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That Leviathan is awesome. Can't wait to see it with some yellow on it.

Your yellow color scheme looks great on those dreads, still hard to believe they are 3d prints. Keep working on that gray pile of shame. ;-P

Thanks Guys

Unfortunately my return was poorly planned. I thought I was going to have so much more free time . Right now I get about 30 minutes if I am lucky which is just enough to remove the print from the printer, get it into a bath and run it for 10minutes, clean the build plate and start the next print while I move the washed prints onto the curing platform and start it up. Great for production, bad for overall hobby joy as the pile continues to grow.

So waking up at 2 am I tried to find a .stl file and I fell into a treasure trove of goodness. The next 2 hours were filled with frantic downloading of files before they disappear forever to the banestick of GW lawyers. It took 2 hours because my system is so old and I need to do some system clean up and delete old files and Organize. I should slap myself for thinking the extended weekend (Happy Break away from our English Overlords weekend, which coincides with the anniversary of my birth ) will give me any time. We have my daughters Highschool graduation party Saturday after my work at church, then I am sure a weekend of explosions and BBQ will be following that.

The computer cleanup will need to happen soon so I can cut up LARGER prints, as the tracks for a certain tank do not fit on my buildplate currently. The hull printed last night, my first completely full buildplate, The hull maxed out the height of printing and I will have to patch the back of the tank to make it look like it wasn't directly on the buildplate. The hull did have one bad spot on it, not sure what caused it, but all I can call it is a gash across the side. should be easy to disguise.

What tank you may ask? Well that would be an Unwell Karen

Edit: got home andthe lid for the photon was ajar, so the print didn’t start . Anyway, the second Unwell Karen will wait a while. I started on the punisher turret just now. Here’s the first Hull with the damage I was saying.

Have you ever had that time in hobby I gotta when you spend 4 hours trying to figure something out and then in your frustration you throw something and hit an object that will solve your problem? I can now say that I have.

I wasted some valuable time last night trying to figure out how to split the .stl file for the sicaran tracks. Downloaded two different programs and used the two I already had to try and do something to print these on the AnyCubic. I got so frustrated that I threw a pen I had to write stuff down with and it hit the Ender3 at the corner of the desk . The treads are not that detailed and the print bed will allow me to actually print both sets of tracks instead of only half of one side. Sometimes I get on one track and just wont move from it even with a train barreling down on me.

Anyway, the tracks for the Unwell Karen will be done tomorrow morning and I’ll immediately start a second set.

In the mean time, the legion continues to grow.

 Theophony wrote:
Have you ever had that time in hobby I gotta when you spend 4 hours trying to figure something out and then in your frustration you throw something and hit an object that will solve your problem?

No, I cannot say that I have Theo.

I think I should recommend a full nights sleep after your daughter's party, so you can celebrate your birthday and independence day with a clear head and perhaps avoid some of that frustration...just a thought.

CB

 Captain Brown wrote:

 Theophony wrote:
Have you ever had that time in hobby I gotta when you spend 4 hours trying to figure something out and then in your frustration you throw something and hit an object that will solve your problem?

No, I cannot say that I have Theo.

I think I should recommend a full nights sleep after your daughter's party, so you can celebrate your birthday and independence day with a clear head and perhaps avoid some of that frustration...just a thought.

CB

Well last night I only got about 2.5 hours of sleep due to indigestion, so a good night sleep tonight is called for. Of course fireworks started a few days ago since....Americans like to blow up, so probably won’t have too much rest tonight.

Tomorrow is more work at church and then an afternoon of celebration and bbq. I am off Monday, the hospital knows people will be recovering from late night festivities, so it’s a holiday. Christian hospital that doesn’t celebrate Easter, but does celebrate 4th of July . It will allow me to sleep in on Monday too.

Not sure if 24 guys count as a wall or not, but another Contemptor May tip the balance.


Also first set of tracks printed on the Ender for my pair of Sicairins.

Thinking about why the splits happened on the resin bodies, I believe it was suction by not having vent holes higher up on the prints. If/when I print another resin larger model I will need to leave air gaps to prevent those. You can’t see the gaps on this one as it is.

Next to the tank you will see my newest dilemma. I was printing some gun arms and things went bad . I had just filled the vat before this and by he time I noticed it had all been turned into a block of resin. I will delete and remake this file later just Incase it is corrupted, but there is some damage to the FEP, I have new ones on order, they will be in Thursday.

Trying a new paint style/scheme for the fist, test subjects.

Well that's certainly big and chunky. I'm very impressed with your results on the ender, also.

Ouch, that block of resin must hurt! Amazing progress on mustering the Legion though, that takes discipline I definitely don't have! I'd do a print of torsos and legs, then get Oooh Shiny syndrome and print, I dunno, a dragon, a bust and a small horde of goblins before realising I had a bunch of half-finished armless marines

That yellow is looking really solid. What's your process?

inmygravenimage wrote:Well that's certainly big and chunky. I'm very impressed with your results on the ender, also.

I should redo the tracks at a higher resolution as I can see layer lines , and I just got home from fireworks to realize the Ender ran out of filament during the 17hour print, so starting He second set of track over again . I’m wasting big chunks of lots of stuff.

Paradigm wrote:Ouch, that block of resin must hurt! Amazing progress on mustering the Legion though, that takes discipline I definitely don't have! I'd do a print of torsos and legs, then get Oooh Shiny syndrome and print, I dunno, a dragon, a bust and a small horde of goblins before realising I had a bunch of half-finished armless marines

That yellow is looking really solid. What's your process?

That’s where I’m at right now, mostly armless marines and I’m still looking for MkIII backpacks and helmets. I do wind up switching back and forth a lot, even chapters, but I stopped my Asian prints to do marines and I had ave some more Necron things to do as well. I definitely need another printer .

So before I left I assembled another contemptor, and added a boarding shield and Phobos bolter and arms to one of the bodies.

I found a file of Dorn, so starting him now.

This most recent yellow is something I saw on YouTube. Prime white, agrax earthshade the joints and rivets. Casandora yellow everywhere you want yellow. Paint the rest as you would normally, though on the dread I used basilicum grey for the metals aethermatic blue for the volkite and plasma and black Templar for the helmet and fist emblem. The yellows need a second layer of casandora yellow. The mkiii suit had two layers of the yellow and looks better in my eyes. I then drybrushed the yellow with hexos palesun. It was actually really simple, I’ll see how it looks on the tank next most likely.

Those are all looking fantastic. Some hefty resin usage there!

Oh I am wasting more resin than getting actual use out of it . I printed a squad of MKII marines, but they are small, even to old rogue trader beaky marine standards. Also printed Rogal Dorn twice, but between super heavy amounts of supports and him also being smaller than a marine and really delicate parts breaking off I'll have to print another one.

The Ender has finished the second set of tracks this morning and is attempting to print a body of a third Sicarin tank. I need to clear my head and realize I can do hybrid kits with all the big things being in FDM and the smaller parts being in Resin to grab details better.

A good trick for scaling minis in the slicer is to grab the .stl of something you've already done and load it into the build plate next to your new prints. It might not be too precise, but I find that at least being able to eyeball the file in the slicer and have a printed version of it in hand at the same time alerts you to any major scale discrepancies ahead of a print. You can also just load in a rule, base or even a 1" cube for rough estimates.

For more geometric stuff like Marines, it might be worth grabbing a cheap set of calipers if you don't have any, that'll give you very precise measurements of some actual Marine minis to scale the prints to.There is also the rabbit hole of using the scalability of digital files to fix Marine proportions a bit, but that's a whole other thing and probably not ideal for building a full army.

Just don't do what I did the other day and mix up size in mm and %, leaving one of my DnD players with a 4' mini for their 6'5" hobgoblin fighter! Reminded me of the very squat Wolverine you'd see in old comics actually!

 Paradigm wrote:
A good trick for scaling minis in the slicer is to grab the .stl of something you've already done and load it into the build plate next to your new prints. It might not be too precise, but I find that at least being able to eyeball the file in the slicer and have a printed version of it in hand at the same time alerts you to any major scale discrepancies ahead of a print. You can also just load in a rule, base or even a 1" cube for rough estimates.

For more geometric stuff like Marines, it might be worth grabbing a cheap set of calipers if you don't have any, that'll give you very precise measurements of some actual Marine minis to scale the prints to.There is also the rabbit hole of using the scalability of digital files to fix Marine proportions a bit, but that's a whole other thing and probably not ideal for building a full army.

Just don't do what I did the other day and mix up size in mm and %, leaving one of my DnD players with a 4' mini for their 6'5" hobgoblin fighter! Reminded me of the very squat Wolverine you'd see in old comics actually!

. Well Dorn I just figured would be the correct size of a primarch and didn't even bother to adjust him. Then the second time I made him 1/3 larger which I think was too much, but the supports accidentally got switched to heavy thickness which integrated itself into the print . I started a third try this morning at 25% larger with smaller supports only to have the system crash on me when it was slicing .

I walked away before things got broke.

The problem I am having is more that I am rushing everything, and not watching what I am doing. I need to slow my role and do it right the first (fifth) time.

Frustrated by lack of time. I’m giving up on Dorn for now, too many issues with the file, the fine details are still too fine and snap off when you look at them, and there are straight up lines throughout that cause problems and don’t get me started on the cape .

Did a little painting, not much progress.

It’s actually brighter than what it looks like here, Go Go Nuclear Yellow.


Also found a set of files for a certain Primaris Super Heavy.

It will join nicely with the tank Battalion that is forming slowly.

That's impressive indeed. Makes my little treadhead heart sing.

Theophony,

That boarding shield would be great for Arbites in Necromunda.

Yes, doing one large print or two at the start of a new batch of filament...then shifting to smaller models later would prevent the failures of a large model in progress.

My two cents,

CB

The boarding shields are great, I just have to reposition them next time on the buildplate so the Aquila symbol doesn’t get supports on them .

If those tanks make your heart flutter, you better tell the wife to get the paddles ready.... the other ones .


The Astreaus is coming along, a little set back with the second side, I think it needed at least one more punch hole in it a second I believe the damage was caused by suction/ full contents of resin weight.

Would make some nice battle damage, or terrain.

Also I got a bit of painting done on the contemptuous one.

Not sure how I feel about the brass/gold, it’s just agross dunes contrast over the yellow. It might get redone in actual gold later.

Real curious to see how the Astraeus ends up looking. Especially since I have a 3D printer of my own now. Not sure the buildplate on mine is big enough for those pieces, though.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
Real curious to see how the Astraeus ends up looking. Especially since I have a 3D printer of my own now. Not sure the buildplate on mine is big enough for those pieces, though.

This file was optimized for my Photon Mono, not the biggest buildplate ever, but not tiny either. Which machine do you own?

Also, not sure how much time I have left. My free time is very minimal, and though my kids are slightly more self reliant with driving and stuff, family time is eating everything up. OVer the last two weeks We have had multiple family medical scares with my sister having been diagnosed with Cancer (caught it quick, but still surgery and radiation to follow soon), brother hospitalized on my birthday and the following week, and my Sister (The one just diagnosed) having to put her father-in-law on hospice after a massive stroke and heart attack. I will probably be bowing out of Dakka for some time, just feel bad when I cannot come and post responses to every ones updates.

Lurking just seems to be what I need to do right now.

Take the time for yourself brother. Dakka endures. Stay well and look after the fam.

 Theophony wrote:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
Real curious to see how the Astraeus ends up looking. Especially since I have a 3D printer of my own now. Not sure the buildplate on mine is big enough for those pieces, though.

This file was optimized for my Photon Mono, not the biggest buildplate ever, but not tiny either. Which machine do you own?

My printer is a Photon S. Not sure how it compares to others as it was a gift rather than something I purchased, but I'm pretty sure it's on the smaller side.

And on your RL stuff, just remember that family comes first. We'll all be here whenever you're able to come back. I'll keep your family in my prayers.

I like the work I'm seeing here- knew getting into 3d printing I'd want a resin printer one day specifically for figures, you're acting as the recon scout/sniper finding out- and more importantly, publishing- what works and what doesn't for the rest of us. The resin and filament expended in getting better means you'll be more efficient and cost-thrifty down the road.

Very sorry to hear of the troubles for you and yours, it truly makes my own small difficulties seem that much more minor. I wish the best for all of you and that your Higher Power as you define them takes a special interest in healing.

I know the 'spinning up' feeling of trying to get a print running right, so I can slice the next file, so I can just get a little painting in and 'Yes dear, I'll take the trash out right now'..... I had to stop trying to run prints for a week- just fiddle with painting, to get my heart rate back down. Your work is coming along beautifully and there's no need to rush.

As others have said, please don't worry about responding to every message or even logging in to Dakkadakka every day to check- do what's needful, then if there's time what's nice. You're one of my oldest friends here and I gain strength for my own hobby woes from your enthusiasm and talent for the art.

We'll see ya when we see ya!

Take care of yourself and your family before feeding our voracious appetite to see your printer habit!

Yeah, we'll be here when you get back. Real Life comes first!

--B.

Thanks guys,

A half hour after making the last post in here, my brother (recently out of the hospital), took his wife to the ER. Gallbladder , kept overnight to calm it down, put on a really restrictive diet to reduce the liver over the next week, and scheduled for surgery this coming week.

I will be going dim, if not completely dark for some time. Son has Volleyball training over the next couple weeks and his twin sister is in a lacrosse tournament this weekend (3rd place as of now with at least one game today possibly a second) and then a tournament Thursday thru Sunday this coming week up in Chicago, if it’s not cancelled due to the surge of Covid cases and Chicago locking down anyone from my state who comes for a visit who doesn’t have their shots. We all have ours.

Stay safe everyone.

Another quick drop and dash. Hectic life is Hectic . Lack of sleep gives me a little time to paint at 3am though .

I bought the Dominion box set as I really like the look of the newer Stormcast Eternals over the older ones. I still hate the heads, so all of them will be either no helmet or they will have this style helmet on them, which I have 3d printed at home.


I hate posting images from a desktop as it always blows it up so far that I can see details (banner) that I have no way to fix because my eyes don't see them in real life.

The marines are looking great. Nice and cozy yellow. That banner is also coming along nicely.

Like that colour scheme a lot, between that and the helmet it's got a real feeling of continuity with Old World Imperial stuff. Less 'Sigmarine' and more traditionally Warhamer. Nice shiny armour as well.

 Theophony wrote:

I hate posting images from a desktop as it always blows it up so far that I can see details (banner) that I have no way to fix because my eyes don't see them in real life.

Yeah, I have the same issuse, which is why I so rarely post pics these days outside of the monthly challenge. I keep teling myself that realistically, no one is going,to notice one errant splodge of colour or visible layer transition when they're just browsing for photos of cool minis, but I always find it really knocks my confidence when I spot stuff like that, especially since my vision went to crap. Not exactly words of encouragement, I suppose, but you're not suffering this woe alone!

Good to see you in the groove, albeit briefly, and these helms are ace