Some more 3d printed terrain today. We have another trio of Tyranid Capillary Towers, though much smaller than the Forge World ones I completed recently. These ones are, as the post title states, 3d Prints from Axotle Gaming – free STLs from Thingiverse. Our Space Marine for scale shows how these ones are significantly smaller.
These were one of the earliest prints that I erm, printed, and as such suffered pretty badly from print lines as you can see in the pictures here, which resulted in me just leaving them to sit for months. After finishing the above-noted Capilary Towers, I decided it was time to either paint these or just give them away, so I decided to paint them and then give them away if I wasn’t happy with the result. Several thick coats of filler primer helped the print lines quite a lot, and while they still look pretty awful when viewed “flat” as in the picture above, they kind of look almost naturalistic when viewed from above – similar to the “growth lines” you see on some animals’ horns.
The print lines were disguised a little better on the “meaty” section of the prints, as you can see here. I added some putty on the pointy tips to smooth them out a little more. It would probably have worked a little better if I’d done it before starting to paint them, but you live and learn.
Amusingly enough, these smaller towers are the right size to be properly Kaiju-sized when placed next to the Battletech/Epic scale sized terrain I’ve been working on as of late. Kind of amusing.
In the end, I decided to keep them. They’re not amazing, but they’re fine. I am tempted to go back and print another set of them and see how they turn out now that I know how to print a fair bit smoother, though even those will still have softer lines. On the other hand, there’s also lots of other designs out there of similar Tyranid terrain, including a 2.0 of these from the very same sculptor.
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
I know what you mean about the printing lines but you’ve done a good job covering them, and the painting matches the Forgeworld ones perfectly, Once they are on the table mixed in with the others, it would look effective.
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Yeah, they’ll be fine on the table, especially as painted models and from a distance. Any newer ones I print will of course be a lot finer with the initial lines, and despite being lazy I’ll even bother to rub down the ends of the spikes before painting. 😀
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I think the print lines look fine and, with the painting overall, look as though they are, as you mention, somewhat akin to growth lines! I’ve found with PLA prints that a thin coat of plastic putty sanded down after its dried can get rind of a lot of print lines. I like ’em! 🙂
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Makes total sense, John – unfortunately (?!) I’m in a situation where “Flippy” (our name for the printer) never rests, never sleeps, so it’s very much a time/effort/cost balance against the preparaton and painting time when you’re able to churn out buildings in a day or overnight.
Are you familiar with M.Bergman’s work? Anything there of interest to you?
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That’s fair enough! 🙂 Makes sense to keep Flippy busy all of the time! I’ve seen some of M. Bergman’s models – where’s the best place to look for more of them do you think? There are not many historical vehicles I see these days that I haven’t already got enough of, but I’m always open to temptation!
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This seems to be a good despository of his work. I know I’ve also seen them on Thingiverse and (I think) MyMiniFactory as well, but not sure if there’s as many there as there are here – but they may also be woth checking (out).
https://www.wargaming3d.com/brands/m_bergman
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I’ve had a look at the Bergman you posted – there’s quite a list of stuff (WordPress might dump this reply in the wrong place)! I don’t think there’s anything there that I want at the moment. Some of these models are licenced to suppliers I buy from so I’ve probably got some of them without being conscious of it!
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Yeah, there’s heaps there – most of Bergman’s (all?) are free to print, so I’m not sure about printing for profit, but I know they’re free to print for personal, etc use.
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I agree with Dave and John, unsurprisingly, that these will make nice terrain pieces. I completely agree on the Kaiju observation too. Tyranids would be very scary indeed if those are to that scale!
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Thanks mate – the old Epic Tyranids were indeed in this sort of scale, so if they ever bring the Legions Imperialis timeline forward to include Xenos….
Though I’m sure there are already people making STLs for those in the correct scale based off the old models. Hmm….
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Neat work matey , the lads have said it all👍🏻
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Cheers Pat – thanks!
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