3d Printing - Land Rover and Scatter

I own a two 3d printers as of this writing, and while I would say I am overall happy with them, I am fully prepared to say they aren't for everyone. For this update we will look at the output from my Photon Mono, a Resin printer from AnyCubic.

ChituBox is the "slicer" that came with my Printer. Seems to work well.

As you can see, the economies of the printer (as seen in this screenshot from my 11 year old Macbook Pro) are pretty good. That is easily a $15-25 model depending on where you get it from and in what material. 

One handy bit is the "slicer" application for printing lets me enter the price i paid for the bottle of resin, allowing it to calculate an APPROXIMATE cost... 

(The volume of resin used is precise by weight, but there's always going to be some lost to the fact it is thick and viscus, and sticks to the bottle, the vat, and the print itself, needing to be washed away between rents and as part of the post-processing... uh... process... . Call it a few cents here and there, but my experience two bottles into owning this printer is that I'm averaging about 1%-3% of the bottle in process inefficiencies. Though I can probably improve that.)

Not factored into that screenshot on cost: 

• Cost of Printer ($200ish) 
• STL Price (in this case free off Thingiverse) 
• 5 Hours of wear on the LCD (1000-2000ish hours for $40-50) 
• 1 set of disposable gloves ($0.50ish) 
• Plus the intangibles of sunk time (the hunting for the file, preparing it for print, and post print cleanup) versus "add to cart" and "Checkout".

Personally I enjoy the slicing process (the term for using the layout program to get your prints ready) and love "gadgets", so sunk time isn't really a big deal for me. But it's an easily forgotten part of the process, and for some of us, our hobby time is quite limited.

The prints posed next to an AirFix 1/48 Land Rover kit

I bought this Land Rover back sometime before 2016 It was an impulse buy from a scale modeling group i was in. It retails for about $20-25 as part of a two-rover kit, but i got it in THIS package. (I have traded away the Helicopter as I hate how fiddly Model Helicopter kits are)

Scale difference between a 1/50 print and a 1/48 model kit is negligible

Evil Doings are afoot in Narco-Land

Generally speaking, I am pleased. Detail is fantastic, scale was no surprise (I own a set of calipers) but the precision of the 3d model to the source material is to be commended. M_Bergman (the sculptor) is a fine asset to our community, and for files designed to be printed at 1:100 for Team Yankee/Flames of War, the fact that these look so good in 28mm scale is a true compliment.

I plan to print up a few examples of each of the variants i like to paint in British Pea-green, Arab-Desert tan, and United Nations "causing more trouble than they fix" white as the itch strikes me. Never know when the odd command car, VIP or mission objective will need them, plus special forces seem to love the things. That's going to end up being possibly as may as several dozen printed vehicles (Probably less), which I could NEVER afford at $15/each.

But instead of tying up that money and shelf space, I can keep the file on my machine and print what I want when i need it. (or lets be real, as an army strikes my fancy I'll Print what i "need", start a few up, finish some, and then move on to something else shiny, with yet another half-finished thing in my pile.)

But then that's Wargaming

MBA Shanty Town

 I m a huge fan of doing things as inexpensively as possible. However, sometimes you need the something and damn the price.

Resin terrain is the flagship of terrain, it is expensive and high detail. And nobody does resin terrain quite like my friends over at MBA. 

This isn't a paid hack from them either. Truth be told, I'm too cheap to buy any of my BIG items from MBA.  Which is why all my larger buildings are MDF or scratch built. But when i CAN afford their stuff, I prefer it (as yo'll see why below) But usually what I buy from MBA is their high quality scatter and filler bits to finish off lesser MDF kits and scratch builds. Rarely do I splurge on something like a full sized MBA building, let alone multiple...

This is my Shanty Stuff. Useful for Fallout Tabletop, or any number of modernn or post apocalyptic shitholes one might want to have a gunfight in.

This is a 4x6 table. pretty well loaded up with terrain.
Mostly from one or two of their kickstarters or the off piece picked up at a convention from Kirk.
Especially the walls. I seem to always pick up another 6-10" of wall every convention I go to...

Their stuff on their site is better painted (I am at best mediocre as a painter) but it is forgiving of errors
And VERY fun.

I like the little details on these buildings. You can tell they had fun making them

Get your food at "Food Store".
Get your Intestinal parasites there too!

Removable roofs are a hallmark of the sets. Even smaller ones like this meat stand!

I can only imagine the smell

Now that I own a 3D printer, would I still buy buildings like this?
Yeah actually. something like this with all these overhangs and details i'd probably have 3-4 messed up prints before getting one i'm happy with. I'd rather use the 3D printer for stuff i CAN'T get in MDF or resin cheaply

Even in the armpit of shanty town, there's work to be had for those that want it

This one is still a work in progress. going to be a workshop/garage!

The interiors are playable but lack details. readily improved if you are so inclined

I've mostly used them for solo-battles of Narco-wars so far (if due just to pandemic).
But I want to run some Fallout when conventions start back up.

This 2-story looks straight out of Fallout 3's "Megaton". I also enjoy having balconies to shoot off of.

The mat underneath is a bit of pleather from the fabric store hit in wide swaths with the same color primer paints I used on the buildings, and dry brushed in places with the same colors I dry brushed the buildings. Makes it tie in together a bit better I think...

Barrels of fun

 This is a short one. Kinda squat and rotund. Like a Dwarf.

Would you believe these things cost less than $0.03 each?

3d Printed barrels. Printed on my Ender 3 Pro. The End is what is referred to as an FDM printer, which is a lower resolution printer not suited to a lot of fine details like you see on a miniature. Not that it's not POSSIBLE, (there are those that can achieve miracles with the damn thing) but that it is better suited for terrain and large prints that Resin printers are unsuitable for due to build plate limitations (the ender has an 8"x8" or so build area compared to the 4"x6" go my photon mono), or prohibitive cost of materials (1KG of filament does twice the printing for half the price as even the cheapest resins)

All said and done I think this is like a dollar's worth of plastic, and like five cents on my power bill.... If even that.

The file is one from thingiverse. I can't find it any more but in attempting to do so I actually found more that i liked even better. Such is the curse of this hobby. I will be printing barrels until the end of time ;) 

Anyway the painting instructions are simple. Khaki base coat, then a heavy inking with a homemade ink of black craft paint mixed with Nutmeg craft paint, suspended in isopropyl alcohol (i wanted a better flow than water, and a faster evaporate time)

Cheap

Flat Earth would work as well

Cheap. Literally $1.50 worth of paint here

Currently cheap, but harder to acquire. You can use water+ dish soap, but that takes longer to dry.

This is what they looked like drying

That's it. They couldn't be simpler.

Here they are with some of my other bits and bobs...

There's a lot going on in this picture. You should go now. These aren't nice people!

4-Twenty - A friendly Neighborhood Store

The Local 4-Twenty is a fine purveyor of sundries and is the modern equivalent to a wild-west general store. Everything from chewing gum and fountain drinks to lottery tickets and cigarettes. Most are also gas stations, but some (notably in large cities like New York and Tokyo) dabble only in the food service and retail areas of operation.

Is this one a front for some dastardly underworld organization? The objective for a Heist gone wrong, or simply another place to loot in the coming apocalypse? Probably all of the above if I intend to get my money's worth out of this kit.

TTCombat "Minimart"
A snap to build!

This kit comes with some fine internal details that in all likelihood would have been fine... Bit I wanted to use them elsewhere. Also 7-Ele... er 4-Twenty (much like every similar shop) tends to use lower shelves so the perennially underpaid and over worked staffer can keep an eye on the clientele and keep "loss" to a minimum.

Seriously. These are fine, but not what i wanted for the piece.
I know they look kinda plain-Jane, but that's the charm. They will how up in other builds.
Nothing gets wasted here!

Luckily I am such close personal friends with the guys at Miniatures Building Authority (they know my name and don't throw rocks at me when we are at conventions) who sell this fantastic bit of kit.

Convenience Store Furnishings (in resin)
How Convenient!

I tend to find MBA buildings to be FANTASTIC and incredibly durable. I will do a future post (or several) all about them, but for now suffice to say that I own several (dozen). But I readily realize that a lot of gamers may not be able to afford such exquisite buildings. For those people, I recommend to take a gander at their fine selection of bits and bobs, get the stuff you need to fill out your existing buildings and scatter. They really bring the kits to a new level:

The freezers here were laser cut wood blocks from an ancient kickstarter i did back in 1012ish.
The posters were all assets either lifted from google or designed by your truly.

The emergency exit door bars are scrap model sprue and square shaped poke outs from the MDF sheets. 
The posters were all assets either lifted from google or designed by your truly.

I am less happy with this back wall. Were I to do this over I would put the printouts of store shelving onto a thin bit of card board to give SOME level of 3D

The video Game is from a Mantic Terrain Crate.
I paid SIGNIFICANTLY less on kickstarter, and will likely be 3D printing alternatives should i need more

The finished product from outside came out pretty good. It was built stock, with the exception of the (removable) large "4-TWENTY" Marque sign. I am contemplating using the 3D printer to make "better" phones for the payphone area. I hid the carved in "pipes" with a poster, but I saw someone else use model sprue there to add conduit.

Looks like a regular Friday night in my neighborhood

Well maybe not. At least here the Cops and EMTs showed up

I wonder if these other three walls need graffiti...

Or if this wall has enough graffiti for the whole building?

The sign itself was Evergreen/PLASTISTRUCT card with the sign glued to it. An example of which can be acquired here.

Nothing special really

Just slips into place

All in all, the building was a fantastic build, and will see a lot of action in modern and post-apoc games.

Greetings

 Hello, 

This is my first post on a new project. I have decided to catalogue my hobby endeavors and post them up for both myself to track progress and others to watch. We will see how often I update.

Ultimately my goal is to show how I would turn things like these:

Purchases from Both TTCombat and LaserCraft Workshop. Both are fine providers of inexpensive high-quality MDF kits

Purchases from TTCombat. TTCombat is a fine provider of inexpensive MDF kits 

Into things like these:

TTCombat "Minimart". Possibly one of the best "cheap" kits. But needs a lot of work to look like this.
https://ttcombat.com/collections/city-scenics/products/mini-mart

Lasercraft Workshop "The High House". A somewhat pricey (for the footprint) but VERY worthwhile kit!
https://lasercraftworkshop.com/bachelors-bayou/the-high-house/

Or things like this Dollar General Toy boat:

$5 toy boat from Dollar General.

Into this table-ready bit of kit:

Doesn't look like $5 worth of cheap plastic NOW does it?

I also own two 3d printers, and like to make things from scrap.

Made entirely from scrap sprues from the above MDF kits and random Balsa and Cardboard

I hope someone online finds my ramblings useful.