As fun as (actual AC) deploying by aircraft is, there is a limit on how many AC you can take for my BT list... 33% to be specific.
Any deployments beyond that need to be either teleported, deployed at the start of the game as ground forces, or have the Planetfall rule - and of course Drop Pods.
It's fairly safe to assume that i'm in a printing not painting place at the moment.
Over the weekend (and onward) i've printed all the dreadnoughts i needed (4x tactical, 2x hellfire) included a bit of 3d modelling. These turned out 'acceptable'.
Printed the last Thunderhawk (the third, i wanted 3 in the army) which turned out a bit iffy (warped and some 'thin bits') but usable none-the-less.
And thence onto drop pods (DP, DPs DP's... from here on out).
Now, technically you only need 6 of these models for your army. You place them, then unload the troops within 5cm, then shoot etc, then remove them. Next formation rinse and repeat using the same DP models.
What i'm making/going to make is 6x closed-door models, 6x open-door models, 2x oversize closed-door models - dreadnoughts can DP too - and then there's 6 deathstorm DP as well.
Although i had a closed-door model already (from thingiverse - used for previous armies) i wasn't super happy with it, or more to the point i wanted to trace-model it and then use that to make an open-door variant.
Not sure precisely when i got all this done... friday-saturday i think. wasn't overly complex anyway, model 1/5 of the model, copy/paste and rotate 72o five times then cleanup the intersect issues. And i then made the open-door model off of that.
Lots of models/work for something that spends a minute on the table, but that's all part of the fun/process/joy of the hobby.
Over the weekend i was able to get the 6x closed-door models made (still need extra bases) and in general i can print 2 DP per print run.
Each print run (for closed-door) takes about 4 hours - so a full day for the batch
So far i've printed one open-door set (2 models) - they look rad - and that takes somewhere in the 5-6 hour range. Bloody long print by comparison. They're relatively tall but don't use a huge amount of resin so as long as they don't misprint i'm happy.
Will just keep churning out prints at a batch a night and should have the DPs done by end-of-week. yhay!
Feel like i'm really procrastinating with the next infantry prints though :)
Printing Roundup
Turns out that at the moment the base layers of the print are REALLY sticking well to the print face. I have set the first layers to a longer exposure that the default but it seems that the print face might also be 'worn in' or something.
To the point that it was difficult to chip/knock the DP models off. The scraper now has chunks and divots so off to bunnings for a new (metal) one.
Seem to have gotten a handle on rafts and supports for slicing - at least far better than when i started.
My current technique is to put a 0.2mm raft under the model, and also extending the width and length of the raft around the model by 2mm. Then make sure everything on the slicer software connects by these rafts.
Having individual small pieces on the print face seems/seemed to cause more issues than one monolithic print.
the down side is the 0.2mm is added to the bottom which then requires extra clean up... if it's going to show anyway. things like the drop pods which have astrogranite etc basing need not be done.
[Update 20190925]
Something about 'telling a deity your plans'... aka, suggest a piece of machinery is performing admirably and it will sh1t itself.
Went to print some pods last night and got a tonne of memory errors. So frustrating, but at least it happens within 4 layers, so not 4 hours into the print which would truly make me explode with eversor-esque fury.
Printed a set of bases which seemed to 'warm it up' and then it printed some pods. Got up at midnight for cleanup. Only half stuck to the base [rolls eyes so loud you can hear it]
So one was warped rubbish, and the other was more or less fine. Which means i have odd numbers of pods unless i get another failed print...
Entirely the opposite of my previous assessment. Ar$ehole machinery.
This is the 'results table' so far (sans Stormbirds)...
I have no idea why the machine gets the memory errors or what clears them. It's definitely nothing 'physical' and the files obviously print (the first set of 2 printed just fine). Can only assume it's something buggy with the arduino-eq tech running the software. My (mostly pointless) guess is that it might have some kind of memory leak or something that eventually just craps out and instigates a refresh of the machine's memory.
As well as the memory error is also didn't allow me to exit out of the failed job once and i think it also just restarted twice after an error. Not happening consistently enough for me to hit it with a hammer, but it's still early days. The annoying part is (aside from the apparent randomness) is that i know it CAN work fine, as evidenced by the pic above.
[ed: there was a noticeable change in weather temperature around that time too, i.e. got colder.]
In other news i picked up another litre of print juice (orange this time, no maroon and the colour makes no difference as everything is painted).
The prices are loony: may2019 $59, july2019 $120, sep2019 $77
Makes no sense but at least it's a reasonably price this time. Guessing it's end of the shipment and no one wants these colours... which suits me fine obviously.
Based on these resin prices alone it's still probably cheaper to print your own than it is to buy 3rd party models.
[Update 20191001]
The pic above doesn't show it but there's even more pods than that... they were still underway at the time. Anyway done with the pods.
Pulled the proverbial finger out and started printing infantry.
These are for basically Tactical stands (Crusaders in BT parlance)...
The desired goal for this 'batch' is 5 sets of 6 stands (already have 1 set of 6 stands). So have i have 2 to 3 sets done (and also need to do a bunch of missile launcher guys). aka, a bit more to go.
The print results are mixed. not from model to model but from type to type.... so all of one model type will have 'issues'.
Below: the guy on the left is 'good', the guy on the right is 'not bad'.
The difference is that on the 'not bad' guy the magazine is missing from the model.
I have no idea why. The 3d model has it, on the slicer it looks like it's there, but during the print process it's a no-show [shrug].
I'm reasonably sure that my previous prints also had these issues but i kinda overlooked it given there were larger issues to work out at the time.
Fluff-wise i can just write this issue off as 'they have shorter mags that don't extend a long way out of the gun.' done. But there are other similar kinda issues with other models too.
I potentially could chop up some little pieces of plastic and given them mags but that's super fiddly, plus there are a lot of models, plus it adds not that much to the end result (at arms length etc).
Aside from that the model has printed perfectly.
The other, other ones had far less success with the guns. Which is annoying as all other aspects worked fine - auspex and grenade dudes as examples.
I'm also probably going to experiment with adding supports for these particular models and seeing what the result is? Perhaps they just need a support under the bolter. Perhaps there's something dodgy with the bolter on these models... doesn't look like it from the slice though.... confusing.
[Update 20191009]
All printery since last update has been re getting these infantry sticks done.
Below, a visualisation guide, cos numbers work, but why not...
i ended up printing off 'just bolters' as postulated previously. more work, but gets the printed models * 'complete' as much as possible. [* if not the 3d models]
these were then added to the 'a bit shit' models. so i now have 'auspex guys'... 'grenade guys'... 'go this way' pointing sergeant guys... 'stylin one hand aiming' guys... and that's it. ended up with a few more than in the picture, but not that many.
i then went through and add the extra mags to most of the 'not bad' guys too (all but perhaps 10). so the 'not bad's are not 'goods'. worth the effort i think.
then printed a bunch of bases- and the missile guys.
and have everything ready for assembly. needed to chop the models off all the support/raft. which took a while, just with clippers - the brittleness of the resin helped a bit. the final bases are a bit rough but they'll all be covered by astrogranite eventually anyway.
so 4 bags; good, special fixed (sergeants), regular fixed, and missiles. will definite have enough models for the bases now.
[Update 20191010]
On to assembly. Have 2 formations of 6 bases done. all the others have sergeants and missile guys.
The final 3 models added to the stand are often the trickiest. finding models that look good in the various slots.... sometimes chopping the base from the feet and repositioning 'manually'. takes a while to get them presentable. not saying they're all perfect by any means but they're acceptable. Given the number of stands, if one or two stands are a bit 'not so great' then they kinda blend in with the crowd.
[Update 20191011]
Ok, and, done.
had about 20 or so marines left over after all this... not including the ones from previous prints. reasonably happy with the configurations, plenty of variety, nothing too derpy.
bit over infantry for now.
so they're all sitting on this box lid and i thinks to myself, 'probably should bag and box those so they're out of harm's way'. great idea, however as i lifted the tray it snagged and spilled sticks everywhere. now, resin may be many things... but shatterproof it isn't. the emperor was looking after these brave warriors however and only 3 sticks had dudes snap off. was a relatively painless fix.
To the paint table...
The first of the new prints have made it to the paint table.
One set of rhinos, the vindicators and the dreadnoughts for starters. So far 2 coats of null oil. Next dry brush light grey, then leadbealcher and onward.
Also started green stuffing the landers and thunderhawk. Pushed some solid green stuff into the bigger gaps on the landers, then for all models brushed some liquid green stuff into the lesser gaps. Another couple of rounds of liquid filler will be required.
Next for these will be some scraping, sculpting and sanding to clean up the surfaces and get things presentable.
Until next time...
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