Adventures with a 3D printer

[Andy Belsey]

Lovely to see what you're producing Neil.

The architectural world is taken over with 3D prints now. Whereas a few years ago there was still room for me to hand sculpt statues, etc. it's now all done with prints. See this https://3dd.co.uk/project/8-eaton-lane-belgravia/
At least I still get to do the landscaping and they do use my brush skills to paint up the furniture prints.
Andy

[Andy Belsey]

Click on the dots at the bottom for more photos

[Tim Marlow]

Lovely to see what you're producing Neil.

The architectural world is taken over with 3D prints now. Whereas a few years ago there was still room for me to hand sculpt statues, etc. it's now all done with prints. See this https://3dd.co.uk/project/8-eaton-lane-belgravia/
At least I still get to do the landscaping and they do use my brush skills to paint up the furniture prints.
Andy

That’s fantastic. It’s a truly impressive model. There’s a sideline there if they wanted it as well. Once the original model has served its purpose the various print files could be sold on to the modelling community.

[Neil Merryweather]

That’s fantastic. It’s a truly impressive model. There’s a sideline there if they wanted it as well. Once the original model has served its purpose the various print files could be sold on to the modelling community.

Just to be clear about this guys, this kind of detailed architectural model is not 3D printed. They are made up of many components like a big Airfix kit , mostly laser cut acrylic. The data now comes to the modelmaker in the form of a digital model and that does allow for suitable details to be 3D printed, like statues and balustrades and staircases (especially staircases,my god what a revolution). The furniture as well, when the scale requires it, is easy now, whereas it used to be left out as being too expensive .
I learnt my digital skills by fixing many dodgy digital models to make them 3D printable; there was a lot of poor data in the early days. The analogy of the model kit is a fair one, except that you have to design the break down of parts yourself, there are no instructions and the design can change right up until the deadline ( which doesn't usually change...) .
Most small scale models are 3D printed nowadays,and especially the cityscapes they get dropped into to show them in the context. I'll post couple of pics when I get to my PC.

[Neil Merryweather]

Not sure what scales you normally work in , but i am impressed with this figure ( it was a free one )

https://www.treatstock.co.uk/3d-printable-models/7386299-wasp-wwii-pilot

I got it free a while ago , its a 188meg stl file.

I have to say it still looks fake to me, Gary. The face is good but the creases are too lumpy and the pose is not quite right, sorry

[Tim Marlow]

I got that Neil. It’s the detail files that would be most useful to a modeller anyway. I’m sure there would be a market in the dolls house world as well……

[Tim Marlow]

I have to say it still looks fake to me, Gary. The face is good but the creases are too lumpy and the pose is not quite right, sorry

That issue isn’t confined to the digital world is it :tongue-out3: There are any number of hand sculpted figures out there with the same issues…..some of them sold for quite a lot of money……

[Panzerwrecker]

Neil , I also think that a lot of the military modelling stuff isn't advertised the same way that the ''Warhammer'' stuff is.

Here's one prolific 3d modeller @ https://es.3dexport.com/artejaol
and another https://cults3d.com/en/users/HomeBrewParts/creations

some stuff free , others at reasonable prices.

I've personally built prints from Darius at Cults3d and not only can I thoroughly recommend his prints but also his research and design work.

I don't have a printer personally but am excited to see how military scale modellers are finaly now embracing this new tech.

[AlanG]

How detailed can the modern day (home use) printers go down to? I still would like to get one of these but if the level of detail and finish isn't up to it yet then i'll have to wait. Also designing the item(s) would be another area i would need to try and learn

[Neil Merryweather]

How detailed can the modern day (home use) printers go down to? I still would like to get one of these but if the level of detail and finish isn't up to it yet then i'll have to wait. Also designing the item(s) would be another area i would need to try and learn

Alan, they are really very good now, hence this discussion. In fact since I bought mine in March there have been at least 2 leaps of screen resolution-first to 4k and now 8k.(similar to megapixels in photography for the uninitiated)
it's really down to the user to get the best out of them.

I've personally built prints from Darius at Cults3d and not only can I thoroughly recommend his prints but also his research and design work.

I don't have a printer personally but am excited to see how military scale modellers are finaly now embracing this new tech.

I agree , Darius' stuff is amazing-he made the ammo trailer that Los built. Not my field of interest but German ww2 is the money spinner subject, isn't it?
Anybody want a French Napoleonic Infantry Shako....?

[AlanG]

It's really down to the user to get the best out of them.

By that i guess you mean the user trying to draw what they need. That would be my shortfall then lol. I could go to someone to do it i suppose. But i would also want copyright over the item(s).

[Neil Merryweather]

By that i guess you mean the user trying to draw what they need. That would be my shortfall then lol. I could go to someone to do it i suppose. But i would also want copyright over the item(s).

Actually I meant that it is still possible to make a bad print no matter how good the data or the machine is. There are a lot of ways to c*ck it up!
In the end there's no point in buying a machine unless you have something, or more to the point, a lot of things to print. I have been using them for my own stuff at work for years and it's only now I feel the need to have one of my own (possibly because I no longer have daily access to one for free....). And I haven't printed anything between the first posts in March and this current one in September.
Also it has taken me years of practice at work to get anything like competent-probably because I am old. The youngsters were much quicker at picking it up. I still have the ambition to learn digital sculpting, but that demands quite a lot of application and undivided attention which I do not have at the moment, sadly.

[Guest]

I could go to someone to do it i suppose. But i would also want copyright over the item(s).

IANAL, but AFAIK, if someone makes something under your direction, you own the copyright to it. It’s not the person’s who is doing the actual work, but the person’s who instigates and directs it being made. Else, for example, companies could never own copyrights unless their workers assigned those rights to the company voluntarily. But because it’s the company that has people make the works, the copyright automatically belongs to the company. Exactly the same if you, as a private citizen, get someone else to make or design something artistic or technical for you — though in all cases, it would probably help to get the actual worker(s) to sign a contract that says they agree to you owning the copyright, just in case there is a dispute later on.

[Bugatti Fan]

It is the 3D cad learning curve that takes time to master but opens so many possibilities I would guess.

[Neil Merryweather]

It is the 3D cad learning curve that takes time to master but opens so many possibilities I would guess.

yes that's the difficult stuff, especially as one gets older.....