Tuesday 23 April 2019

3D Fun

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to make a few pennies selling on some GHQ modern Germans that had been sitting on my shelf for too long. Just for one I decided to spoil myself and so a few days later I took delivery of an Anycubic Photon 3D resin printer. This is a nifty device that uses UV light to cure very thing layers of resin (down to 0.02mm) that form the subject of your model print. Since then I've been learning how the thing works, tweaking settings and arrangement of models on the print bed (which rises up out of the resin tank, quite remarkable). I've had quite a few failed prints bu I'm getting the hang of it and I must say I'm very pleased with the results. Obviously the main subjects have been ships and coastal forces models. With the release of Cruel Seas there have been a number of 1/300 scale 3D models put up on free download sites. I've made a few in 1/300, but the joy of 3D printing is that you can scale the models just as you can print a paper document at a reduced or enlarged size. So I've printed out a few new flotillas of 1/600 craft, as well as all seven of the Red Sands "Maunsell" forts that are in the Thames Estuary (essential for a CF campaign, they did trade shots with S Boats on several occasions)

A few examples of printed and painted models below; as I type the machine is working on a set of Star Trek ships, and the Moon Base from Gerry Anderson's "UFO" TV series is in the paint shop

SHADO Interceptors from "UFO"

The seven elements of Red Sands Fort

1/300 MGBs and an RAF rescue launch

1/200 Cessna O2

1/600 R Boats and SGB

1/600 MAS and MS boats

1/600 ASRL and HDMLs

1/600 MGBs


 

7 comments:

  1. If only there were free to use 6mm files for those rare limited run early war vehicles!

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  2. Best introduction to 3D printing I've seen so far.

    A resin printer you say?

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  3. Wow, the SHADO Interceptors and 1/300 ships look great! The printing looks much smoother than I would have expected. So, will you be taking orders soon? 8^)

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  4. Very impressive, particularly the Maunsell forts. I'd be curious to know how long some of these models take to print and how the unit costs work out.

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  5. We live in exciting times indeed. What sort of Star Trek stuff are you printing? I have been modeling Trek (and Trek-ish) ships for a while now, and would certainly love to see how they come out on the Photon.

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  6. I've just done some Cardassian ships and an Akira. The later was a learning experience, not enough support so it has a wonky nacelle, and the second one failed. I'm working on a special project at the moment though, hopefully some good news in a few days :)

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  7. Love the Cessna O2.
    "Bird-Dog to BAT.21 over"

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