78 replies to this topic

[Macksheen]

So, what was the $ you've sunk into this so far - if someone were looking at maybe doing the same.

[Mech42Ace]

So far probably around $150 dollars U.s total, so roughly the same cost per mech IWM charges for.

[Mech42Ace]

Oh yea, one more thing, I forgot to mention the cataphract, it should have paint on it within the week, at the very least primer.

Spoiler

Edited by Mech42Ace, 18 October 2014 - 09:06 PM.

[Macksheen]

Did you buy the printer, or are you using a service?

[Mech42Ace]

Macksheen, on 18 October 2014 - 09:10 PM, said:

Did you buy the printer, or are you using a service?

I tipically use shapeways for my stuff. As I only got these mechs made for personal use and at my current rate buying a 3D printer isn't cost effective to me.

[LordKnightFandragon]

3d Printed mechs? So they are made of hard card paper or something?

[Mech42Ace]

LordKnightFandragon, on 18 October 2014 - 09:32 PM, said:

3d Printed mechs? So they are made of hard card paper or something?

Nah not card stock. They're made of a plastic that is melted while being pushed through a nozzle, to form layers of plastic that cools.

[Bishop Steiner]

Mech42Ace, on 18 October 2014 - 08:46 PM, said:

See PGI, with all due respect there is need for this kind of thing out there.
Thank you all for the kind comments

It's not that they don't want to sell them. It's that their license only covers digital domain stuff. Video Games, basically. They don't legally have the rights to sell it, Topps does.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Mech42Ace, on 18 October 2014 - 09:56 PM, said:

Nah not card stock. They're made of a plastic that is melted while being pushed through a nozzle, to form layers of plastic that cools.

Lol, that could totally be the way to get a Warhawk in Wizkids CMG. Played it for like 2 years, always wished htey would bring in a WHK, they have an odd looking daishi that looks more like our MWO Warhawk, but its a Direwolf, not a WHK.

[gregsolidus]

Bishop Steiner, on 18 October 2014 - 09:58 PM, said:

It's not that they don't want to sell them. It's that their license only covers digital domain stuff. Video Games, basically. They don't legally have the rights to sell it, Topps does.

And that's assuming there is a profit in it for Topps or even PGI to go about the trouble of creating molds,molding thousands of figures, advertising them, and shipping them. On one hand the Mechwarrior community and the Battletech community are united, if they're willing to buy and hand paint game pieces then surely they'll find figures or model kits to their liking but If the license holders saw the potential for sales they would have done it by now. A couple of guys going through the extensive rigors of printing their own figures won't do much but make fans realize they don't have to wait anymore, they could make 'em at home.

Edited by gregsolidus, 18 October 2014 - 10:24 PM.

[Mech42Ace]

gregsolidus, on 18 October 2014 - 10:23 PM, said:

And that's assuming there is a profit in it for Topps or even PGI to go about the trouble of creating molds,molding thousands of figures, advertising them, and shipping them. On one hand the Mechwarrior community and the Battletech community are united, if they're willing to buy and hand paint game pieces then surely they'll find figures or model kits to their liking but If the license holders saw the potential for sales they would have done it by now. A couple of guys going through the extensive rigors of printing their own figures won't do much but make fans realize they don't have to wait anymore, they could make 'em at home.

Yea, to bad it's a nich market.

[Bishop Steiner]

gregsolidus, on 18 October 2014 - 10:23 PM, said:

And that's assuming there is a profit in it for Topps or even PGI to go about the trouble of creating molds,molding thousands of figures, advertising them, and shipping them. On one hand the Mechwarrior community and the Battletech community are united, if they're willing to buy and hand paint game pieces then surely they'll find figures or model kits to their liking but If the license holders saw the potential for sales they would have done it by now. A couple of guys going through the extensive rigors of printing their own figures won't do much but make fans realize they don't have to wait anymore, they could make 'em at home.

The best approach would be to move them into the pewter miniature market as alternate versions, much like the Vulture II MWDA Clix got added after MW4.

But whether they would "need" to release a new tro to explain them or not, who knows. Either way, seems like TT minis is a loss leader market.

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

The 3D print market is about to take another leap forward, home 3D desktop production, as the cost, development, design and usable materials of these desktop devices is quickly dropping.

- Manufacturing and materials quality 'has seen the light' and consumer high quality products are being manufactured 'at home', on a 'build as required' basis. This is changing how we see manufacturing factories, locations and the need for numerous facilities to produce a single product.

Until recently, this product and it's design capability was held in the 'home enthusiast' or fringe market. Not so anymore.
- Material science and rapid prototyping have changed this machine into a requirement for nearly every industry.
- From Nano scale to building with cement we are seeing it pop up everywhere, and an entire science is forming around it.

Some of the major leading education centers as well as the military are and have been pioneering this development. With the ability to create never before seen designs and combinations of materials, all in a single stage. Items that used to take months of development and resources are now being constructed 'overnight'.
- Just doing a Google search for 3D printing will return items from research in printing with living cells to printing out a building, or printing a complete aircraft wing in one shot. (sensors included and embedded)
- As I stated, material science now has a completely new field to develop in, and the possibilities are unlimited.

As a side note:
Look for consumer countertop food printers to start appearing soon, it's a novelty item now, but just wait.

Just saying,
9erRed

Edited by 9erRed, 19 October 2014 - 08:50 AM.

[Mech42Ace]

9erRed, on 19 October 2014 - 08:03 AM, said:

Greetings all,

The 3D print market is about to take another leap forward, home 3D desktop production, as the cost, development, design and usable materials of these desktop devices is quickly dropping.

- Manufacturing and materials quality 'has seen the light' and consumer high quality products are being manufactured 'at home', on a 'build as required' basis. This is changing how we see manufacturing factories, locations and the need for numerous facilities to produce a single product.

Until recently, this product and it's design capability was held in the 'home enthusiast' or fringe market. Not so anymore.
- Material science and rapid prototyping have changed this machine into a requirement for nearly every industry.
- From Nano scale to building with cement we are seeing it pop up everywhere, and an entire science is forming around it.

Some of the major leading education centers as well as the military are and have been pioneering this development. With the ability to create never before seen designs and combinations of materials, all in a single stage. Items that used to take months of development and resources are now being constructed 'overnight'.
- Just doing a Google search for 3D printing will return items from research in printing with living cells to printing out a building, or printing a complete aircraft wing in one shot. (sensors included and embedded)
- As I stated, material science now has a completely new field to develop in, and the possibilities are unlimited.

As a side note:
Look for consumer countertop food printers to start appearing soon, it's a novelty item now, but just wait.

Just saying,
9erRed

Also they are just now coming out with the technology to make a 3d model of something out of a bunch of pictures of that object from the various angles.

[ClassicTheMedic]

Wow, these are great! They make me really excited to 3D print some figures too, but I have a couple questions I think you can help with.

First, are those articulated joints, or are they just static figures? And second, how much work did you have to put in on the models to make them printable? Did you have to remove a lot of the smaller details or were the game models largely printable when you first extracted them?

As for the JagerMech, I think a Davion paint scheme would look great.

[Mech42Ace]

ClassicTheMedic, on 19 October 2014 - 01:33 PM, said:

Wow, these are great! They make me really excited to 3D print some figures too, but I have a couple questions I think you can help with.

First, are those articulated joints, or are they just static figures? And second, how much work did you have to put in on the models to make them printable? Did you have to remove a lot of the smaller details or were the game models largely printable when you first extracted them?

As for the JagerMech, I think a Davion paint scheme would look great.

They are just static figures, there was quite a bit of work on these , it probably took me around 12 hours per mech to make them printable. If you are interested, there is a really great thread I mentioned on the first page that goes through everthing to do get a mech printable.
Also, glad you like them!

Edited by Mech42Ace, 19 October 2014 - 02:35 PM.

[gregsolidus]

How did you determine the size they would be printed in? Did you scale down the 3D model or tell shapeways the general dimensions?

[ClassicTheMedic]

Mech42Ace, on 19 October 2014 - 02:30 PM, said:

They are just static figures, there was quite a bit of work on these , it probably took me around 12 hours per mech to make them printable. If you are interested, there is a really great thread I mentioned on the first page that goes through everthing to do get a mech printable.
Also, glad you like them!

Thanks, I'll see if I can follow the tutorials on the thread about using PGI's mechs. I had seen that thread before but I didn't realize there was a portion on 3D printing in there. I guess I'll finally get started on making some minis! I'll keep you posted if I make any progress, and if I run into any trouble printing these out.

[Mech42Ace]

gregsolidus, on 19 October 2014 - 03:40 PM, said:

How did you determine the size they would be printed in? Did you scale down the 3D model or tell shapeways the general dimensions?

When you upload a file on shapeways,they ask what unit of messer you want it to be printed in.
The options are: millimeters, inches, and meters.

Edited by Mech42Ace, 19 October 2014 - 04:13 PM.

[IraqiWalker]

ClassicTheMedic, on 19 October 2014 - 01:33 PM, said:

First, are those articulated joints, or are they just static figures?

To make them articulated joints, you want to actually print the different pieces separately, and you will need to design the joints with full accuracy. Either that or design the joints to be hollowed out, and stick rare earth magnets in them.