Truss me, I printed a radio tower.

[YPU]

After doing a mayor fine-tuning on my 3d printer I wanted to test something low in material and with the height to check for aliment error. The basis radio tower or truss shape seemed like something easy to draw up and print, and to be honest I was rather pleased with the results, so much in fact that I went and drew some square ones and ones which are close the vertical limit on my printer. All prints were done on the lowest detail setting, since this was more a test than anything. So I did a quick metalic primer and wash on one, grabbed a pair of minis, one unpainted and one badly painted. (sue me) and took some of the worst pictures I have posted yet. Enjoy.




I designed for 15mm at first, but it looks decent next to 28mm all the same. These things come in all sizes anyway right? 




Height on the painted one is 11cm and 15.5cm on the black one, which is tickling the edge of what I can print.




Print lines are barely visible, I will admit they are so on the primed model as well, especially after a wash, however they are a lot less obvious then the mould lines on the model. Luckily on industrial models like these print lines fit in OK as a texture.

To be honest I expected these to be fragile, and I would break them at some point and use them for basing material, but they turned out surprisingly tough and robust. I guess there is some logic on the shape of these things after all. 

And maybe best of all they are very cost efective for me, since they don't need support during printing, the distortion I have in the first few mm of my prints is hidden in the thicker bases and  they just don't use that much material. Pretty light weight too so basing them on a small coin means they don't tip over easy.

Comment and criticism very welcome, I'm already working on a more tapered shape and a variety of white rectangles and discs made from scrap to turn one into a telephone tower.

[Dr. Zombie]

They look awesome!

I can see tons of uses for those.

[robh]

Excellent designs.
If you can come up with "X", "L" and "T" junction pieces you have a wonderful way of building supported walkways and platforms.
Very useful (and marketable)

[YPU]

Very useful (and marketable)

I tend to think of my prints as prototypes or "master" mostly, however I can't think of a method that can cast a shape like this reliably.

[Sangennaru]

I tend to think of my prints as prototypes or "master" mostly, however I can't think of a method that can cast a shape like this reliably.

This is exactely the kind of things that are worth printing for gaming rather than casting, i really like what youv'e done here!

[sukhe_bator]

Excellent idea. How the technology has changed in recent years. The applications are widespread!

I had to go old school and cobble these together for my Back of Beyond scenario

[6milPhil]

Very good, likely to be v.popular with the modern 6mm gamers too.

[YPU]

Very good, likely to be v.popular with the modern 6mm gamers too.

Probably should be slimmed down a bit, but that's the beauty of CAD.

I had to go old school and cobble these together for my Back of Beyond scenario

I envy you the sheer tenacity needed for doing that build!