3D-printing Normandy... pt. I

3D-printing Normandy, one bit at a time...

I have easy access to a 3D-printer at work (actually, the printer is in my classroom), enabling me to make the occasional print. I mainly print terrain/scenery for wargaming. I have a few spindles of PLA I bought myself so I don't have to use the school's material.

The Ultimaker in action, printing a 15mm house...

The files I am using, are from a Kickstarter campaign and feature a complete set of buildings mainly suitable for WW2 Normandy. They can be found here: Jens's awesome 3D-files
While there are plenty of free files to be found online, these are well worth checking out.

I scaled these buildings for 15mm or 1:100 and they are meant to replace or supplement my older, scratch-built houses... The designs are very detailed, including things like shutters, framework for the windows and rainpipes. Most of these will print brilliantly without any supports (or very few).

The Mairie...

A set of ruins...
The middle one is a bit of a failed print, but for a ruin, it will do just fine...

A set of walls...

The ruined walls are my own remix of the original files. With some cutting and pasting these came out great.

A sample set-up of a walled farmstead...

Due to the nature of the printer the prints have some visible horizontal layers, but with some paint and effort these can be made to look pretty good...

Still W.I.P. but getting there... 

So far, I have printed multiple buildings, mostly houses but also a few farms, barns and shops... At a couple of hours each, these represent a few weeks worth of printing. At the moment I am printing a church, to be more precise I am printing a model of the Sainte-Mère-Église church...

Parts of the church, being printed...

It's all about the base... pt. II

Even before I started my 6mm project I had given the concept to base my vehicles some thought...

Basing is for infantry, and not for tanks. This has always been my point of view, but with this smaller scale I started having some second thoughts...

Pro's:

• Adding a base will surely provide the models with some protection, both in storage and on the battlefield...
• Bases offer a way to visually tie a force together...
• Adding a base will make the smaller vehicles less likely to get lost on a table densely filled with terrain...

Cons:

• Basing is for infantry, not for vehicles...
• Adding a base will limit the vehicles possibilities to be placed in/near terrain...
• The static grass I have now is too large for the scale to be used on the bases...

My main objection is that basing vehicles shouldn't impede mobility and placement on the tabletop. To try and make sure this is kept to a minimum I will be working with several different sized bases, keeping as close to the size of the models as possible.

If I am to go through with this, I am planning to cut the bases from 0.5mm plasticard. The bases will be rectangular or square in shape. Basing will be consistent throughout the entire force, providing a common factor in infantry, vehicles and artillery...

The bases will be covered with some textured paint and grass. The rough ground will match the colour of the dirt on the tracks/wheels of the vehicles and of my terrain. I think I will be using two or three different shapes and sizes, depending on the size of the vehicle...

Feel free to share your views and experience on the subject as I am still undecided...

If you go down to the woods today... pt. II

With the latest expansion of my Hex terrain should have come an increase in the number of trees... While I have been adding a lot of trees as fixed features to built-up Hexes I hadn't gotten around to making more trees to go on separate bases.

Being able to add, move and remove trees (both single and clustered) to the Hex terrain adds a lot to the flexibility of the set. The trees can be used to provide cover, break up lines of sight and further enhance the landscape...

Due to a peak in work related activity (and sadly there's no end in sight) I don't have a lot of time to spend on the hobby. What little time I did have was used to make a new set of trees and bases. Quite relaxing, as this task doesn't require anything remotely difficult...

Below is a step-by-step guide to show how I make my trees...

Step 1: cut the wire to length...
For a standard tree I use four pieces, roughly 10cm each... For a typical tree
I use four pieces of wire, smaller trees are usually made with just three pieces...

Step 2: using a pair of pliers, grip the pieces of wire in the middle...
Tightle twist to form the trunk of the tree...

Step 3: at irregular intervals, bend two wires to branch off...

Step 4: twist the wires into branches...
Cut the ends of the branches to length...

Step 5: bend the little loop at the bottom to form the roots/base of the tree...
These particular trees will get bases. The trees that get fixed on the Hexes
 will have their bottoms tightly twisted as they will be pinned in the styrofoam...

Step 6: base... After priming the trees, the base will painted with some textured paint...

This rather easy technique enables me make a tree in a matter of minutes. Apart from a sprayed-on basecoat and a drybrush the trees receive no treatment at all...

The picture above shows the results of an evenings worth of cutting and twisting... I am going to need a lot more bases. Most of these will be based as cluster, but a fair number will be based on their own...

Plans for 2020...

While this is in no way a new-years resolution, I do have some plans listed for the coming year...

Hexes...
I aim to expand my Hex terrain considerably. Not only do I have plans to double the number of snowflake Hexes to enlarge the surface of my Hex terrain, but I also want to create more different Hexes to further increase the diversity of the set. The Hex Terrain Toolkit offers plenty of options I haven't even used yet...

6mm...
Even though I already finished quite a few of my new 6mm stuff, I still have plenty of tanks and armoured cars waiting to be painted. I hope to complete my stock of vehicles and infantry, expanding my range of models to be able to play larger battles.

Play more games, fight more battles...
In that regard 2019 has been a very, very slow year, but 2020 is looking to a lot better already... Having recently discovered What a Tanker!, getting in more games should be quite easy... I also want to try the Battlegroup, I Ain't Been Shot Mum and Crossfire rules in 6mm, ad well as play a few games of Flames of war, also in 6mm...

Dungeon...
While most of my hobby time and effort is being absorbed by the 6mm WW2 Hex terrain project, the Hirst Arts Dungeon isn't forgotten... I do have some interesting pieces waiting to be finished as well as an abundance of very nice furniture and assorted clutter. I also have a growing collection of NPC's and monsters to populate the massive dungeon...

3D-printing...
I already have a bit of experience when it comes to 3D-printing, as I have an Ultimaker 2+ in my classroom. While this is an excellent printer, it's hardly suited to print 15mm or 6mm miniatures. At the moment I am saving up to purchase a resin 3D-printer, most likely an Elegoo Mars, preferably the updated Pro version... This type of resin printer has become surprisingly affordable and seems to yield impressive results...

Whatever comes my way...
Last year, the whole Hex project and the 6mm miniatures came rather unexpected, so there's no knowing what I will stumble upon this year...

Hexes, Hexes everywhere... pt. X

The most recent additions, a small set of roads, a few basic grass Hexes and several multi-Hex fields... This has been one of the largest expansions so far, the fields especially cover quite a big surface...

For the new lay-out you can see below, I removed all the hill Hexes and rearranged a good portion of the river to accomodate all the new fields. It makes for a very different type of battlefield. The fields offer plenty of cover while still allowing line of sight...

With all the new fields there is plenty of colour. I like the overall effect, almost patchwork, of the village and outlying buildings surrounded by fields with various crops.

I originally intended this field to be just bare, plowed earth...
However, after finishing it I decided to plant some crop

This expansion represents the biggest part of the multi-Hex modules I have been working on recently, but there are still more under construction.

Multi-Hex madness...

I have used my Christmas break to construct a serious expansion for my 6mm Hex terrain...

I decided to make some new multi-Hex modules. Most of these will be finished with fields on top, but a few will feature buildings, too... To complement the new multi-Hex modules I also made a few road Hexes and some plain grass Hexes to fill the inevitable gaps.

To prevent warping and gaps the multi-Hex modules are topped
with a thin sheet of high density foam...

Hexes, a lot of Hexes...

All of the multi-Hex shapes I cut...

I ended up making two sets of three Hexes, three sets of four and five Hexes and a single module of six Hexes...  

One of the new modules in progress...

At this point most of the multi-Hex modules are already finished. I haven't taken more W.I.P. pictures, but the finished products can be seen in the next post.

One of the multi-Hex modules with buildings...

The module above features a farmhouse with two sheds and a wall... I intend to add a little orchard inside the wall.