Printable Buildings for 20mm-do they exist?

[ulverston]

Hi Chaps,

In a break from painting endless 28mm spearmen which are a tad dirty and drab I dug out some 20mm Eastern front figures and tanks but then remembered why I stored them in the first place! I struggled to make 20mm buildings (easier in 28mm), a little progress has been made with a few peasant hut types but I am desiring some large Eastern European type houses but dont want to spend a fortune.

This would be a good time to invest in a 3d printer but alas my defence budget is curtailed by kids starting uni and school... so paper will have to do.

So my question is are there any companies out there who sell pdf's for buildings? I am damned if I can google anything other than christmas decorations and elf houses!? I once bought a set from an American company for 28mm but even that seems to have disappeared.

Thanks in advance.

[sultanbev]

Check out the Wargames Vault, several sellers with printable buildings in multiple scales.
For example, an extensive range from:
https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/2985/Dave-Graffam-Models
which can be rescaled to 1/72 or 20mm from the existing 28mm. Most have different skins so you can print out in different roof and wall colours more suitable for WW2.

[ulverston]

Sultanbev, thank you for this-exactly what I was searching for but could not find. You are a star.

[CookAndrewB]

For what it is worth, I'd look for buildings designed for 15mm (or smaller) and scale them up to 20mm. particularly if you are printing with an FDM printer as I find the smaller details scaled up tend to look just fine while larger details scaled-down can end up looking a bit messy as the printer tries to catch details not well suited for filament. I believe there are plenty of Flames of War types of buildings that could be scaled up for 20mm play. I've even had decent success with epic scale buildings for my own 20mm WWIII project.

[Daeothar]

Funny, how in a couple of years time, the generally accepted meaning of the word 'printing' has changed from paper templates to 3D objects...

[SotF]

For printable buildings, you can scale them easily enough both up from 15mm and down from 28mm

[ulverston]

I will play about with scaling and although the link supplied has lots of buildings few are suitable for eastern Europe. I have searched for model train layouts and found this epic guy who seems to be drunk all the time but alas although he mentions kits on his website I cannot find them!



This guys vids are worth watching as he is a charismatic nutter.... the search goes on.

[Daeothar]

He's something alright... 

I really love Scalescenes for their paper buildings. And those are not some patterned boxes either, but proper kits, all, and well worth it!

The only downside (for your purposes) is that their range is geared towards more modern UK style layouts. BUt I'm sure there's one or two offerings you might be able to use...

[ulverston]

Daeothar Thank you!!! Thats exactly what I was looking for as they sell the brick sheets! I have just downloaded the bricks I needed .... windows should be on there somewhere. Cheap as chips for a couple of quid as well. Maybe work won't miss me today?

[Daeothar]

Cool; glad that helped!

If you do build some of their kits, be prepared for it though; you'll need several thicknesses of card, and plenty of weighty items to keep the sub-assemblies in shape while drying (I recommend a fast drying PVA).

It surprised me how involved the building process was, but the results are simply stunning. Also, I actually enlarged one of their free building fronts to 1/50, so I could use it as a photo backdrop for 28mm miniatures, and it suffered no quality drops whatsoever!

[zemjw]

If you're looking for cardboard kits, Metcalfe Models has a bunch.

They're railway stuff, but there are some industrial buildings that could work.

They also do brick sheets if you're looking to save on your ink

[CookAndrewB]

Oh, printing... with paper? I don't have anything in my house that will do that.

[ulverston]

I will certainly have a look at Metcalf models as I am gleefully dropping down a rabbit hole here, thanks for the link Zem.

As for weights, card thickness and well sticky fingers you are not wrong! I got clever and decided to sprint before I could even toddle. A few hours in and I have a half built warehouse with a foamcard shell to give it strength.... the chap in the video said that these were quick to make! I would disagree but I expect in a couple more sessions to have a big enough and useful generic factory or warehouse. I did spot the containers on the scale link website and will certainly give Spectre a go in this scale.

Thanks for the help everyone-I am now off to the new link provided to browse more potential miniature real estate.