Welcome
This is a collection of small objects either 3D printed or painted. From practical household prints to store bought fantasy miniatures. I’ve been painting miniatures since I started playing table top war games and it’s been a weekend hobby from then on. Sitting by a bright window, popping in some headphones, listening to relaxing music, and mixing paints just makes for a calm creative Saturday/Sunday morning.
The 3D Printer
On March 30th my Ender 3 arrived in the mail, the following day I woke up and assembled it. I spent $209 for the printer, $54 for the PLA, Putty Knife, Alan Wrenchs, and Wire Cutters.
Putting it together took about 6 hours. I realized I screwed up the level of the x axis bar and my first couple prints were slightly sideways, thus the printer got the nickname ‘Wompy’ but realigning the bar fixed my sideways prints.
For people who are new to 3D printing, see that giant white spool of plastic in the top left corner of the completed 3D printer image. That’s PLA, it’s a type of plastic made from corn and it prints one layer at a time from the bottom up. So tall prints can be made up of hundreds of layers. This type of printing is great for indoors with a small amount of space as the fumes aren’t so bad (open a window) and there’s no dumping of resin mixtures down the sink.
Onion man gets it. The layers from the 3D print are hard to paint as any tiny details get skewed by the grainy lines made from printing bottom to top. It makes wooden chairs, chests, walls, etc. look fantastic though.
The Painting
Someday I hope to have an art room but for now I get a little shelf and a table, as that’s apartment living. I’m trying to break away from the pre-made paints at the hobby store (although I still use them for some colors, until I run out) so I’m currently using the Vallejo Medieval Colors Paint Set along with a homemade brown wash and a black wash from Repear Paints.
I used to not use grips while painting, but I finally decided to watch tutorial videos and found out they are a must, woah do they help. Turned a couple old soda bottles into grips, the tape is just so my sweaty hands don’t cause any slipping.
Where it All Started
One of my best friends introduced me to a war gaming (I’m looking at you Evan). I didn’t dive in the way he did but I did fall in love with the look and vibe that table top war gaming generates. He had whole World War 2 armies, Napoleonic miniatures, 40K Sci-fi mini’s, it was awesome.
He convinced me and a couple other friends to try out a cheaper table top war game called Lord of the Rings. I bought the Ranger’s and Gondor Defenders box along with some paints, brushes, and super glue.
I did not finish my entire set but I got most of them to at least have green capes. No tutorials, no books, just me sitting down and trying to learn how to paint, with some tips from Evan of course.