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Stirring the internet to find cheap guard proxies because poor man with luxury hobby, wondered if buying stuff off etsy was an ok or if people would advise against?

Etsy is a marketplace where people can sell their stuff, and (IMHO) most of it is crap. (Reddit thread about issues buying resin models - I bought a print from Etsy, and it's leaking liquid resin.)

Have you looked at Wargames Atlantic for guard proxies?

I've purchased a few minis from Etsy over the last year or two, and they have ranged from really good to good.

Like any online, basically sight unseen purchase, you need to read reviews of the Etsy store, look at user uploaded images of the figures, pay attention to where they're shipping from, etc. Basically, do your due diligence.

I only had one Etsy store completely not ship my order, and Paypal sorted that out easily enough.

I don't know if I'd go all in on a guard force (i.e. dozens and dozens of models) from an Etsy, but for the odd figure or two, sure.

I second beast_gs and also suggest Wargames Atlantic as a good source of reasonably priced minis that make good guard proxies.

To specify, I was specifically going for stuff like howitzers and "modernist" looking proxies.

I'll check wargame Atlantic though hoping the customs tax won't cost me triple the box

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
Stirring the internet to find cheap guard proxies because poor man with luxury hobby, wondered if buying stuff off etsy was an ok or if people would advise against?

Quality will depend upon who you buy from....
I'd suggest that if you see something you like? Order 1 piece. If you like the quality, then order more.

I buy bases and random heads off of etsy. I haven't had any problems. Just look at the sellers and check the buyers responses (and photographs).

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
To specify, I was specifically going for stuff like howitzers and "modernist" looking proxies.

I'll check wargame Atlantic though hoping the customs tax won't cost me triple the box

They ship IOSS in the EU or you can grab them from any EU webstore like kutami.de

I've bought a lot of resin minis off Etsy over the last 4 months. The quality varies by seller. One set of resins are too brittle for wargaming and a little low resolution, while another are absolutely fantastic and now some of my favorite miniatures.

Importantly for me, I can get fantasy miniatures scaled how I like them, so they better match my collection. Most of the fantasy manufacturers decided to go for 28mm scale ranging from near chibi proportions (Frostgrave, some Oathmark) to more true scale (Wargames Atlantic, some Oathmark), whereas most of my collection is more 32mm true scale ASOIAF miniatures.

I plan to buy more in the future.

ccs wrote:

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
Stirring the internet to find cheap guard proxies because poor man with luxury hobby, wondered if buying stuff off etsy was an ok or if people would advise against?

Quality will depend upon who you buy from....
I'd suggest that if you see something you like? Order 1 piece. If you like the quality, then order more.

This would be my advice too. You can read reviews from other purchasers from the seller.
I have had some really good experiences with Etsy and got minis that are otherwise unobtainable to someone without a printer. I've bought everything from large scale monsters to Epic scale stuff.

Also check the country of origin (Etsy sometimes adds absolutely insane postage costs)

Etsy is just a marketplace for individual, small crafters/sellers.

The vast majority of miniatures on Etsy are from small-time 3D printers with a merchant license for another creator's digital sculpts.

As such, the quality of 3d-printed miniatures bought from Etsy will be wholly dependent on the seller's 3D-printing skill, care, and experience.

I've also had good luck buying miniatures on Etsy.

The bigger sellers will usually have extensive feedback and pictures from buyers. Go with those sellers.

I ran an Etsy store for a period for 3d minis. What you need to bear in mind is that:

a) Most print farms are people knocking out a few extra minis in the back room with the appropriate variation in commitment to quality that entails, and
b) The cheapest vendor is almost invariably always skimping on some part of the process.

If a seller ever sends you anything partially cured or still on supports, they're a cowboy and you should avoid them. There are a number of big sellers on there who do this and have rave reviews in their feedback because most people do not realise they are receiving dangerous/toxic and partially manufactured goods - as well as ones geared to make the buyer responsible for breakages.

The reason many vendors send product like that is because clipping models off supports and curing them is the real hard physical work of manufacturing 3d models. It takes lots of extra time, inevitably results in a small percentage of breakage/wastage (complicating one print one order), and ends up mixing pieces from different orders together (meaning more time to sort). From their perspective, even worse is that if they haven't supported a model well/dialled in their settings (all of which add more time investment for the maker), it will now be covered in pockmarks. Whereas when you post it on supports for the buyer to remove, you can blame the buyer for damaging the model when it has the pockmarks/damage, and refuse responsibility.

I personally found that printing anything bigger than an Ogryn wasn't profitable because people weren't willing to pay what it cost for professional preparation. You find this a lot with vendors - the cheapo crappy lazy ones hang on and often rack up big feedbacks because they're doing minimal preparation to cut costs - whereas people who do it properly find the margins sufficiently tight due to the extra time/resources required to not be worth the hassle. If you can find a quality focused one at the right point, you can get some great stuff, but there's a lot of churn and burn amongst people who do it properly as well as the cowboys.

I'd disagree about supports.

More work for sure, but if you're willing to clip supports for a lower price as I am, it certainly is worth it.

Uncured resin is of course a deal breaker and toxic.

 Eilif wrote:
I'd disagree about supports.

More work for sure, but if you're willing to clip supports for a lower price as I am, it certainly is worth it.

Uncured resin is of course a deal breaker and toxic.

This is wrong, I'm afraid. Supports must be removed before curing, not after, if you want a quality product. Usually in between a two stage wash (another essential step the churn and burn low quality printers often skip, leaving white flecks and IPA residue/resin sludge to interfere with curing). Why?

1) Because you cannot properly cure a model on supports. If you look at wash and cure machines, all modern ones have a light underneath the turntable for a reason. To properly cure a model requires a 360 degree light application - which you cannot achieve if there are still supports or rafts attached. So all models received with supports still on will still have pinpoint areas with uncured resin where the light was blocked by the supports.

2) Mostly cured supports attached to mostly cured models leave a much deeper indent/pockmark when removed. Being willing to clip or not isn't the issue - the result is a lower quality product with more damage after support removal.

You will always be able to find the extremely odd exception to what I have written above depending on the specific item printed - but 98% of the time it will apply. Someone may well be content to have a lower quality product for a cheaper price - people still buy forgeworld despite its variable quality output - but I would not be willing to take a 20% discount for a variable quality (and potentially unsafe) product.

 Ketara wrote:

 Eilif wrote:
I'd disagree about supports.

More work for sure, but if you're willing to clip supports for a lower price as I am, it certainly is worth it.

Uncured resin is of course a deal breaker and toxic.

This is wrong, I'm afraid. Supports must be removed before curing, not after, if you want a quality product. Usually in between a two stage wash (another essential step the churn and burn low quality printers often skip, leaving white flecks and IPA residue/resin sludge to interfere with curing). Why?

1) Because you cannot properly cure a model on supports. If you look at wash and cure machines, all modern ones have a light underneath the turntable for a reason. To properly cure a model requires a 360 degree light application - which you cannot achieve if there are still supports or rafts attached. So all models received with supports still on will still have pinpoint areas with uncured resin where the light was blocked by the supports.

2) Mostly cured supports attached to mostly cured models leave a much deeper indent/pockmark when removed. Being willing to clip or not isn't the issue - the result is a lower quality product with more damage after support removal.

You will always be able to find the extremely odd exception to what I have written above depending on the specific item printed - but 98% of the time it will apply. Someone may well be content to have a lower quality product for a cheaper price - people still buy forgeworld despite its variable quality output - but I would not be willing to take a 20% discount for a variable quality (and potentially unsafe) product.

Good to know. Thanks!

If I have models purchased with support. Should I set them in the sun for a while after trimming just to be safe?

IF the surface of the model feels tacky or there is any smell from the model - let it go sit in the sun and get blasted by UV light.


I know one or two have custom-made their own supports that are like a sprue to aid transporting of models safely. I've seen some do that on limited things like thin parts - but by and large outside of those specific examples models should come without any presupports on them at all (though you might well get a few model-to-model ones here and there that need cleaning off).

Honestly a creator not removing supports is just being lazy at some stage of the development (or multiple). A properly calibrated printing setup and supported model should just peel off the supports once printed so it should take them moments.