Epic - New Templars - pt7 - Are we there yet?

[original draft: 2019-10-15]

Have been cranking out prints like the end is in sight (oh when oh when will the end be in sight?!)

With the infantry complete i've been alternating prints for other people and prints for myself.;aka getting stuff out of the way.


For others i've done...

- a set of nephilims (aircraft)

these turned out great on the top and slop underneath. only one model (bottom right in pic) actually printed correctly out of four. the other 3 had underneath print issues. however, the guy i'm  printing them for is extremely talented with modelling and painting and will be able to hobby them into submission. wasn't looking forward to more 5 hour prints for probably semi-failed results.   The printer really doesn't like underhang... and these guys are 50% underhang.


- a big ol' herd of biovores (tyranid artillery)

20 of these little critters. 1 per 20mm base. relatively high detail which actually shows and will look great painted up. no printing mayhaps except from a slew of memory issues (yet again *).


- and a set of knight accessories (canons/missiles)

these look really small but given they're going on knights not titans they might be ok.

* the memory issues seem to arise when the memory stick is hot-swapped. turning the power off at the wall, rather than just the switch on the box seems to help reset things too. the more complex the model the more likely an issue too (maybe). also seating when plugged in may affect it (maybe). once a model is demonstrated to actual work it's almost mandatory to keep churning that model til you're done for risk of memory issues.


- [update - 20191029] and a bunch of BFG chaos ordinance marker ships for someone else...

turned out ok with minimal effort. run out of maroon and onto orange.
the dreadclaws  didn't really print 'correctly'. the little claws aren't actually attached to the body and are only held in place by the supports. however it's perfectly possible to pull them off the supports and glue them together... just more work.


For myself i've done...

- land speeders
[PIC HERE]

2 sets of 5. these turned out great. a bit of remodelling just to zuzsh them up a bit. not everything showed up (too fine a detail) but looks better than the old ones. now has a multi-melta instead of a heavy bolter.   will be using the clear acrylic rod to mount them rather than printed sticks or wire.   only one tiny print error which was the little 'wing' at the back misprinted (thin) on 1:5 models, but nothing i can resolved with a smear of green-stuff - 4 of 5 printed perfect which is a massive win.


- bikes
[PIC HERE]

2 sets of six. printed great. did a little remodelling just because. also made a sergeant with a chainsword as a variant.     printed a bunch of 20x20 bases for the bikes and land speeders.    haven't done attack bikes for the bike formations yet.  probably should start on a model at some stage but pretty uninspired for that project.


- sword brethren

remodelled some low-poly models with chainswords and bolt pistols. haven't quite finished printing all these yet. the bolt pistols had the now-standard magazine issues. will print some separate ones and glue them up.     might remodel some of the extras to form the chaplain stands i also need to do. have plenty of bolters/missiles for those as well.

need a bunch more bases once the models are done printing.


[update]
turns out i had enough bases floating around for these guys. printed a whole bunch of bolt pistols too. have started adding them on but gonna take a while. pretty much every model needs doing. to that's 120 models. eeish! 

there is a spare stand of models and a spare (kinda) stand of bolt pistols too (misprinted). only 4 of the blocks are required for the 2 formations.

i was lucky to get these done as there was a small (but growing) rip on the FEP (the clear plastic sheet that forms the bottom of the vat).
on the very last print it compromised a bit and leaked a bit but not everywhere.   had to clean the projection screen which took a while but need to be gentle with the (assuming it's) glass. lots of iso and gentle scraping and it's clean as. 

also replaced the FEP while i was there, got a pack of 5 or so a while back and i think this is the second replacement.

turns out that marks and creases etc on the plastic don't make a huge impact on the print quality. there was quite an abrasion 'smear' in the middle of the plastic sheet and it didn't muck up the actual print model at all. so don't need to replace just because it's scuffed.


[update]
During assembly...

And done. Two formations of sword brethren.

i'm reasonably happy with the end result and will NEVER make these again. replacing 120 tiny bolt pistols is tiresome to the extreme.

the models are very fragile. lots of thinner parts. dropping one is almost guaranteed to shatter off a something (thank bob for the spare prints... always make spare prints).  a sheath of paint should make them a little more resilient, not that i'm expecting to be juggling with them or anything.

This leaves to be printed/assembled for this project:
- 24 stands of neophytes (yeaach, more fiddly crap)
- 18 stormravens
- 1 strike cruiser
- 3 chaplains
- 4 attack bikes

the maroon resin is now gone except for a small dribble, so onto my bottle of orange, see how that goes. should have more than enough to finish off the BT project.

[update - 20191023]
chaplains assembled from left overs.

They're not getting printed skull helmets, will jsut paint them white and black dot the eyes. 

and finally...
from the painting desk, progress is definitely being made on the earlier prints. 

Am onto the second layer of astrogranite, so the end is in sight for these guys. next couple of days should see them complete complete.   will be nice to have them boxed away. still need to come up with a storage solution for this growing army.

my clear acrylic sticks of AC/skimmer bases has arrived so can start work on painting/finishing those pieces now too. 

Until next time...