Website navigation image to new printing section of website
crazmadsci 3D Printing, Goals

The Void of Knowledge in the 3D Printing Tabletop Space?

I started 3D printing for tabletop gaming in 2018 and every day I am blown away by how much the hobby has grown. The community of hobbyists is bigger than ever before, there is more art and creators than we can even fundamentally track, and new technologies and tools are hitting the market making the hobby more accessible. There is now more software to make, modify, and slice 3D printed models. Materials have evolved to have significantly more variety in color, additives for flexibility, transparency, hardness, etc. The list of how this hobby has grown in the past 4 years could go on and on. 

Tennessee Tech makers space of Raise3D printers
Tennessee Tech makers space of Raise3D printers
Image of resin and FDM printing setup
My home printing setup 2022

However there is one aspect of the hobby that has not changed. The most elusive and coveted part of the 3D printing hobby is its knowledge. So much of the collective knowledge for tabletop gaming in the 3D printing community is spread out and only documented as a series of trial and error. Many of our communities of this collective knowledge are broken into sub groups and platforms such as Facebook, Youtube, Reddit, Discord, etc. This requires a lot of asking around for people to share their stories over the internet’s equivalent of a campfire. Much of the information is heard from the grapevine making that piece of information under scrutiny as to if it is really true or has just changed through each telling like a bad game of telephone. 

As someone with a passion for learning, gathering that knowledge and does tests purely for the sake of deeper understanding. I have found the lack of knowledge repository, well frankly frustrating. While not everyone is like me and needs to answer the Where, What, How, and Why of every aspect of our 3D printing hobby I know that I am not the only one who has become frustrated when forced to try new things and not knowing where to start, troubleshooting a taxing issue, or even needing inspiration on how to go the next step. 

We the collective community have made assumptions and sweeping statements such as “People cannot print miniatures on an FDM printer”. Layer lines are so terrible post processing for FDM printing requires sanding, gap filling, and even in some cases acetone smoothing. Why can’t resin be used in 3D printing terrain? I have made a career of exploring these declarative statements and providing people with the most information possible to let them come to their own conclusions.

Bottle Brawler kobold miniature without supports
FDM Miniature Figure, proving that FDM can indeed print supports.

What if we as a community banded together to curate a knowledge base of information to help not only brand new members of the hobby but veterans or even those who wish to purchase from 3D printing services. What kind of things should you look out for or ask when hiring others to 3D print files for you? What quality of print is standard? How much should you 3D print for your tabletop games? There are so many questions that I am seeking to answer.

Call to Action

I have made it my mission to be apart of the movement to close this gap in our knowledge, experiment & document often in order to search for answers to things that have not been tested yet, and assist those who wish to truly utilize all the things 3D printing has to offer. However this is something I cannot do on my own. I am looking for help, excitement to search more and those who have any questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question. If you have one regarding the 3D printing hobby for tabletop gaming just ask. I have been deep enough in the hobby that I have taken for granted the little questions that might plague those just getting started in the hobby. Having people ask questions really helps me make sure I can help answer it and those that might come in the future.

Most importantly. I am in need of troubleshooting photographs for your 3D printing issues!

What am I doing about it?

I have decided to step out and begin releasing content even if it may not completely fit the image of what I want it to be. So as of today I have officially released a brand new category to my website. As of now, we have a 3D printing navigation section. I have begun to curate the write ups I have done for 3D printing with a main home main and separate categories for resin and FDM printing. I am going to be posting a mix of information and guides to cover introductory subjects, topics I encounter in my hobby but most importantly information asked by my community and the communities I am a part of. 

I have admittedly been nervous in posting only a portion of content that I desire to write and have it appear more empty leading to a poor new reader interaction. However recently I have had several people approach me on how different guides I have written helped them and have told me that writing more tutorials and guides would be useful without realizing that it was already my intent. Starting this main navigation panel and landing page will make it easier for people to find what I have written as well. This is still very much a work in progress but I am excited on where it will go. Not every thing written will end up in posts but will try to make notices in my weekly state of the crazy posts if anything has been added as a permanent page rather than a post.

I am working on adding content as fast as I can while also balancing all aspects of my hobby as well.

Website navigation image to new printing section of website
Guide to Navigate to Printing Category
Printing OVerview
Resin Printing
FDM Printing

Come be Apart of the Community

If you want to become apart of the discussion or just banter, ask questions or enjoy aspects of the community all are welcome through the Tableflip Foundry discord server. You are welcome to come say hi and interact with the community and is the best place to find me day to day hanging out! https://discord.gg/tableflipfoundry

Tableflip Foundry banner logo

Continue Reading

crazmadsci Weekly Summary

State of the Crazy: February 4, 2022

Can you believe a month has already gone by in 2022? I surely cannot, the last month has been an absolute blur. Life has been so incredibly busy as my infant son has exploded in new skills and now can crawl around the house. It is time to go back to ultra baby proofing everything… I have also been completely taken over by behind the scenes stuff and assisted in pushing a new calibration tool for the 3d printing community called the Cones of Calibration. I have been working on the development of this tool over the last several months and I’m so excited as well as terrified that it is now public. The goal was to help new hobbyist have an easier time tuning and calibrating their printer to get started in an easier to understand wya.

It also appears that I completely lost track of time and didn’t post anything in the last two weeks. I’m sorry so lets catch up.

Painting

Over the last two weeks I have barely painted as I have been consumed by writing and 3D printed related projects. I have realized though that painting helps my mental health the most out of all aspects of my hobby and that I need to put a stronger emphasis on it.

I unfortunately have become burnt out on the Frost Giant for my 2022 Benchmark model. It has gotten pretty far and while I really want to add more detail, highlights, and fix mistakes I think I’m going to spend only one more evening on it and call it completed. I definitely think part of my 2022 goals for painting improvement should be stamina.

I also participated in my first ever paint night at a game store. It was an absolute blast, I made more friends and realized that I am definitely not a speed painter and working with surprise quality and colors does not suit well for me. Let me introduce you to my jack-o-boneclaw. I accidently turned all of his skin bright yellow using a wash that was too strong for my liking. This is only about an hour and a half of real painting and know I can do better but just need to find the time to go back and improve it. This is actually a paint night kit which I think is a great idea. I am currently working on a review of the kit and more of my experience.

3D Printing

While I have not necessarily printing much of substance in terrain, models or buildings I have been working on a crazy amount of testing for 3D printing. Mostly I’ve been focused on expanding my knowledge and comparing exposure time tests for resin printing. There are so many different tools you can use for 3D printing but knowing the when and how to use them is always in question. I’ve been working on a series of guides on how to read and use each one. However this is posing to be a massive undertaking and taking longer than anticpated.

Tableflip Foundry the 3d printing presupporting company that I work with released a new tool to help new users test their exposure times as a parameter to tune their printer before printing models for their tabletop gaming.

Cones of Calibration

This test which i’ll be discussing more at a future time is something that I started working on in September and am so excited to share with the community. Check out the YouTube video if you wish to learn more.

New Beginnings

Not that I need more projects I have always dreamt of making my own games workshop army for Age of Sigmar. I have never played a game nor do I have any local friends to play with. The price point has always been a deterrent and fear of “ruining” the model with my paint skills. Well that officially changed last week! My friendly local game store had a mega sale for the Greywater Fastness start collecting box and a second Bloodbowl team the Imperial Nobility. I now officially have two teams to try and play bloodbowl! I am super excited and am in love with the Cities of Sigmar faction of which my greywater dwarves fit into. This is perhaps going to be a year where I definitely stretch my wings into new and different games.

Conclusion

I think I am definitely going to have to come up with a rotation of themed posts around the different aspects of the hobby I work on. Sorry for getting distracted.

As always happy hobby,
Carrie aka crazmadsci

Previous Posts

Dried yellow paint from a brand new P3 paint pot
crazmadsci Weekly Summary

State of the Crazy: January 21, 2022

Update Quicklinks: Assembly, Printing, Painting, Blog

Happy Friday! Another week is coming to a close and it is again the time to reflect on our victories from the previous week and update on the going ons of the hobby desk. This has been a week where I do not feel like much gets completed but know that i’m still working hard. This is where I am finding satisfaction in writing these weekly updates. Reminds me just how much I actually do in a week rather than just focus on what I want to complete in a week.

Highlight of the week for the site is an updated Work in Progress Page! I am going to do my best to keep it updated and you can always find my most recent State of the Crazy at the top!

Assembly

Snotlings

In the last week I have not been able to spend a lot of time on this project but it is slowly but surely coming together. I still have mold lines to scrape and bases to glue but hopefully priming in the next week.

I might have a Goblin Problem

Slowly but surely I have been poking at this challenge and sorting the models between needing repair and good enough for primer. I do not think i’m going to dive into this project immediately and am happy slowly sorting the pile.

Magnetization!

As a method of tackling my hobby storage problems I have decided to increase the amount of miniatures in my collection and their magnetization. Since most of my bases are solid I am having to use a pin vice to slowly drill out holes. The work is slow but i’m slowly getting there. I am already running out of magnets so might have to fix that.

Metal letter tray with cork lining to hold magnetized miniatures.
Ikea Kvissle letter tray holding magnetized miniatures

Printing

Printing is still a bit slow but have been supporting a miniature for a dear friend along with printing a collection of calibration parts for a getting stated in resin printing page series. This is definitely taking longer than anticipated but i’m making sure i’m doing it right.

UV tools calibration test print
UV tools calibration test print

Painting Update

Last week I continued to spend a little bit of time painting my 2022 Benchmark model. I realize that a giant model might not be the best figure to paint twice in a year span but it was big enough to try to get some real airbrushing in. I really focused on hair and fur and this week focus on the leather and hopefully base. I don’t always get a lot of downtime for painting and juggle so much so the process is slower than i’d like.

Frost giant work in progress paint job
2022 Benchmark model Work in Progress

Hobby Maintanence

This week I spent some time to clean up my space, looking at my photo from last week I definitely needed it. As an area of focus I finally transferred some of my P3 paint into dropper bottles. Unfortunately some of the paint was dried out even as new paint bottle. I bought these a while ago from a game store knowing that P3 paint was slowly dying out and is one of my favorite brands. I also deep cleaned the airbrush using an isopropyl alcohol bath, it definitely needed it.

Newly transferred collection of P3 paint in dropper bottles
Newly transferred collection of P3 paint in dropper bottles
Dried yellow paint from a brand new P3 paint pot
Dried yellow paint from a brand new P3 paint pot
Airbrush cleaning in tub of isopropyl alcohol
Airbrush cleaning in tub of isopropyl alcohol

Blog

I appreciate all the words of encouragement after sharing “The Shattering Reality of my Miniature Collection.” It has meant a lot and made me feel better about the whole situation and given me a lot to think about. I have started a more robust spreadsheet documentation method for my collection with URLs linking to all the various write ups I have here on the website. I am also flirting with the idea to plot my hobby collection to more visually see it shifting from printed to completion. If you know anyone who has a graph of their pile of shame, opportunity or potential i’d love links for inspiration.

I have also been writing a lot for resin printing guides but due to the method of my creation of material it appears I’m going to be dropping a lot of this material at one time.

Conclusion

Not necessarily a ton to report on but it is still improvement towards finishing projects. What did you work on this week?

As always happy hobby,
Carrie aka crazmadsci

Previous Posts

Pile of miniature figures in pieces
crazmadsci 3D Printing, Miniatures, Tools & Organization

The Shattering Reality of my Miniature Collection

Disaster Strikes

Last weekend a disaster struck. A massive majority of my miniature collection has come crashing to the ground thanks to the adventuresome behavior of my cat, Turtle. You see at the moment my miniatures are being housed in an old bedroom TV cabinet as I am working on “figuring out” an improved method of widespread storage. In reality I have been continuously making it worse by stacking an increasing number of boxes and containers on top of each other just waiting for the day something shakes the whole tower down.

Well that day happened. On Saturday I heard a large CRASH and was terrified it was my curious toddler. I go running and immediately feel two emotions. First I am absolutely relieved to find that no child or animal was hurt. Secondly I felt my heart sink to my stomach as I saw the devastation the laid before me.

Miniatures lay in pieces scattered over the floor as hundreds of models crashed on top of each other, into other boxes or just spread out. The largest damage of which is my painted miniatures of 2021. Over half of all models painted in the last year lay in pieces. 

Pile of miniature figures in pieces
Some batch of models in pieces.
Black cat named Turtle
The culprit! Turtle the Cat

Trying to Piece it Back Together

I then proceeded to spend a large portion of my time to see if I can glue as much of the minis together. While I was trying to piece much of my hardwork of 2021 I had an inner dialogue of problems and perhaps ways I can fix them and should focus on for 2022.

Cutting mat with broken miniatures and superglue to repair the models
The surgical field, to glue models back together.
Frostgrave necromancer model in 6 pieces
Haggatha the Necromancer
Lizardmen miniature in pieces
Lizardman, Lost Adventures Vol 1
Hill giant model in pieces
Hill Giant, Lost Adventures Vol 1

Trying to Solve the Problems

Actually Utilizing My Storage Solutions

“Carrie, why in the world did you wait this long to try to organize your models?”

Voice in my head

You see this is actually ironic because last year I spent a long post series on organizing my collection & hobby space: Storage Wars. I even went as far to develop a new storage tray system for my models (Storage Wars: Part 3 Miniature Storage Trays). Yet in my haste towards the end of the year I did not fully utilize system. The biggest issues that I have is that I have no way to display or store models I’m using that are completed.

Solution: Actually utilize my storage solutions! Take the time to put models away. Find a way to store finished models safely or on display.

Experiment with New Materials

The harsh reality of it is that resin from 3D printing can be extremely brittle. Depending on the material used, duration of cure times, or even staying in storage exposed to UV light can increase this brittleness in your resin models & terrain. Towards the second half of last year I began to use harder resins which are more impact resistant making them more likely to just break rather than shatter. This was definitely noticeable in my Dwarven Frostgrave army printed mostly in 2020 rather than my husband’s necromancer undead army printed later 2021. When the newer models broke I could find most of them to try and glue back together. However some of the original resins used that were basic resins without additives such as ABS-Like or Hard were more likely to shatter rather than break. Let this be a testament on more durable resins being valuable! However in truth and with all the benefits of 3D printing the brittleness of the models definitely is a very strong negative about the 3D printing hobby. I had no reaper bone model damage, metal model damage and very little hard plastic model damage. 

Solution: Prime all printed models to prevent more curing from storage & investigate and start a series of experiments with flexible resin additives to give models more give and capabilities to stay intact.

Begin Cataloging My Collection Again

Last year I started a database of my miniature collection as well as a visual catalog. While it is still a long way to go it is a start. One major downside to this is that in December I sold off a large portion of my collection and did not update my spreadsheet or visual. I need to go back through the list and update the data before I can continue to grow again.

Solution: Update the Spreadsheet, visual catalog and actually track the known vs unknown.

Conclusion

I recognize that finding better systems to account for ever curious toddlers and adventuresome creatures is a much needed thing. I wish I could have shelves to hold the things I love and have spent time on but just do not have the space for it in our home. If you have a precarious pile of models this is my warning to you to make it safer.

How do you keep your hard purchased or crafted items for your tabletop games safe? I keep telling myself that this is the moment where I learn my lesson, but only time will tell.

Happy Hobbying!

Carrie aka crazmadsci the Crazy Mad Scientist

Past Writings

View of my hobby space and desk as of the time of writing this article
crazmadsci 3D Printing, Weekly Summary

State of the Crazy: January 14, 2022

,

Update Quicklinks: Assembly, Printing, Painting, Blog

It is Friday again and that means. The State of the Crazy! This week has been absolutely a whirlwind and definitely one of those where you feel like you have accomplished so much and so little at the same time. Lets go through what all happened this week

View of my hobby space and desk as of the time of writing this article
The honest state of the crazy at the time of writing

Assembly

Snotlings Assembled!

Bloodbowl snotling models assembled
Completed & assembled snotlings

This has been incredibly therapeutic for me and I have slowly been chipping away on this project when I only have a few minutes or highly likely to get pulled away. I definitely think that having a small project to chip away at slowly is something that will be a requirement for my hobby space. Next up is to scrape mold lines and attach to bases. There are a few snotlings that will be pained in subassemblies since they will go on the pump wagon.

I might have a Goblin Problem

The box of goblins to be worked on in the future
The box of goblins to be worked on from Lost Adventures Vol 1

Is there any truth in the statement, “You can never have too many goblins?” Well I appear to have a significant number of goblins at least 67 which I have found in this box. Many of which are duplicates with failed prints or portions as I have printed this set of (22 goblins) in at least 3 different occasions over the 2021 year. I am slowly going to take this collection of goblins and test a few theories and aspects of the hobby.

  • How to use green stuff to sculpt (repairing the failed print pieces)
  • Temporarily gluing to bases for ease of painting
    • Do I prefer to paint without a base?
  • How many ways can I paint green skin?

This is definitely going to be a project I slowly chip away at once the snotlings are completed and moved into painting.

Printing

I actually think for once I did not print anything last week of note. So far I am following my hobby focus of painting and website for now and catching up on documentation and projects before printing out new things.

Painting Update

For the first time I have begun to paint a model with an airbrush. I have begun work on my 2022 Benchmark model and it is still in progress. I am going to take my time for this paint job and attempt to do the best I can. I definitely already know I have room for improvement in both technique and placement but we all have to start somewhere.

Frost Giant front airbrushed base coats
2022 Benchmark Airbrush basecoat front
Frost Giant back airbrushed base coats
2022 Benchmark Airbrush basecoat back

Blog

Last week I published my 2022 Benchmark Model writeup “How to Gauge Growth in Miniature Painting”. This has received quite alot of positive response from people in its relatability to their own hobby. I can’t wait to see peoples benchmark models in the future!

I have also been writing quite a bit on other things and not quite ready to publish but should be coming up! Much of this is to update out of date sections of the site and begin publishing my starting to 3D print section.

Conclusion

Not necessarily a ton to report on but it is still improvement towards finishing projects. What did you work on this week?

As always happy hobby,
Carrie aka crazmadsci

Previous Posts

2021 Benchmark Model Showcase Featured Image
crazmadsci Miniatures, Retrospective, Skills

How To Gauge Growth in Miniature Painting

2021 Benchmark Model Dwarf final paint job
2021 Benchmark Model: dwarf final paint job


2021 Benchmark Model Comparison

When working on improving any skill or hobby, oftentimes it is hard to gauge personal growth. You can become so deeply focused in your task that having the capability to step back and gain a larger perspective is difficult. Or in some cases the improvement may be so small or subjective it is hard to determine any improvement at all. This can lead to frustration, lack of motivation or even burn out.

How can you to solve this problem?

Last January I set out to try to solve this issue. I painted a benchmark miniature figure so that I may judge my improvement over the course of one calendar year. This benchmark was at that time the very best I could do in painting a miniature. I set no time limit and poured myself into it. The primary goal was to test if I could see a before and after of how far I developed as a miniature painter. 

So what is a benchmark?

Something that can be used as a way to judge the quality or level of other, similar things.

Merriam Webster Dictionary

So in this situation I used the same model painted a year apart to test their different quality levels.

Setting the Baseline

Here is an image of the model painted January 2021. If you want to read more about my thoughts about it at the time and painting read the 2021 Benchmark Model.

Painted dwarf miniature figure. Final collage of painted 2021 Benchmark Model
2021 Benchmark Model: Dwarf

So the million dollar question, have I improved a year later?

Have Others Give Their Opinions

Front view 2021 Benchmark Model first painted January 2021, left. Right benchmark model painted January 2022 to see personal growth in hobby.
Left 2021 Benchmark, Right 2022 Benchmark
Backview of 2021 Benchmark Model first painted January 2021, left. Right benchmark model painted January 2022 to see personal growth in hobby.
Left 2021 Benchmark, Right 2022 Benchmark

When I finished painting this model last week I will admit to feeling a bit deflated. I attempted to focus on painting the new model using a similar paint scheme in hopes that the comparison should not be influenced over preferred color. However when I placed the paint brush down at the end I was not Wowed. I felt no immediate pride or even noticed any significance in difference of my model. In my mind I could only envision where I wanted to go with the model and yet didn’t have the skill (seeing only the flaws not the victories). I couldn’t step back and admire what I could accomplish in the today.

So I decided to ask for help to take a photo to my friends, family, and fellow members of the painting community. The question was simple. “Which model is the newer one and why?” Could people see my improvement where I could not? Could people actually see the areas in the hobby I desired to improve upon in that year?

The conclusion was simple. Every single person who guessed my old model vs my new model was correct. No matter their background or skill set there was not a single person who guessed was wrong. Even non-painters saw growth.

Here are some of the various pieces of feedback and comments I received from different platforms:

Basing is fancier, the skin is smoother. In general fewer visible brush strokes.

The metal looks more like metal, than “gray”. The skin looks more natural, and less glossy. The basework is more complex. The eyes look more natural too. Overall, just appears to be a higher quality paint job.

Both are better than my painting. They look great, but skin on the right looks way better.

Looks like smoother coats. The eyes are better. Cleaner paint work on the rims of the pauldrons. Just all around more attention to detail on it. Some blending on the cheek bones it looks like

The Consensus

Significant areas of improvement were the base of the model which was vocalized as was fancier, more adventurous, and more complex.

It was also noticeable on my improvement with skin & eyes. The skin did not have a glossy appearance (Nuln Oil has a gloss version by the way). Also the layering of my skin was better. My work at setting a baseline with skin using the Hill Giant last year really paid off here.

Lastly my metallics appeared to be better. Did not appear as a basic gray but had sharper lines and better brush control with edge highlighting.

However there was also a repeated opinion that it appears that I am also making a stylistic change. Moving away from washes in the beard and cloth perhaps took away from the contrast and did not push the highlights as much as I did a year ago. Check out the comments.

I feel like the right one has sharper lines and colors so my instinct is to go with that one being the more recent one, but it almost feels a bit like a stylistic choice between the rougher more blended palette and the sharper more distinct style

This comment also gave some feedback on potential improvements with washes which I absolutely agree with.

Looks to me like the one on the right is the more recent one. The one on the left you used more washes, the one on the right more highlighting. There are things about both that I like. With the washing, I’d say try and go a little less wet, you have a lot of the ‘coffee stains’ where your wash dried to the edges and makes your ‘creases’ a bit of a mess. Less paint on the brush. BTW, a wash that is dabbed on a paper towel till mostly dry is essentially a glaze technique which looks like you did on the right guys face, looks great! One thing I like about the wash is you maintained a lot of contrast. To tighten up your highlights, thin the paint, dab from brush, and do multiple passes if you have to. Overall, I like the composition and I think with just a few tweaks you’ll have some new things to explore.

My husband even agrees that the beard in particular he prefers on the old model than the new one. This is something that I need to go back and work on for sure.

More Detailed Comparision

One thing I absolutely forgot I did when I wrote the 2021 Benchmark write up is I included specific areas of desired growth. Listed below. Lets go through and see which ones I succeeded in.


Aspects of Desired Growth

  • Fur: Can I learn to paint fur better that it could even dictate the type of animal it comes from? Potential area to improve skills and knowledge in drybrushing?
Benchmark comparison of personal growth for painting fur from 2021 to 2022
Left 2022 fur, Right 2021 Fur

No Change. This aspect I consider no growth. They were essentially the same with contrast paint used on the newer model and more drybrushing and colors used on the older model. None scream as a better approach but rather just different approaches.

  • Armor: Methods and ways of painting True Metallics in miniature figures. Can I make armor shine? What are the different types of metals?
1 year growth comparison of painting metal armor on miniature figures 2021 to 2022
Left 2022 metal painting, Right 2021 Metal Painting

Success! This area was commented numerous times as significant areas of improvement. Use off better metallics along with selective use of washes and significant improvements on brush control & edge highlighting shine here.

  • Weapons: How do I make metallics & weapons look more battle worn and dinged?
1 year growth comparison of painting swords on miniature figures 2021 to 2022
Top 2021 sword, Bottom 2022 sword

Fail? (Just Different) I personally think that the weapons look less battle damaged in the new model vs the old. The use of the wash on the sword really helped give more of an aged aesthetic.

  • Skin: Starting completely from scratch. Largest desire is to have growth and variety in skin tone for my miniature collection.
  • Hair: Much like skin I have not put much effort into growing or researching this area in miniature painting.
Side by side comparison of painting faces on miniature figures from 2021 to 2022
Left painted face 2022, Right painted face 2021

Success and Fail. In this aspect my skin and eye are significantly improved but the contrast off the beard was preferred on the old model. I am proud of where I started with skin but want to research hair more.

  • Cloak: Layering and contrast. Can I improve my layering? Make smoother transitions in blending the layers? What methods & techniques work best for me?
Painted cloak comparison of Benchmark 2021 model. Left 2022 cloak and Right 2021 cloak
Left painted cloak 2022, Right painted cloak 2021

Success. Improved blending was definitely an area off focus here. I worked quite a bit last year on glazing and next year hope to grow in wet blending. Also work towards improving those highlights.

Technical aspects I seek to improve upon

  • Improving Brush Control. Success
  • Zenethial Highlighting & Source Lighting, Success
  • Basing. Can I make the miniature tell a story, Success
2021 Benchmark Model standing on slate rock, shield and sword being based before priming.
Model appearance after basing
Picture of 2021 benchmark model sitting in airbrush booth
2021 Benchmark Model Take 2 Primed via Airbrush
picture of finish model look after airbrushing
Airbrushed Primed 2021 Benchmark Model

Adjacent Goals

  • Improve my miniature photography, Success

3D Printing the Figure

  • Can I improve the state of the print itself? Success
  • Methods to improve post process clean up, Success
  • Note I did break a hand/weapon joint and had to use green stuff to clean it up again. Success no breaks

Of all the other areas I wish to grow I definitely feel like I hit improvements on each single one. This is a really good feeling.

Final Photographs

Right side view 2021 Benchmark Model first painted January 2021, right. Left benchmark model painted January 2022 to see personal growth in hobby.
Left 2022 Benchmark, Right 2021 Benchmark
Back view 2021 Benchmark Model first painted January 2021, right. Left benchmark model painted January 2022 to see personal growth in hobby.
Left 2022 Benchmark, Right 2021 Benchmark
Side view 2021 Benchmark Model first painted January 2021, right. Left benchmark model painted January 2022 to see personal growth in hobby.
Left 2022 Benchmark, Right 2021 Benchmark
Front view 2021 Benchmark Model first painted January 2021, right. Left benchmark model painted January 2022 to see personal growth in hobby.
Left 2022 Benchmark, Right 2021 Benchmark

Paints Used

Not only did I improve in some painting skills, I also am happy that I have started a paint journal to keep track of paints used, notes, and thoughts during a project. Sometimes those notes are simple such as here.

Paint Journal for Benchmark Model Cloth and Skin
Benchmark Model Paint Journal
Paint Journal for Benchmark Model Fur, Pouch, Pants, Armor and Weapons
Paint Journal for Benchmark Model Page 2

Conclusion

I am super glad that I took the time to paint this model and do a benchmark test. Although I was disappointed the moment of completing the figure looking back only a few days I am excited about my growth in the hobby. This write up has also been immensely helpful to show me that I am indeed getting better.

One thing I definitely take for granted and need to articulate is the fact that along with improving my painting skill, I have sped up tremendously. While the original model was painted over 5 painting sessions this one was over 2. This is also an area of hobby growth.

I highly recommend a benchmark model if you ever feel like you are stagnant in your hobby or skill growth. This was a fun experiment and I am definitely going to be doing another one for this year and perhaps make it an annual thing. If you want a sneak peak as to what I’m working on make sure you follow me on Instagram.

Have you ever painted a benchmark? Can you see a difference? What should I focus on for the next year?

Thank you for sharing this journey with me. As always happy hobby.

Carrie, crazmadsci the crazy mad scientist.

2021 Benchmark MoDel

Past Writings

sprues of the Snotling Bloodbowl team and box art.
crazmadsci Weekly Summary

State of the Crazy: January 7, 2022

Update Quicklinks: Assembly, Printing, Painting, Blog

Welcome to the state of the crazy where I discuss what I’ve completed, what is on the hobby desk and what is next in line. My hobby space is always in a stage of crazy and this is my opportunity to share my excitement, provide progress updates, and plans for the future in my miniature figure 3D printing and painting hobby to bring to my tabletop.

Assembly

Picture of the Snotling Blood Bowl Team Assembly

Fun Fact: I’ve only assembled one miniature sprue kit previously. The year was 2014, I had no idea what I was doing and to this day not a single one of those models is still fully intact. Perhaps one day I will bring new life to them.    

This time I fully intend to assemble them right, using the correct tools and glue. I recieved this Snotling Blood Bowl team as a gift given for Christmas. I don’t even play bloodbowl but have been really playing with the idea of playing Dungeon Bowl also I realized I kinda have a weekness for goblins and this adorable sculpts.

Overall I am about 70% built and assembled but still have to take some time to sand and scrape mold lines before it gets put into the booth to be primed and painted. The pump wagon has taken the most amount of work but after finishing one I should be able to knock the rest out in a sitting.

Printing Updates

Starting a Brand New Printer

Brand New Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K

I have been struggling for quite some time now with my original resin printer due to a pretty significant z-wobble. This has resulted in a large quantity of print failures. Therefore using some holiday money and income from pre-support work I have purchased a brand new Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K. This is the same “exact” printer than what I already own, however Phrozen has apparently improved its printer. I am currently putting the printer through its paces to see if it lives up to that promise. Stay tuned for more information and direct comparisons on the printer of new vs old.

On a Quest …

One model I particularly have fallen in love with is an adventurers quest board from CastnPlay’s December model release “Adventurers Guild”. 

As one of my very first prints on the new printer I am exceptionally happy with it and have so many plans. But in order to pick up quests you have to have adventurers so I decided to also print all the miniature figures that accompany this set as well.

Adventuring Board Castnplay

Painting Update

New Toys?

One of the largest tools of the hobby that I have been both dreaming of as well as fighting against was the addition of an airbrush to my arsenal. Hearing that it was something I really wanted to own and learn, my family decided to help me flesh out this dream and make it a reality. So I now have a new tool which requires learning as well as setup. So in my extra careful way I have officially setup an airbrush booth and ventilation for it as well. I am trying to figure out a plan on how to best learn how to use this well and effectively.

Fully expect things to be painted much faster, especially buildings!

Have I improved painting in a year?

Last January I painted a benchmark model of a dwarf from the Hold My Dwarf Kickstarter. The goal was to paint the best I could and paint the model again in January 2022 and see if I noticeably improved in a year. I have finished the model and even posted in a few places online to see if others could spot a difference. I am gathering their responses and doing a write up for it now. I definitely feel like I have improved but wish it could be even better. Can you guess which one is wich?

What is in the Queue?

Painting

Painting I definitely plan to paint my benchmark for 2022 which some might call a “giant” of a project. It is still getting cleaned up and cured but will be primed and start on painting soon. 

I am also planning to paint the quest board and perhaps try something new…. 

And of course those snotlings are going to see some love. This will definitely keep me busy and since I don’t get a whole lot of time to paint probably bring me into February.

Printing

I do not yet know what I am planning to print next as I am focusing on catching up in my writing and painting. Other than some presupport work and really pushing my new printer to its limit I am most likely going to just calibrate the printer like a crazy person in anticipation of a new resin printing tutorial series I’m working on. If you have specific questions about 3D printing now is the time to ask!

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of the behind the scenes of what it means to truly be “The State of the Crazy”. Lets see what next week will bring.

As always happy hobby,
Carrie aka crazmadsci

Previous Posts

Crazmadsci Hobby Space January 2022
crazmadsci Goals, Retrospective

2022 Hobby Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The crazmadsci hobby area at the beginning of 2022

It is that time again to welcome in the new calendar year, we are now older and hopefully a little bit wiser. Much like many many people, last year I wrote down a pretty humble list of hobby goals for 2021 and although I didn’t complete all of my goals I am still incredibly happy with what I did accomplish in the past year. Feel free to read more about my review of last year here: 2021 Hobby Goal Retrospective. 

Yes I know what you are thinking, hobby goals, showcases these yearly posts are cliche and exhaustively overused. However last year I discovered that having a thought out list of goals was actually immensely helpful for me to see what I really wanted to achieve but also gain perspective on how much I accomplished over the course of the year. This allows me to have an improved understanding of my time management and really prioritize the upcoming year.

So for my own sanity and organization here I am…

What is different this year?

For this year’s goals I have decided to do something a little bit different. I am setting overview goals out of a long bucket list of aspirations that are on my mental list of some of the things I desire to do. Why? I tend to be a really big dreamer with more goals than I can reasonably do. So I am going to attempt to do a specific number of goals per category which will allow me to still have a dreamer list while also still being reasonable as to what I can accomplish. This will provide flexibility to move with changing interests or adapt to things I don’t yet know will happen.

My universal motto and approach will be, “Improve my skill, output and performance over the previous year.” So I am planning on using last year as a benchmark of comparison so I can more definitely see how I match up. 

I also hope to solve one massive issue in my retrospective of last year, I don’t know specifically how many goals I achieved in the last year because many of them were not objectively pass/fail. This should be more straight forward.

Painting:

  1. Paint more models than 2021:
  • Scatter Terrain: 2
  • Buildings: 2
  • Miniatures: 26
  1. Try or start learning 5 New Techniques and Skills
  2. Begin 3 New Deep Dives

Overall all of these things are pretty straight however if you are new to the site you may be asking what is a deep dive?

From an analytical standpoint a deep dive is an “intense, in depth analysis of a certain problem or subject.” What does that mean for the tabletop hobby? Well for one I want to research, explore and experiment with all the different ways myself or my fellow hobbyists tackle a subject in the tabletop space. Either painting, printing, playing or something perhaps something else entirely. A deep dive will document my entire journey, the successes, failures, and methods.

Introducing: Deep Dives

Deep Dive Examples from 2021

Skin Painting Setting a Baseline
Wood Color Palette on 1 inch round tavern bases
Wood Painting Color Palette


Printing:

  1. Printable Scenery Castle Complete Printing & Paint
  2. 100% Print a Kickstarter and all its models
  3. Physical vs Printing Project Comparison

I started a project several years ago in attempt to recreate a Printable Scenery marketing image of a ruined castle using their rampage castle digital files. To this day I’m determined to finish it and paint it for my collection.

I also have had an idea to really dig into the conversation of “3D printing is Cheaper than buying Physical Models”. There is the perfect set of files for this conversation and I fully plan to really give my highly researched spin on the topic.

Blog:

  1. Average of 5 or more posts a month (4 was average for 2021)
  2. Maintain writeups of 2022 printing & painting. Aka If I print or paint itthe models end up on the site
  3. Add 10 3D printing tutorials

Other:

  1. Put 250 miniatures on the website from Current Physical Collection (approximately 25%)
  2. Aim for 500 Instagram followers and use to track hobby days (323 as of today): Follow Here
  3. Play two new tabletop games

Conclusion

Much Easier to achieve, right? Also so much more easily explainable. I definitely think this list is doable and flexible to account for the changes I don’t see coming. I also very intentionally shifted my priority to be writing and painting related. I have always put printing first as it has been a primary hobby, and source of hobby income. However, I have immensely begun to enjoy painting more than ever before and am going to embrace it this year and see where it takes me.

I am also extremely disappointed with the lack of writing I’ve been doing lately and found it therapeutic during the year. Specifically the “State of the Crazy” of my weekly updates of what I’ve been up to kept me honest and on track of the happenings in my hobby universe.

What about you? Do you have goals and aspirations with the new year? I’d love to hear from you.

As Always Happy Hobby,

Carrie the Crazy Mad Scientist

2021 Hobby Goals RetroSpective

Now for the real crazy mad list….Expanded Goal Lists broken down by category.

The Dreamers 2022 Hobby Goals

Below are some of the things I will select for the above list to potentially use to complete my hobby goals for the year.

Painting:

  • 2021 Benchmark Model
  • 2022 Benchmark Model
  • Bloodbowl Snotlings (20 Models)
  • Frostgrave Bestiary (27 unique)
    • Folio (9 unique)
    • Perilous Dark (11 unique)
  • Lupin & Werewolf Harry Potter Mini (2 models)
  • Stargrave Warbands (20 Models)

Total Count: 91

Deep Dives:

  • Display Boards
    • Various biomes (5)
  • Green Skin Tones
  • Color Theory
  • Painting Hair
  • Painting Scales 

New Techniques and Skills

  • Airbrush Learn/Use with Confidence
  • Ultrasonic Cleaner Learn and use in various applications
    • clean airbrush
    • strip models
    • other uses?
  • Printing in Transparent Resin
    • Alcohol Ink dying transparent resin
  • Oil Washes
  • Use an LED in a build
  • Feathering
  • Stippling
  • Wet Blending
  • Do a resin pour
  • Green Stuff Sculpting

Mega Project Ideas: 

Large 3D printing projects or kickstarters. Mega project completion is marked by 100% printing of miniatures or 50% of Kickstarter. 

  • Printable Scenery Castle
    • Print & Paint
    • Terrain Tinker Spotlight
  • Dungeon Delvers Kickstarter
  • Terrain Essentials CastnPlay
  • Kingdom of Thamarya
  • Lost Adventures Vol 1
  • Lost Adventures Vol 2
  • Lost Adventures Vol 3
  • Lost Dragons
  • Into the Woods
  • Hagglethorn Hollow (complete print)

Blog:

  • Monthly Creator Spotlight (12 Total)
  • Monthly Roundup
    • Models painted
    • Projects printed
  • 2 Paint Project Write ups a Month
  • 2 Print Write Ups a month
  • Weekly State of the Crazy
Models Painted in 2021 Year
crazmadsci Goals, Retrospective

2021 Hobby Goals Retrospective!

As December is officially wrapping up. It is the time of year to look back on all the things that you’ve done, aimed to achieve, and reminiscence over the last year. If you were not aware at the beginning of the year I set out to accomplish more than i’ve ever done in a year regarding my miniature gaming and hobby universe. I believe the direct quote was…

This is definitely a list which will take time to focus on but I think it is absolutely accomplishable.

2021 Hobby Goals

This list of hobby goals was so long I broke it up into several categories. So the main question is. Did I accomplish what I set out to do? In short, no I did not, however I am immensely proud of what I have achieved. Follow me as I go back through the list and break it down into levels of success.

Painting

Success:

  • Paint to completion at least 24 models (regardless of size)

Moderate Success:

  • Paint an average of 4 days a week
  • Have greater than 183 hobby days (more days than not)

Did not Achieve:

  • 4 deep dives to paint techniques or methods/recipes of painting
  • Create 12 different bases for miniatures

Of my painting goals the only goal I can definitely mark as successful this year I did hit that goal of 24 models by painting:

Total (30):

  • 2 Scatter terrain
  • 2 Buildings
  • 26 miniatures
2021 Commission Pieces
Frostgrave Warbands and Zombies
Hill Giant
Thamarya Kid
Fishers Hut
Blacksmith
Catfolk Fisher
Siege Equipment
2021 Benchmark Model

While this does not sound like much for others, for me this marks a major accomplishment. I have not been the most confident of painters. My lack of confidence has lead to painting paralysis making it more difficult to finish things. The largest thing that changed that was a surprise painting commission which was wrapped up just in time for the new year. This commission was my very first commission and i’m honored to be asked to paint models for others. Also this was my very first year where models that I now have painted models exist in other peoples homes.

Feel Free to Read more about some of these painting projects!

Fishers Hut
Blacksmith
Catfolk Fisher
2021 Benchmark
Hill Giant

Two categories that I do not quite know if I was successful or not was my total number of hobby days. Which I believe I did do successfully but lost track of how many days. One great thing I did do was track specifically what aspect of the hobby I did on what day in a fun and creative way that I wish to continue into the new year. I also did not paint on average 4 days a week but am happy that I did spend the majority of the days of the year on aspects of the hobby. Doing something in this hobby is now officially a requirement in my daily routine which feels fantastic.

Also I did not succeed at doing 4 deep dives for the year but did a few. The largest one I’m most proud of is my wood painting deep dive.

Wood Painting Part 1: Questions & reflection
Wood Painting Part 2: Color Palette
Wood Color Palette on 1 inch round tavern bases
Wood Painting Deep Dive: Color Palette

I also started a dive into a long quest of painting skintones with my first real effort with the Hill Giant.

3D Printing

Success:

  • In-depth study of supports for FDM
  • Learn how to support resin

Moderate Success:

  • Develop a deeper understanding of print settings

Did not Achieve:

  • 6 mega projects completed
  • Inventory 3D printing/tabletop collection

This category is one where I ended up spending a large amount of time and much of it unexpected. The largest area of success by far was in learning how to support resin models. I started printing in resin late 2020 and was super new in that aspect of the hobby (Happy Anniversary a Year in Review). I desired to work on mastery of supporting resin models to print with confidence. Not only did I succeed but have joined up with TableFlip Foundry to become a professional presupport artist which does the presupport work for modelers and artists. I can’t wait to share more of what we have done and share my growth of knowledge with you in the upcoming year along with showcasing artists and projects i’ve worked with.

I also got a lot of compliments on my FDM test printing for the Uncharted Lands Kickstarter for miniature printing and released a guide on how I do supports for FDM models.

FDM Printed Kobold Scavenger

I learned al lot in this year about printing and feel better and more knowledge than ever and excited to share that with others. However much like I anticipated, documentation and photographing my work and prints has caused a serious backlog to add to the site. I am intending to play some serious catch up.

Blog

Success:

  • Get 25 Followers to Blog

Did not Achieve:

  • Weekly update write ups (Mondays)
  • Weekly Page addition to site (Fridays)
  • Complete Digital Catalog of what I have made
  • Complete Beginners write ups to 3D printing

My personal goals for the site is above and beyond my most disappointing mostly due to the shear amount of content I wish to create for the site. I did not take into account how much of the behind the scenes work I would spend on the site. But as a positive spin I have come up with some pretty great statistics.

Posts Written in 2021: 49 (4 average a month)
Pages Created in 2021: 191 (15.9 average a month)
Total WordPress Followers: 39
Total Unique Visitors in 2021: 2,291
Top 5 Most visited Countries: United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Canada

Top Most Visted Pages:

  1. Homemade Wash Recipe
  2. FDM Miniature Printing – Support Settings
  3. Frostgrave Beginnings
  4. Fishers Hut CastnPlay
  5. Contrast Paints: Understanding Their Usage

Overall even though I am not writing content to match my personal expectation I am still growing faster than I anticipated with my average views a day four times greater than at the beginning of the year. I am also writing an average of three times more words per post in 2021 than in 2020. Therefore I feel that I am writing more and producing more quality content.

So again I am going to take the Blog 2021 Hobby Goal category as a win. Areas I would love to grow in is community engagement, I want to find more bloggers like me to enjoy their content and have more members of the community engage to help me make something that could be valuable to them. If you have a blog, create content, or have suggestions please comment down below.

Other

Success:

  • Improve photographing of projects/miniatures
  • Read/Listen to 5 books

Moderate Success:

  • Try 2 new tabletop top games

Did not Achieve:

  • Monster Cards for each monster in collection
  • Play a video game to completion

In my catch all category for 2021 I have mixed success. I am definitely improving in aspects directly related to the above three categories. I improved my miniature photography and am now even bringing out the DSLR camera and improving my camera settings and scene I am sure this will be a continuation in the new year.

I also tried Frostgrave for the first time and although didn’t beat a game did play a little bit of video games but am still happy more time went into tabletop gaming.

Conclusion

2021 was an incredible year. I not only have grown a tremendous amount but have gained a significant amount of confidence in both my painting and printing. I have been working towards having the hobby completely pay for itself which I started to do in the 4th quarter of this year.

I am inspired and motivated to continue on into the new year and am working on a new list of goals. Although I did not hit every achievement I am really happy with myself. I have learned more of what works and what doesn’t work for me along with a ton of self discovery.

Did you have any hobby goals for the last year? How did you do?

See you next time and as always.
Happy Hobbying,
Carrie aka crazmadsci

2021 Hobby Goals
Unopened Box of a Phrozen Sonic MIni 4K
crazmadsci Uncategorized

Happy Anniversary: A Year in Review of Resin Printing

Last week marks a special milestone for me, One Year of Owning a Resin Printer. I can’t believe that I have only printed on my Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K for only a year because looking back on it, WOW have I accomplished a lot. While I printed my first resin miniature back in 2018, i’ve waited some time to have my own.

Since I have had a resin printer in my home for a year I thought i’d take this opportunity to share some of the questions I answered before jumping into this aspect of the 3D printing hobby and share some of my experiences.

My shiny resin printer ready to be played with right out of the box.

Backstory

Over the last two years, resin printing has absolutely exploded. Printing in your home has become significantly more affordable as well as product variety in both the printers and material.

When I started looking in the 3D printing hobby, entry resin printers started around $500 with average cost of resin $60 for 1 kg of resin. Now people can get into the hobby for less than $200 a printer with resin costing about $30-$40 a kg for average users. On top of that material resin has grown in water washable resin, tough resins, flexible resins, transparent resins and more. These were available in the past but the number of companies offering options and variable price points around the world have grown tremendously along with improvements in formulas.

Not only has the cost of resin printing and availability of products grown over time but the market is absolutely stuffed full of artists and there hasn’t been a better time to find model variety for your tabletop games, display painting, wargaming etc.

My Personal Goals & Criteria for a Resin Printer

Before jumping into resin printing I set rules and answered several questions before buying.

Budget: Around $250
Printing Usage: Primarily miniature figures and bits
Size: Did not matter for me as I already owned a large volume printer with my Prusa Mk3s FDM printer
Goals: To create model figures and things I haven’t been able to do well on my FDM printer. Also learn a new method & technology of 3D printing

Narrowing Down the List

In summer of 2020 when I was researching what resin 3D printer to buy a few major milestones in resin printing development were happening for the 3D community.

  1. Large Format printers were hitting the marketplace for the the everyday hobbyist. These include products like the Elegoo Saturn which is almost 3 times larger in volume than the Elegoo Mars 2. Why is this important?
    • Faster printing: Since the build plate is larger. Hobbyists can make more objects at a single time making it capable of producing more miniatures per print in the same amount of time.
    • Print Larger Objects: Due to the larger volume in both the print bed but also the Z-axis. People can now print buildings and larger monsters easier with fewer cuts and keys.
  1. Monochrome Screens were being released as a new and improved screen for resin printing. Example model the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K. Essentially each monochrome screen aimed to project more blue light at 405 mm wavelengths which is the light used in the photochemical reaction of resin printing. This is an improvement over the standard LCD screen with equivalent light sources of Red, Yellow, Blue. Why is this important?
    • Faster Printing. Since there is a higher light efficiency projecting from the screen. Print exposure times go significantly down meaning it takes less time to cure each layer of resin and therefore producing a miniature faster.
    • Longer Screen Life Spans: since the screen is emitting light more efficiently, it is therefore on for shorter intervals and will last longer. This saves the consumer more money in the long run in having to replace the screen. Marketing of monochrome printers say the lifespan can be 4 times longer than its LCD counterpart but only time will tell if that is true.

Since the evolution of 3D printing would undoubtedly result in faster printing the question still remained. Did I prefer a larger printing volume or higher resolution printer with a longer life span?

You might be asking “what do you mean higher resolution printer?” Glad you asked resin printing is based on the resolution of the pixel density of the screen and not just the resolution of the screen. Therefore if a printer has the same 4K resolution but one has a larger print volume the XY resolution of that printer would less than a 4K resolution small printer. As you might have guessed from reading my blog already I decided upon the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K which was a 35 micron XY resolution printer vs the Elegoo Saturn with a 50 micron XY resolution.

My Resin Printer in its new home

At that time the Phrozen sonic mini 4K had the best marketed XY resolution ever to hit the hobbyist market. Currently it is matched with the Elegoo Mars 3 at 35 microns and beaten by the Epax X1-4K at 32 microns. Due to it being one of the first of its kind I did go slightly over my budget (approximately $300 early bird special) and jumped on the 1st wave of orders. I was absolutely thrilled to begin this new chapter of my printing journey.

Safety Concerns

One of the largest reasons why I waited so long to get into resin printing was not having a safe space for harmful fumes while printing as well as having a working space for resin away from my small curious and ever growing child. The safety concerns and studies regarding resin printing are vast and too big for discussion today but let me know in the comments if you wish for me to go into it more.

Even though I did spend roughly a month printing out of an old wooden wardrobe. My partner and I built an enclosure to become the future home and current home of both printers, their materials, and tools needed while venting out of the house.

Once I got the printer, the setup, I set to work.

My 3D Printing Enclosure

Lessons Learned

Admitting my Stubbornness

Much like the excitement of starting 3D printing, resin printing completely opened a whole new world for me. While i’ll always be an advocate of FDM printing and consider there to still be a place for filament printed miniatures. I admit I absolutely prefer resin printed miniatures over FDM. I am without a doubt someone who will “Fight” others to say you can print tabletop standard in FDM but resin miniatures are leaps and bounds better in quality with less time committed than FDM.

Resin (left) vs FDM (right) of a jaill cell

Troubleshooting & Getting Started

When in doubt relevel your print bed. This is the cause of a significant vast majority of 3D printing issues for resin and unfortunately takes practice.

Also factory settings or even other peoples settings are not the best print settings for your printing environment and printer. Resin printing can be more temperamental than FDM so just sharing of print profiles does not work as easily. use these as recommendations to start from and run many calibrations.

Avoid Being a First Adopter

I now vow to avoid being a first adopter to a printer in the future. As one of the first people to own a Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K I absolutely love my printer BUT it isn’t perfect. What i’ve learned the hard way is that printers come out so quickly in-depth quality assurance is not always the case. Thankfully the model has improved over time for new owners purchasing the mini 4K. I’ve most nortiously struggled with my z-axis and issues associated with it such as banding and locking into place.

For the future i’ll wait a year or so before buying into a printer and let others pioneer the path. Being a mom of young kids I do not have the time anymore for such indepth troubleshooting.

First Prints

To start off printing I jumped right in and printed my absolute favorite monster the Owlbear. This baby owlbear is made by Manuel Boria and is one of the models in his welcome pack for joining his patreon. There are 3 in this set and immediately I was blown away by the detail of the sculpt with the tiny paws, fur texture and even cute eyes. Also looking back i’ve realized that i’ve also significantly improved my miniature photography skills.

Most Failures & Most Expensive Printing

I’ll never forget the hard hard lesson of knowing how much resin you should put into your printing vat. I must have failed about 4 times on the top leaves portion of the Heartwood Treant by Lost Adventures Co. Each failure was around $6 an attempt, ouch. This is by far now the most “expensive” model in my collection to print because of it.

Favorite Model

My absolutely favorite model printed to date was one I least expected the Graveyard Golem. Man does this figure have some incredible character. Much like I describe on the write up for printing this model I did not expect to fall in love with the model like I did. However the render of the figure did not do it justice for all the detail and storytelling found on the figure. I can’t wait to paint this!

Graveyard Golem - Khaldoth the Corpse Keeper

Conclusions

Overall resin printing has not only really enhanced my 3D printing experience but in general has really motivated and inspired me to paint more. I truly do not think I was fully into the hobby as a “miniature painter” but after being able to print incredibly detailed sculpts and bring ideas to life it absolutely has changed me. I still consider myself new as a miniature painter and attempted to grow but have completely jumped into the hobby space.

Over the course of the last year i’ve learned a lot, grown a lot and have even recently joined the ranks of doing professional 3D printing support work. I am working diligently to bring much of my collective knowledge and reference material to life in a brand new “Printing Section” of the website. This section will contain, how to get started, troubleshooting, FAQ, tools and materials and more.

If you are on the fence of jumping into 3D printing i’d say it is absolutely worth it and there couldn’t be a better time to jump in the hobby. Have questions? Don’t hesitate to ask below as I’m always willing to help in your journey.

Are you working on anything special? Do you print miniatures or are thinking about it? Let me know in the comments.

As always Happy Crafting,
Carrie aka crazmadsci the Crazy Mad Scientist.

Previous Posts