David Manley ACW naval STLs

[eptingmike]

Good evening all,
I recently picked up a few of David Manley's ACW naval STLs from Wargames Vault.  I have been working with a small resin printer for about 6-7 months but it has generally been pre-supported files.  Any of you folks have thoughts about or experience with printing these or similar files?  Print straight on the bed?  Lift and angle like I have seen other types of files set up?
Interested to see what you folks think!
All the best
Mike

[Kelly_]

Full disclaimer: I have not yet picked up any of his stls, since I am still several projects behind, but I have been looking through the range after hearing his interview on Yarkshire Gamer.  With the majority of his designs being flat waterline models I would definitely angle them to at least 30 degrees and add supports.

Supports will add a lot of time to the print jobs, but I would be very concerned about damage to the miniatures when trying to remove them from the build plate otherwise, and I hardly ever print models flat unless it is by specific request.

Hope they turn out well, and I look forward to seeing your results!

[eptingmike]

Thank you for the reply as well as advice!
I think the ships look pretty great so want to get them to print their best

[eptingmike]

Quick update:
I purchased a pair or three of David Manley's STLs as well as some from East Coast Ironclads.  I emailed ECI with the same question posed here and they informed me that their STLs were designed to be printed directly on the build plate save any masts.  Other than one ship(USS Tyler I think)all were printed at 50%(1/1200)and on the plate with essentially no supports(two ships had a few that I added).  All of them printed pretty darn good.  My first attempt at the masts failed due to too few supports.  So I really loaded up the supports and they came out great.  Probably twice as much resin in the supports that the masts but they are so fine at this scale it was worth it.
I just primed up a couple.  I will post some photos once available

[shandy]

Hi,

I've printed a lot of Davis's models as well as those of ECI (although I find David's to be much better detailed). Printing directly on the plate is possible, but it can be difficult to remove and when I tried it I often ruined models. Nowadays, I always use supports and angle the model at least 30°, like Kelly said.

I do have some problems with thin signal masts, but I don't like those in resin anyway, so if they are present, I cut them off, drill a hole and use brass wire.

ACW ship are great fun, I love the variety and the improvised and sometimes crazy designs!

Best,
Thomas