What is the "economy" of resin figure printing?

[brasidas19004]

Long ago, in the last century, when things were fairly predictable and made sense...
- metal figures [varying compositions of metal] were sculpted, molded and sold, and were the most economical way to make figures.
- plastic figures developed as a low-cost supplement to metal figs. Altho the start-up cost was high, you could then get back your money by selling loads of them at a substantially reduced price. Prime example is GW WHF with front rank being lovely amazingly sculpted metals, and the back ranks [the cast of thousands] filling in as uni-pose plastics.

Today, there are still metal sculpts. For limited production, it still seems economical in a fashion.

Plastics have hugely expanded, including multi-pose which lends itself to creative gamers, especially for skirmish games where the poses help differentiate the figs.

Resin figs seem to be neither inexpensive substitutes for metal figs, nor solid and durable metal sculpts.
Yet, the sculpting detail is impressive, and there has been very little cleanup required of the ones I've gotten.  However, they are not a bargain.

In my encounters with the printing market, it seems that the printing / mailing seems to be the largest expense, and the resin to cost 'nearly nothing'.  I've had printers send me multiple copies of figs, resize and remail them to me when the size was off, and otherwise give indications that the figure itself is of very little value, contrasted with metal for example.

So with prices of resin sculpts hanging around $4 a fig, and GW knock-offs sometimes costing as much or more than the original GW figs, and resin not being competitive with mass-produced plastic sprues [should the figure you desire be made in plastic boxes] where is this all going for the consumer?

I'm seeing the hobby costing the same or more, with a wonderful increase in options and variety.  To create an army for a "massed game" it still seems like a metal front rank with plastic 2-4th ranks is economical. The main area of "price reduction" seems to be the growth of small figure count skirmish games where 10-20 figs is about all you'll ever need.

Anyone have some well-informed thoughts on all this?

[Elbows]

I think 3D prints can be economical if you own the printer and have it squared away (it is a hobby in itself)...and once you surpass the money you spent on your machinery, your washing station, your UV curing turntable, etc.  I chuckle when people say 'I print my stuff for free!'...yes, but only once you've paid off whatever initial investment you made.

Buying from 3D printers is still the wild west from what I have experienced.  My experiences on Etsy/eBay have been mixed, while mostly decent.  I recently acquired a 3D printed full army at around $2 a mini.  So, more than some good plastics like Victrix, but a quarter of what GW would charge for similar stuff.  Now these happen to be the best printed stuff I've ever acquired, shipped and packaged well, made on a printer that is very squared away with good resolution.  This has been a bit of the exception to the rule.

My other good 3D purchases are - as you say - similar to the cost of an equivalent plastic or metal miniature.  So, it simply offers variety.

For things like 15mm WW2...I see zero point in trying to buy commonly available products (your basic tanks, etc.)...but I have been fortunate to find STL's for weird agent support units, trucks, tractors, etc.  That is where I think 3D printing really shines - the availability of stuff that doesn't likely make financial sense for a company to produce in another form.  Even if I owned a 3D printer, I wouldn't print basic Panzer IV's when I can get them cheap from Flames of War starter boxes in wonderful plastic, etc.

The only 'advantage' I see from a 3D/STL market is competition.  You can find the same sculpt on Etsy from eight different printers...and prices will range drastically.  So there is competition holding prices in check (more or less).  I don't think the 3D printed market is a budget option for most gaming if you're a consumer and not a printer.  It's an option, just not a budget one.

[brasidas19004]

Yeah, more options.  And periodically great deals.

But from the consumer perspective, you can probably still score better buying at a flea market, with a little luck and depending on how specific your desires are.

[Kelly_]

I think 3D prints can be economical if you own the printer and have it squared away (it is a hobby in itself)...and once you surpass the money you spent on your machinery, your washing station, your UV curing turntable, etc.  I chuckle when people say 'I print my stuff for free!'...yes, but only once you've paid off whatever initial investment you made.

Resin printing only really becomes competitive with hard plastic prices when you have your own printer and also have large enough projects to justify its use.  For solid numbers, I am five hundred models into a 15mm project and the average cost of each figure has come out to 3 cents each for the resin, and then probably another 2 cents each to account for the wear life on the printer components.

The majority of what you pay on commercial resin prints is offsetting the cost to design (or license) the STL, followed by the labor time to check and clean the prints.  So really the best and most economical option by far is to have a close friend or neighbor you can convince to take up 3D printing and then have them run your models for you!

[Elbows]

Oh, easily.  I have a few buddies with squared away printers, and I frequently hit them up for small prints or single figures, etc.  I don't bother when I want to order army-scale amounts of stuff, as that's beyond "doing it for a friend", and I'd hate to get to the point of asking them for status updates, etc.  So I keep large purchases to stuff like Etsy/eBay.

My point regarding cost earlier was that no one ever includes the cost of their machinery into their miniatures, which is really the invested cost.  Now, if you received a printer, software, UV system and cleaning station for free...then I'd agree, you're just looking at the cost of resin.  However, the "real" price includes a portion of the overall machinery.

If you're printing a lot, then it will quickly reduce itself to a trivial amount...but if you spend say $750 (the printer + accessories) on stuff and only ever print 150 D&D minis...each of those minis is now resin + $5 per mini ($750/150).  So the "I print stuff for free" is a little facetious if you just use it for occasional prints.  I imagine the wargaming/3D printing community is split between those who print a little...and those who print a lot! 

[macsen wledig]

and the 'faff' element

I struggle to get enough hobby time in painting figures let alone printing my own (and dont get me started on actually gaming with them )

I bought a nice starter set last year (Elegoo Mars plus drying station and resin) and it sat there looking at me until I sold it on 2 months ago. I just couldnt get the time to play around with it let alone get good as 'casting' my own figures

I take my hat off to people who do resin/3d stuff at home but it is a labour of love and a hobby in itself

in the meantime I may go back to Prince August as its more in keeping with my skill level 

[Daeothar]

My experience with resin printing has been nothing but positive so far.

A couple of years ago I bought a full set of an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro and Mercury washing/curing station for €275,- and the printer came with a liter bottle of ABS-like resin. Granted; this was a black friday sale and I was also able to cash in a coupon, so I reckon I got quite the deal there, but there we are.

Additionally, I bought some plastic bins, funnels, gloves, filters and 6 liters of isopropyl alcohol, so in total we're looking at about €325,- ready to go.

And ready to go it was; I've never faffed around with any of the settings and it's been churning out quality prints for over two years now. The ones that did fail were all on me; bad supports, wrong positioning etc. The printer itself has never failed me once (knock on wood).

By now it has more than earned itself back, and I'm not a prodigious printer by far. But I have printed quite a few larger models, such as complete tanks, which when bought in plastic would have been rather expensive (had they been available in the first place!). Add a few 28mm units, lots of individual miniatures, loads of terrain details and a couple of my own designs, and all of that would have cost me way over €325,- when store bought.

So yes; I'm happy with it. It's another tool in the toolbox; for me 3D prints will never replace metal miniatures and especially not styrene kits; I love the smell of solvent glues too much  But it can provide me with models and parts that would otherwise have required a lot of time and effort to scratchbuild.

I absolutely love scratchbuilding; it's the part of the hobby I like the most (closely followed by painting), but being able to reproduce parts with absolute precision instead of having to mould and cast them in order to repeat really is a gamechanger for me

[WorkShy]

I'm new to this since only got back into it in 2022. At this time, I'm struggling to see how commercially produced resin minis can compete with plastic. It's different if you are happy to buy a good 3D printer and get involved in that hobby.

Over the last two years, I've bought over 750 Victrix plastic minis for my Dark Age armies at £0.82 per mini. The Victrix minis compete with any metal or resin Dark Age mini, and put many to shame. Being multi-pose, it's possible to create units of 24 minis with no replication. I've also bought some Wargames Atlanitc plastics minis for £0.73 per mini. Not quite in the league of some metals or Victrix but easy to paint and functional. Meanwhile, I was buying some metal minis at around £1-1.50 using "army deals", though recently that seems to have increased to £1.50-2.50/mini.

On the resin side, I have bought some really nice minis from Medbury, Caballero and V&V. Detail is superior to most metal and comparable to Victrix. The unit ranges though are somewhat limited. The issue is price at £2.50-£3.50/mini. It just doesn't compete with plastic or metal.

I recently tried to buy Wargames Atlantic multi-pose resin minis via Only-Games. The order was for around 30 minis at £3/mini but required printing over 200 separate pieces! Not unexpectedly, it was a disaster. After 2 months, Only-Games refunded me in full and sent me what they had printed. The quality was poor, some pieces were duplicated, others missing, the scale was meant to be 28mm but varied from 20mm-35mm.

So I'll continue to buy some resin minis from places like Hammerline (where I get Medbury minis from) but unless prices fall substantially and we can achieve more variation, then I cannot see how it will make-up more than 10-15% of my buying volume.

[zemjw]

Have resin figures been around long enough to get an idea of their durability? By this I mean, do they become brittle after 5 or 10 years?

I have a 6mm resin windmill that I bought while dinosaurs still roamed the planet. I stumbled on it a while back, and just looking at it caused one of the sails to fall off. I get that it was an older resin formula, and probably not the highest quality cast, but is there a ticking time bomb lurking within these figures that we're only going to discover in 10 years?

[macsen wledig]

great question.....I suspect they will outlast us all mind.....

[OSHIROmodels]

Have resin figures been around long enough to get an idea of their durability? By this I mean, do they become brittle after 5 or 10 years?

I was dealing with 3d prints back in the late 2000’s (SLA and SLS) and it didn’t take long for them to start to discolour with UV and they were becoming quite brittle after a few years.

Formulas have of course changed over the years and the longevity is increasing as time goes on. A work print of a building facade from 2017 is still going strong by all accounts.

[Daeothar]

Also, don't forget that they're supposed to be painted

A couple of layers of primer, paint and varnish will protect the resin from damaging UV rays.

Also I've been varnishing the bottoms of bases ever since I learned about leadrot. And I've carried this over to all miniatures I paint. So they should be relatively safe from ambient environmental influences.

Survivability in the case of nuclear blasts, earthquakes, floods and other major upheavals not guaranteed though... 

[fred]

I think home 3d printing has moved on a lot recently. My mate’s experience is very similar to Daeothar’s positive results.

He has printed two whole 10mm Star Wars armies - that simply wouldn’t have been available from a standard manufacturer. A lot of super heroes models - which would be very hard for traditional manufacturers to justify the costs of producing as they are such low sales per model. For me he has printed quite a bit of small scale terrain (Russian village, and ancient bones (which are incredibly detailed showing the STL matters) as well as all sorts of odd bits and pieces. He has certainly covered the few hundred pounds purchase cost.

[OSHIROmodels]

Also, don't forget that they're supposed to be painted

A couple of layers of primer, paint and varnish will protect the resin from damaging UV rays.

Yeah, these were supposed to be clear though (stadium brise soleil and canopies etc) so not that easy. The clear lacquer we used wasn’t uv tight as far as I remember as it was the first time we were really dealing with it.