I was recently given a 3D resin printer for my birthday and have been printing some small 1/35 parts and some fantasy figures. I use Yeggi to search for files and put myself on their notification list for artillery models. Most of what I see is of no interest but last week 3 gems turned up. There were files for a Guy Quad Ant and a Karrier Spider both 1/76. Not my scale but they were free so I downloaded them. The next day there was a Morris CDSW FAT (Toastrack not LAA version). This was free as well. As I normally only model in 1/35 I thought I would try printing the Guy in 1/35. It worked! So I printed the Karrier and Morris as well. They all need a bit of work but acceptable models can be made from them. The guy is the most work as the bonnet is too wide and needs cutting back. The Karrier wheels are way to small but the spares box has come to rescue with those. The CDSW is quite good even having quite a bit of interior detail (seats, partitions, stowage boxes etc). I intend to remove the canvas from this one. As you can see from the photos they are still in a fairly rough state, some supports still to remove from the CDSW. Just need to find time to do them all now. Guy by Derek Barton posted Jul 24, 2024 at 3:20 PM Karrier by Derek Barton posted Jul 24, 2024 at 3:18 PM Cdsw by Derek Barton posted Jul 24, 2024 at 3:19 PM
Don't look rough to me. Excellent detail, & support trimming a pain sometimes but mostly trivial. Can't quite believe the quad printed so well at 1/35th. (I assume it's hollow?) What Printer is it? Presumably quite a big bugger. Resin's been making me wonder lately. Definitely the way forward for modelling.
I was surprised how well they came out. Didn't think they would look so good after being doubled in size. A tribute to whoever designed them. I hollowed out all three models, hence the visible drain holes which I now have to fill in. My printer is an Elegoo Mars 4 9K and I have the Mercury Plus washer/curer. The pair can be had for under £300. The maximum print size is 7.76 x 15.64 cm and a heght of 17.5 cm. The CDSW just fitted in by standing it on its tail at an angle. The Guy cost £3.45 in resin and took 13 hours 27 minutes to print The Karrier cost £3.95 in resin and took 7 hours 16 minutes to print The CDSW cost £7.33 in resin and took 15 hours 19 minutes to print. The extra cost and time was due to the internal detail. A Litre bottle of resin is between £17 and £25 for the standard types although you can pay a lot more. I'm currently using a plant based resin at £17 and it performs well. To give you an idea of the compact size of these machines here they are with a stack of CD's between them. IMG_3991_2 by Derek Barton posted Jul 24, 2024 at 6:12 PM
The support is sometimes stronger than the work. Most of the models seem to be in 1/56 scale, but print ok in 1/35. Although some of the figures are peculiar. Resin figures are preferred. The biggest problem seems to be the stepped print lines, but maybe a resin printer is better at dealing with them.
You don't get any stepped lines with a resin printer, it's perfectly smooth. The only things to be sanded down are the residue of the supports. A lot of the smaller parts I have printed didn't need supports. Resin printers print upside down, it builds from the bottom up. This is because the plate is lowered into the resin bath and the layer formed on the bottom of the plate. The plate lifts slightly to separate the layer from the bottom of the tank and then lowers down to form the next layer. This gives a perfectly smooth finish.
In a world where a decent 1/35 kit can easily cost £50-60 (the main reason I stopped modelling about a decade back), then the economics of that set of resin devices starts to look interesting. If the urge ever strikes again, it seems a no brainer. Was expecting Elegoo, but a much bigger machine. Very impressive. Curiosity led me to print a few vehicles with my FDM, and they were 'OK', & probably fine for wargaming, but detailed hi-res models are quite apparently a job for resin. I screwed up so badly with supports at first, but using tree ones (Cura) has been good on detailed stuff. Though TBH, I'm increasingly not using supports as the thing really surprises me how well it can print over air.
I've been working on the Guy and have corrected the front end right hand side. As you can see I have reduced the size of the central area. The windscreen has been squared off and the top edge raised. The side windows have had the top edge lowered. Still more work to do on the windows but they are taking shape. I have also removed the canvas from the CDSW so you can see the amount of internal detail provided. A good basis on which to add more detail.
