Warriors of the Reconquista! Grandmaster Order of Calatrava 08/02/2023

[Tonhel]

Hello,

This is the start of a painting log about 11th century Spanish and adversaries.

Last week I finally convinced myself and most importantly my wife to buy a 3D printer. In short I am blown away by it. It don't understand how it works. It's magic But you don't have mould lines, no gaps to fill and it looks imo fantastic.

Here is the start of my two first knights. I didn't design the mini's, I've got them from here https://www.patreon.com/caballerominiatures/posts

Here are pictures before and after the dark grey undercoat.

The next couple of days I will start painting them!

[jeffreythancock]

Resin printer?   Amazing quality!

[Tonhel]

Resin printer?   Amazing quality!

Yes, I printed it with a Phrozen Sonic mini 4K. It was my second try. Everything went much easier than expected. Installing the printer, using the resin and etc... The printing itself does take a couple of hours. The result is great and easy to assemble. i.e. it was only the horse, the knight and the shield. For the next batch I will take more pictures of the different steps.

I never thought 3D printing was so easy.

The above two and these will be the project for april:

[Paul Richardson]

These figures look absolutely sensational. Most dynamic cavalry I've ever seen.

[Tonhel]

Maybe this interesting for people that are thinking about getting a 3D printer:

I am preparing the next group of knights to be printed:

You have to use a free program called Chitubox. In this program you place the 3d models digital on the print bed (the blue rectangle). The size depends on how big your printer is.

You can place as many 3D models you have room. I managed to get the 9 unique knights on it + 4 spearheads that will be used on brass rods.

After that you have to manage your settings and push the slice button. This will take a couple of minutes and after that you have the save it on a usb stick. Put the usb stick in the printer. Select the file and print it.

It sounds difficult, but it is not much more work than uploading a photo on a forum. 

[Andrew_McGuire]

It sounds difficult, but it is not much more work than uploading a photo on a forum. 

Unfortunately the images aren’t showing on my phone, the only device I can access. The fact that others can see them demonstrates there was no problem in uploading them, but isn’t particularly encouraging for someone as technophobic as me.

[Tonhel]

Unfortunately the images aren’t showing on my phone, the only device I can access. The fact that others can see them demonstrates there was no problem in uploading them, but isn’t particularly encouraging for someone as technophobic as me.

Oei, I use dropbox to upload them. If there are other people that can't see, I will need to fix it. ;-)

[Andrew_McGuire]

I hope you can. I’d love to see them.

[Paul Richardson]

I can see them on my pc., and quite amazing they are too. 

[MaleGriffin]

Excellent!

[Tonhel]

It seems that on a mobile phone you can't see the pictures. I will find a solution when I start showing the painted mini's. ;-)

The sculptor of those beautiful Spanish knights also previewed the first mini that will be available in May. A mounted Almoravid. Imo, very impressive!

[Tordenkuglen]

WOW looks amazing, makes me reconsider getting a 3D printer meself

whats the cost of the final mini, compared what you can get by mail done and ready? I mean the many miniature manufacturers out there in the world 

Makes me also think about when you print infantry minis, and the horses, why not print the base, and when your printing the base, why not make it scenic in one go? then just ad paint 

[Tonhel]

WOW looks amazing, makes me reconsider getting a 3D printer meself

whats the cost of the final mini, compared what you can get by mail done and ready? I mean the many miniature manufacturers out there in the world 

Makes me also think about when you print infantry minis, and the horses, why not print the base, and when your printing the base, why not make it scenic in one go? then just ad paint 

It's now two weeks that I have my 3D printer and I am very happy with it. I did have some problems, but that was my fault. You can change a lot in the print settings, which can backfire . You have to take in account the resin you will use for the print settings and etc.. . But now I am happy with the settings. 

I also forget to remove the protective cover from the FEP folie.. Which caused bad prints. It took a couple of days before I figured it out. Stupid, stupid mistake .

But now it's easy. Load the models in Chitubox, slice and save on a usb stick and place the usb stick in the printer and voila a couple of hours later the mini's are ready.

The only expensive cost is the printer. I bought the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K for 399 euro and 50 euro for the resin.

If you compare the two mini's form post 1 with 2 cavalry models from V&V miniatures. A V&V resin Norman cavalry cost 7,5 euro without postage. I think it costs me around 0,20 euro per printed Spanish mounted knights, which I can keep printing and have less parts to assemble.

I subscrided to the Caballero Miniatures patreon which is 6,5 euro + VAT per month. This month you received the digital files for 5 unique spear armed  mounted knights, a mounted musician, a standard bearer, a mounted El Cid and a bonus 13th century knight.

I think it's a great deal for 6,50 euro + 0,20 euro per mounted mini. ;-)

Here is a picture of the printed 13th century knight (still needs to be cleaned).


My two first Spanish knights are almost finished.

Only thing that needs to be finished is highlighting the metal, base it and take proper pictures. 

[Hu Rhu]

The only expensive cost is the printer. I bought the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K for 399 euro and 50 euro for the resin.

If you compare the two mini's form post 1 with 2 cavalry models from V&V miniatures. A V&V resin Norman cavalry cost 7,5 euro without postage. I think it costs me around 0,20 euro per printed Spanish mounted knights, which I can keep printing and have less parts to assemble.

I subscrided to the Caballero Miniatures patreon which is 6,5 euro + VAT per month. This month you received the digital files for 5 unique spear armed  mounted knights, a mounted musician, a standard bearer, a mounted El Cid and a bonus 13th century knight.

I think it's a great deal for 6,50 euro + 0,20 euro per mounted mini. ;-)

Those are extremely nice miniatures and the printing is excellent. Thanks for the information. 

However I don't think your calculations take into account the cost of the initial set up.  You will have to print around 70 figures before you break even.  Thereafter each additional model will be a fraction of the cost of buying metal figures, especially when you also factor in postage etc.  Overall if the printer stands up to the task, and the ranges continue to expand, I think you will have made a sound investment.  Who knows I might even follow your example. 

[mmcv]

These look really well. Is there a lot of work cleaning them up? There looked to be a lot of "struts" in the 3d renders you showed a few images back. Do they come off pretty easy when printed?