think it is a tiny bit too small for 'heroic' 28mm minis.

Thus, I am now printing another one at 110%, and you can see the first result at the bottom of this post (I am almost out of that Slate Grey PLA, and it is out of stock at my filament pusher's webstore, so I am taking a break from these buildings).

As can be seen below, both storeys have a nice level of interior details, and I plan to print some furniture to add to the gaming experience of having this kind of housing populating a town/city table.

Ulolkish and I have agreed to do 3D printed city/town/ruins scenery as a joint project; I print and clean up the pieces, and he paints at least half of them, and we can then have a large set of the stuff to use between us (we live only 11 kilometers apart, so it is a matter of less than ½ hour to fetch a big box by car).

I recently had some trouble with my CR10S, and as a consequence I have been printing with a bit too little retaction, causing some stringing. While this can be easily removed, I am going to play around with the settings to see if I can avoid it completely - like I am now again returning to use a skirt for bed adhesion instead of a brim, as the latter means more cleaning up to do before the pieces can be painted.

I have not yet printed the trap door for the roof, but I guess I may be doing that later today in some dark brown filament I have running on the printer at the moment.

Here are all the pieces of the first building.

To the right and below you can see the ground floor printed at 110%.

I think it fits the GW Skelly better, as it looks like he could actually pass under the door arch without banging his skull against it.

I shall, of course, still use the first one, but I am certain that I shall print further buildings at the slightly larger size!

Over the next couple of days, I am going to print a larger version of the 'Fantasy Viking' Rohan house, and also some palisades for protecting those Rohan settlements from Wild Men and Uruk-Hai raiders! And, of course, as mentined, a roof trapdoor for the Ulvheim building.

3D-Printed: Dragon Egg

The last week, I have been printing a couple of gift boxes in the shape of dragon eggs as seen in the Game of Thrones TV show, as I wanted to use them for delivering our presents to the two youngsters whose confirmations we attended this weekend (one Saturday, one Sunday).

Of course, my printer had to act up, causing me a lot of grief and wasted filament, until I figured out what exactly was wrong and could mend it.

But I managed to finish the last bottom just in time for today, and we could fill up the egg with Magic the Gathering booster packs for the son of one of my old friends (yesterday was the daughter of an even older friend who wished for funds for buying a parrot).

Both parties well finished, my printer is now building mortal Gods style bases I am planning to use for One Page Rules Age of Fantasy Skirmish (as well as Mortal Gods/Mythic), as it also uses 3-man groups of many troop types.

Some 3-Man Sabots

The relatively new 'Mortal Gods' game is using some special 3-man bases, and of course, somebody has made 3D-printable versions. Mortal Gods use minis based on 25 mm bases, and as I base most of my minis on 20 mm washers, I had to re-scale the file to 80% to make it work.

As you can see below, the re-scaled sabot base fits like a glove for my 20 mm based minis.

I am probably going to get Mortal Gods, or the fantasy version 'Mythic' at some point, but I am printing the bases for One Page Rules Age of Fantasy Skirmish, where most bread-and-butter troop types come in groups/units of three, so these are actually perfect for that game, too.

I am going to print some round 'light troop' 3-man bases, too, but right now I focus on the triangular 'formed up' bases, as I need six or seven of those for my first test games of OPRAoFS, the first hopefully occurring Monday afternoon. Well, 'need' is probably an exaggeration, as the minis in a group just have to stay within a certain distance, and moving three minis at a time is not that big a deal, but printing some bases fitting for the game is just too big a temptation, as it instantly means some extra geek points! 😆

3D-Printed: Edoras House WIP

As part of my cross-games Rohan project, I thought it was time to get some Rohan themed building into the mix.

This building is Terrain4Prints's Smaller Fantasy Viking House from Thingiverse. I think it is a tad on the small side for 28mm minis, so the next one I shall print at 120%, and see if that fits my taste better.

I shall, of course, still paint and use this, as variation is the salt of the earth, anyway.

More Snowflakes

The collection slowly grows.

I am going to print all 25 from this series, then start experimenting with smaller versions of the nicest ones, before printing some icicles to hang from the inside top of the living room windows.

3D printing is FUN!

3D Printed: Deco Snowflakes

I have started printing snowflakes to decorate the windows (I think). When I have enough, I think I shall try my luck with some icicles.

The files are from Thingiverse, there is a lot of different designs to choose from-

3D-Printed: Christmas Decorations

Some prints of the Thingiverse Christmas Tree in 'silky' gold and silver PLA, and one in transparent, with a battery-driven tea-light inside. I am having fun with the printer!

Soon, It Will Be Christmas!

I am experimenting with Christmas ornaments on my CR10S.

The picture deceives a bit, as I used Auto White Balance in GIMP, which has made the contrast in the Silky Gold PLA seem a bit harsher than in real life; I am right now trying to find a printing temperature that preserves the 'silky' effect a bit better, but the next couple of days the printer will be busy printing ram horns for Lea's new ram skull (as soon as I have cleaned up the skull, removing the supports completely, I shall be posting some pics).

I am pretty content with my decision to get a 3D printer - just so many possibilities!

Land Speeder Reprise

Thought I would show one of my prints with a couple of minis - I also needed a place-holder for the pic to use it at one of the forums I use 😏

3D Printed: A Bunch of Star Wars Containers

I have quite a collection of 'Medium Cargo Containers' by now - and I also printed some Kyber Crystal Containers, to have something to use as portable objectives.

When I leave work Monday morning, I have 1½ week off, until Wednesday night in week 43, so I expect to get my second batch of jungle bases moving and finished, so that I can use the dinner table for some gaming (and dining, og course); it has been occupied by spread newspapers and boxes for far too long.

3D Printed: Medium Sized Cargo Container

Not my first attempt at this print, but probably the nicest one.

The STL can be found here on Thingiverse.

I am trying to organize the stuff I have painted for Legion into some boxes in a larger cardboard crate, and I shall be taking some more photos of stuff I have not shown, yet, over the next couple of days (there is actually quite a back-log, regarding blog posts).

3D Printed: Landspeeder

Another Thingiverse item that I printed recently. Icon of the first ever Star Wars movie, this speeder is a must for a Tatooine set-up. Of course, I am goin to pain tit, eventually, but in the meantime it will be used as is, to provide some - perhaps movable - cover in Star Wars games.

3D Printed: Star Wars TA12 Wreck

One of the many prints I have not had time to show until now. Of course meant as a piece of terrain, and is destined to be painted, but I printed it in a pale grey to be able to use it on the table right off the printer.

I have some more files from Thingiverse, including an intact version and a couple of other wrecks, and I am definitely going to print all of them, given time. There is even a version with interiors, that I might use as the mobile base of a group of smugglers/adventurers at a later point!

3D Printed: More Star Wars Crates

I have had some problems with a recently purchased roll of blue PLA filament, and I am now churning out small bits and bobs to tune a profile for handling it.

At the front you can see one of the weird results - I am keeping that one, because I think I can paint it as if burning, but I have had to chuck quite a few pieces. They are turning out OK, now, and I have started a medium sized cargo container which should finish about 7:30 tomorrow morning.

3D Printed Wizard's Tower

The blog has been rather quiet for a while for two reasons:

1. I have been busy painting for the Old School Fantasy Painting Party o'er at the LAF, and
2. I wanted September to generate a more modest amount of hits, because one of the joys of blogging for me is the process of surpassing the results of previous months - and with a gap of about 10K hits between the all-time 3rd and 4th best months, it was a bit tedious as soon as a month reached 3rd rank.

Well, I have printed a lot, and painted a couple of minis, since my last update, and I am going to post a lot of it over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

Today's post is about my latest print - of my first purchased bundle of STLs ever, namely some pieces for a Wizard's Tower by Devious Games, run by 'beefcake' as he is known on the LAF.

I started a couple of days ago by printing the roof in Fiberlogy Easy PLA Burgundy. It was printed at 0.1 resolution due to the sloping surfaces.

All the sections for the Wizard's Tower come in two variations; one with integrated tabs on the underside for securing a good grip between levels, and one with flat buttom for printing without supports. The set also provides a separate ring with tabs to attach to the flat versions, to the same end as the integrated tabs.

I printed the version with integrated tabs, as I prefer to avoid glueing pieces together where possible.

The next print was the flat version of a level with a single door, as I want to use it as a hut for the healer in a Sellswords & Spellslingers scenario.

This was printed in Fiberlogy Easy PLA Graphite at 0.2 resolution (saving a lot of time).

Inside details

I am pretty pleased with the outcome of this - and happy with my choice of colours, as I think the finished model will be passable for the table without being painted right away!

Below is the 'complete' hut, fresh from the printer (tower section completed this morning):

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3D Printed: Tatooine Dwelling

My hitherto longest complete print, about 26 hours from start to finish, at resolution 0.1, speed 30mm/sec, and advanced bridging settings on.

Of course, I also have to print a door, but it will have to wait until I have printed some more desert building, and have a reason for changing filament.

I think it really pays off to allow for longer printing time - and it also paid off that I took the time and money to purchase different colours of filament, until I found the right hue for this kind of building/terrain. This way I can use the printed buildings right away, and texturing/painting can wait, without deducting notably from the visual impact.

I am very pleased with this print, and it makes me want to try printing with a smaller nozzle, for even finer resolution - but that is for somewhen in the future; right now I just need to churn out a sizeable collection of desert and jungle terrain (I am going to start some more jungle bases next week - too much else to preoccupy my mind this weekend, as we have to stack five cubic meters of firewood I got delivered Tuesday morning, and just managed to get into the shed yesterday evening, in time for the deluge we are experiencing since abour 2 am, and I am going to something called the 'Tie Party', a celebration for gents only at the local inn, being held as a pendant to the ladies only 'Hat Party' which is tradition on the weekend before Egeskov Fair, Saturday afternoon.

I am currently printing a Tatooine storage building with floor and removable roof, expecting it to finish late this evening.

3D Printed: Tree Trunks

Yesterday and today I was printing two 30 cm. tall tree trunks  - or so I thought!

When I entered the hobby room after dinner today, the hotend was drawing lines above an unfinished stump, and it was soon obvious that I had a severe filament clog.

It took me over half an hour to get the filament flowing (changed the spool back to the darker grey which worked fine yesterday, just to make sure), and now the printer is up and running once more!

I am planning to start my largest print so far, either later today or tomorrow (est. 27hs 19ms); the upscaled (575%) X-wing escape pod for all kinds of Star Wars settings (and a certain pair of droids to get away in).