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First foray into 3D printed figures - a zombie dwarf
To compliment my Norse 'tribe' for Palaeo Diet, I wanted to pick up a draugr (undead warrior) as a tabletop predator - I will use the 'Mummy' profile to make him truly terrifying for my hunter adventurers. As my Norsemen are actually Viking dwarfs from Macrocosm, naturally, I needed a zombie dwarf as my draugr.
Looking around, I found this splendidly computer rendered chap at the Secret Cat Shop. The detail was amazing and I figured that as a one-off purchase, I could overlook the rather high price tag - £5 for a single miniature would normally make me cry a little on the inside. I also thought it would be a neat way to purchase my first 3D printed figure (printed by the manufacturer and posted to me, not a file to be printed by me).
Sadly, reality didn't quite equal my expectations. I'm not sure if it just shows my total inexperience with the new technology, but the figure that arrived showed far, far less detail than the render advertised on the website. In fact, it reminded very much of the old Matchbox Monster-in-My-Pocket, if any other child of the 80s remembers them.
Painted up he looks OK, and the figure is definitely serviceable, but I can't help feeling that for the price tag I'm feeling a tad underwhelmed.
To rub salt in the ol' disappointment, he's also kind of huge. The top of his head comes up to the eyes of a Wargames Foundry viking, and they are large 28mm figures. Above you can see (from left to right) a Macrocosm dwarf, Secret Cat Shop zombie dwarf, WF viking and Copplestone yeti for scale comparisons.
TBH, I`m tinkering for a few months now as well with a printer (PLA one), until you mastered the tricksies, head to either Thingiverse, or to user MZ4250 on Shapeways, for a lot of free stuff to practice on.
ReplyDeleteSo far, as i`m still all thumbs on the printing level, that's what I am doing
I suspect that is good advice, but this figure was printed and sent by the manufacturer. I would be less disappointed if I'd bought a file and printed it myself, as I'd then be able to try printing again.
DeleteIt can sometimes be a bit of a lottery, I have seen some amazing figures 3D printed, and I have seen some epic failures as well. I have printed several 28mm figures with both my PLA printers and the results have been more than acceptable, but not what I would call commercial standard.
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