3d Printing and Painting Miniatures

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately 3d printing some models and painting them. It’s a very rewarding and relaxing hobby. I like to design miniature models (or download them from the Internet) that I can print and paint.

I dedicated about a month to printing out pieces for the 3d-printable spaceship skirmish game called “Battlefront Valkyrie” from Tom Tullis at Fat Dragon Games. Painting them was fun. There are three factions in the game:

• Terran (the humans)- I painted these with a tan spray-can primer. Then, I added a tan paint as a base coat. From there, I applied a brown wash over the entire model. I finished by painting the “lights” and windows on the ships.
• Kurgun (the aliens)- I gave them a black primer and painted them with a Refractive Green (Model Color 70.890) as the base coat. I then dry-brushed a Flat Green over that (Model Color 70.968). I finished by painting the lights and windows on the ships.
• Cygnian (the robot army) – These were painted with a white primer and given a Flat Red (Model Color 70.957) base coat. I then applied a Purple (Model Color 70.959) wash. I finished by filling in the central reactor engine with Clear Orange (Model Color 70.956) wet-blended with Lemon Yellow (Model Color 70.952).

Another model I printed and painted was a Turdle Warrior (again, from Tom Tullis over at Fat Dragon Games).

Eldritch Foundry allows you to design your own miniature models by selecting various body parts and costumes. I created a “Cyber Biker” and painted it up.

I have really enjoyed watching these models print on my 3d printer. The painting sessions are very relaxing and help me take my mind away from the world.