Polygonix
Active Member
I'm finally at a point in my life that I have time to do some model building after a 20 year hiatus. I purchased a bunch of kits and some upgrades from Shapeways. I wasn't really thrilled with the parts from Shapeways, not that they weren't good for 3D prints but they didn't match the quality of the Bandai kits that I bought and the details were exaggerated presumably to print properly. So of course, the only logical solution was to build my own 3D printer from scratch that would be designed specifically for miniature printing. I can now print parts that are basically indistinguishable from the Bandai kits. Let me know what you think.
I apologize for the picture quality. I don't have a dedicated macro lens yet so I was kind of 'winging it' with $15 lens extensions. Also the prints have a very interesting iridescent moire pattern on their surface when they come out of the printer that can't be felt but doesn't help with pictures. These pictures are straight off the printer with no sanding. A light coat of Tamiya Fine Surfacing Primer makes the surface super smooth and ready to paint. There are no layer lines to speak of because it is a continuous printing process. Hopefully in the relatively near future I will get a nice macro lens but until then...
I modeled the R2-D2 in Lightwave and used a lot of different sources for reference (mainly the full size builds found online). Everything is to the proper scale and depth as best I could manage and I feel like it looks like a much larger model then it actually is. I made it in a few pieces so it could be articulated and lit. I printed it in 1/18 and 1/24 articulated with a rotating head. The smaller 1/48, 1/72 and 1/96 I printed as one piece as they were too small to easy assemble otherwise. The second to last picture has a 1/12 Bandai R2 for scale along with the other sizes and the 1/48 has a penny underneath it.
I have a lot of other models that I have been working on for dioramas and I figured an R2 in various scales would come in handy and be a good test for the printer.
TLDR 3D printed R2's in various scales using a different 3D printing process.
I apologize for the picture quality. I don't have a dedicated macro lens yet so I was kind of 'winging it' with $15 lens extensions. Also the prints have a very interesting iridescent moire pattern on their surface when they come out of the printer that can't be felt but doesn't help with pictures. These pictures are straight off the printer with no sanding. A light coat of Tamiya Fine Surfacing Primer makes the surface super smooth and ready to paint. There are no layer lines to speak of because it is a continuous printing process. Hopefully in the relatively near future I will get a nice macro lens but until then...
I modeled the R2-D2 in Lightwave and used a lot of different sources for reference (mainly the full size builds found online). Everything is to the proper scale and depth as best I could manage and I feel like it looks like a much larger model then it actually is. I made it in a few pieces so it could be articulated and lit. I printed it in 1/18 and 1/24 articulated with a rotating head. The smaller 1/48, 1/72 and 1/96 I printed as one piece as they were too small to easy assemble otherwise. The second to last picture has a 1/12 Bandai R2 for scale along with the other sizes and the 1/48 has a penny underneath it.
I have a lot of other models that I have been working on for dioramas and I figured an R2 in various scales would come in handy and be a good test for the printer.
TLDR 3D printed R2's in various scales using a different 3D printing process.
