Friday 20 December 2019

Crates and Barrels

My buddy Michael got himself a 3D printer earlier this year and has been testing it's capabilities pretty heavily, printing everything from 20mm car accessories for Gaslands to baby Yoda Christmas tree decorations. He gave me a selection of sci-fi barrels, crates and junk piles which I think came from Thingverse. I've yet to tackle the junk piles, but did spend some time working with the barrels and crates.

The barrels and crates were individually printed.


I already have a fair number of separate barrels and crates, so decided that I'd try and assemble the 3D prints into a single scenic item. I glued them together onto a supporting strip of plasticard in what I hope is a relatively natural-looking formation.


I also experimented with a tarpaulin made from a dried baby wipe that was then soaked in a 50:50 mix of PVA and water.

After that, it was a case of hitting the whole stockpile with some paints - base colour, wash, drybrush, sponge weathering. Done!




I'm really pleased with this - a very quick and nice looking piece of scenery which will look perfectly at home with the rest of the collection. I'm looking forward to tackling those junk piles!

The Trego Brothers prepare to defend their black market goods.

8 comments:

  1. Like it! And I notice none of the typical print ridges that I've seen on 3D printed stuff prior. Seems that technology is slowly looking like it's worth a darn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think these have been printed from a resin rather than a filament, which means they shouldn't suffer from the print lines. Definitely worth keeping an eye on!

      Delete
  2. Really nice! Oh, never thought of the baby wipe, I have to try that (Note to self: remember to use clean ones)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw baby wipes used in a couple of historical YouTube videos over tanks and wooden crates. Worth picking up these tips :)

      Delete
  3. Those turned out quite well! With a resin printer of decent quality under $500 these days, more people ought to get into printing at home... dealing with the resin is the only issue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I hear the resin stinks a bit. But definitely a technology worth looking at.

      Delete
  4. End result looks fantastic, I must say!

    ReplyDelete