Experiments in 6mm (3d printing)

[robh]

These are taller and thicker than the models seen painted in the picture above by about 25%

Scale creep

Looks good, Single ranks also neatly solves the advanced/deployed skirmishers issue.
Are they all now flat backed for labels or have you reverted to fully round figures?

[Forwardmarchstudio]

Hi Robh,

No, the ones on the rack are in 3d, as it were.  The labled ones were for a specific game idea I had.  The ones I just posted about are for general purpose game play.  I'm going to order a copy of these baseless, sprued models, and if they work I'll remove all the other versions with bases.  These are simply superior.

[robh]

Did you get a test print of this set? Has it worked as you wanted?

Really interested to see how you are getting on with this idea.

[Forwardmarchstudio]

Hi Rob-

I just got the figures in today.  They were waiting for me when I got back from a final exam.  I did some quick painting but I'm sort of beat, so here is what I managed:



Actually, I only painted a few of these tonight, as I'm pretty tired; included are some of my older, original 2mm stuff for comparison, as well as some of the more recent prints. The 6mm stuff came out a bit too vague and muddled, and for the price it isn't really comparable to Baccus, or even O8s. The new, bigger, essentially 3mm stuff is located in the middle, with a flag. That model actually worked out very well.  It has a head, and bayonets.  It's a nice little block of troops that you could glue to a base and flock, or play with it directly on glass, which was my plan.  The only thing that was not cool about that model was getting it off the 2mm square sprue.  That sucked...you basically need a razor saw... which is not a very specialized piece of gear, and I have one in storage somewhere, but yeah... I wasn't going to keep messing around with it.  Plus, you'll notice that I had some issues with attaching the sprues to the block as well.  That said, I don't think its a bad looking model, and the standard pole printed up nicely, which made sticking a flag on it much easier.  I cancelled the FDM version of that print pending my seeing the SLS one; a guy told me he was positive that he could print out that block (and the cavalry and arty that go with it) for a very low fee... like a few pennies for a 40mm block. I need to get back to him about trying that out, because I actually do like the look of that block.  Talking prices; on Shapeways (9) of those blocks 40mm wide would cost about $6.50.  The block in this picture is 20mm.  Which is probably more than I'd personally be willing to pay.  But in FDM, from the estimates I'm getting, For $50 you could print out over (500) of those 40mm blocks.  That's more than enough to represent, say, every battalion on both sides of the biggest Napoleonic battles.  You could then add in the artillery, cavalry, officers, etc, which wouldn't be in the same price range.  That would bring my project back to the original concept; huge 2mm models, printed on demand, at a low price.  And like I said, I would sell the model files only, and then the owner would be free to go and find someone to print them.  I just need to verify first that they'll print up ok on some readily available POD FDM service. 

That guy is now working on my most recent experiment, and the most ambitious,the baseless infantry figures on big sprues. that way you can spray them on the sprue, paint them on the sprue, then cut them off and base them in however may ranks you want. If he can get that model to work on FDM I'm going to just hang the infantry, cavalry, arty/train and officer files, along with my buildings, on a website for something like $20, and let people print as many as they want.  I might include my original 2mm stuff as well, the stuff that Shapeways will let you order for personal use but won't sell because the prints don't always come off.

...at which point I bow out of 3d design entirely.  It's been fun, but its also getting a bit (a lot) pricey and there are other scales that I enjoy, too.  Like 3mm.  At this point, I would have to sell a LOT of 3d printed miniatures to make back what I've invested in iterating these guys, so its sort of now or never on these.  Like I said, I think that I have some winners on FDM right now, but after that I'm probably done with trying to create 3d models for general sales, and will just print out my original 2mm stuff (which includes the really tiny cavalry in the picture- those are the only true 2mm figures in the picture, for what its worth).

Also, I like the idea of getting this to work without Shapeways making any money off of it in the future.  Frankly, I sort of hate Shapeways.  They're extremely difficult to work with...

I may also go back to these guys:

http://forwardmarchminiatures.blogspot.com/2017/08/hack-for-forward-march-studios-infantry.html

A nice little Zen project... and totally compatible with my original 2mm cavalry, artillery and officers. 

[robh]

Hope the exam went well, good luck.

The new bigger little guys turned out very well and really look the part, but are obviously a very different proposition to the original concept you started with. I am sure they will make a really impressive looking army and be less daunting for people to paint.

The 6mm guys came out as I expected, kind of cute in a wooden toy soldier style and would look great cleverly painted, but you are right, best left as an experiment.

I was wondering if you had given up on the Renoir strips, interesting project, for the size probably most visually accurate of them all. Just need to roughen the too flat horizontal upper line a little.
I did try doing similar with a much reduced paper print of Junior General stuff but they were too small to handle and I did wonder about using the ribbed plasticard which drybrushes well but that comes in sheets so would require cutting each piece individually. Your approach is the most practical.