3D-printing tanks... pt. IV: Sherman Firefly

After the Canadian Ram, the Sherman Firefly is the next proper tank to come out of my printer...

Firefly in France...

These vehicles are going to be used in a new British/Commonwealth project. First on a small scale, individual tanks for games of What a Tanker!, but I aim to expand the set to a playable Company for games like Flames of War, I Ain't Been Shot Mum and Battlegroup.

Firefly taking cover... 

Lovely models, the prints came out great! 

Front and rear view of the model... 

The files for this model can be found here, courtesy of Thingiverse and the designer, m_bergman...

For the Firefly, too, I opted to use the 0.025mm resolution, further increasing the level of detail on these models. The prints are of a great quality, thanks to the level of the design. When painted, these will be hard to distinguish from a plastic or metal miniature.

Talking of paint... I have ordered a couple of new paints to get me started on this project. I also purchased a set of British infantry and some decals from PSC.

Next are two pictures comparing the printed model to a Firefly from my wargaming buddy. His painted Firefly is a plastic miniature from Battlefront.

The printed Firefly next to a plastic model from Battlefront... 

The difference in size and detail is negligible...

As with the Ram, I adapted the model to accommodate a set of magnets and I hollowed out the barrel and muzzle break...

The converted turret and hull to accommodate the magnets... 

The hollowed out muzzle break... 

3D-printing tanks... pt. III: Ram

Another tank I am keen to add to my collection is the Canadian built Ram cruiser tank... While this vehicle won't fit in with my U.S. or German forces (well, I could always substitute one or two for a couple of Shermans), it might just be the start of a British/Canadian project. At the very least it will see service in our games of What a Tanker!

The files for this model can be found here, courtesy of Thingiverse and the designer, m_bergman...

This is what my desk looks like...

I have set up several files with different configurations. I decided to print the early and late version, both with the 6-pounder gun. After a little bit of cutting and pasting in Tinkercad I adapted the design to accommodate a set of small magnets. I also hollowed out the end of the gun's barrel...

The first two Rams were laid-out with a horizontally printed turret. While the rest of the vehicle printed quite well, this resulted in two crooked barrels. Apart from the barrels, the bottom of the turret wasn't as tight as it should be due to support failure and the hulls suffered some damage due to excess support (both totally my own fault).

Crooked barrel...

The difference in quality is obvious. 

After that I decided to tweak the set-up in Chitubox. I placed the turret verticaly, with the barrel pointing up and I removed a couple of unnecessary supports which were damaging detail on the hull.

Little detail shot of the damaged portion of the fenders...

Hollowed out barrel and magnethole (if that's even a word)...

The two versions... Both miniatures still need some clean-up and curing but
I am happy with the results.

The second and third batch came out a lot better. Which demonstrates (again) that working with Chitubox is a learning experience...

Third batch, fresh out of the printer...

For the fourth run I have set the layer height to 0.025mm instead of the standard 0.05mm... Doubling the print time, but worth waiting for if it will improve the quality of the model even further.

Left the print at 0.025mm and Ram on the right at 0.05mm...

Admitted, the difference is small, very small, barely visible with the naked eye and I doubt it will be visible at all when the miniature is painted. But I think it's worth the extra time...

3D-printing game markers for What a Tanker!

As a bit of a test I designed a set of markers, or tokens, for What a Tanker!

This game, made by Too Fat Lardies, is fast becoming one of my favourite games. What a Tanker! uses a set of acryllic tokens which are pretty solid to begin with, but I really wanted to try to design and print my own set...

After a bit of tinkering in Tinkercad, a free, web-based 3D-drawing program, I came up with this...

Four individual markers... From left to right: reloaded, buttoned up, aimed and target aquired... I designed these to be printed small; the biggest is about 20mm tall... I also uploaded these on Thingiverse so that other Tankers can print them too.

Fresh out of the printer... The prints are extremely delicate...

I managed to get them cleaned up rather easily, but due to the delicate parts it did take me a bit longer than usual...

I love the detail on these, they came out better than I expected...

The first set of printed markers with the standard markers...

Obviously, these will get painted.

To complete my set I am going to print another set of these, for a total of six of each marker, enough for most games.

What a Tanker!

Yesterday we played our first ever 6mm game. Due to the fact neither of us has a complete force to play with (yet), we decided to try out What a Tanker! by Too Fat Lardies...

With two tanks each, my opponent used two French Hotchkisses while I used a StuG B and Panzer IV D, this was a perfect game to get back on the battlefield. While the points weren't precisely equal, they were close enough for this test game. For both of us this was the first battle after a long hiatus, and What a Tanker! proved to be an accessible and entertaining game.

We used the rules with one minor adaptation, we changed all the measurements from Inches to centimetres. This way, the distances matched the terrain...

I had the intention of making a lot of pictures during the game, but quickly forgot about that...

My panzers taking cover at the edge of the village...

The French are advancing on the bridge...

The first Hotchkiss goes up in flames...

The game ended with two burning French tanks, maybe not surprisingly as those were a bit cheaper in points... More important, we got a good impression of the rules and got to play on my new Hex terrain.

Cooling down from CRISIS 2019... The CRYPE is real! pt. III

Visited Crisis Antwerpen yesterday, and it was as good as ever... It must have been the 9th or 10th time I visited the show and it seems to get bigger and better every year.

This year, my main interest was getting some 6mm stuff. Several weeks ago I had placed a pre-order at Magister Miliitum. Quite ideal, as they have the option to pick up your order at one of the shows they visit. They had the order ready, neatly packaged, 100% complete and including the original order form.

About 2/3 of that order was for me, the remaining 1/3 was for my battle buddie. He ordered Early War French and British miniatures...

A total of 21 blisters of GHQ Micro Armour, my part of the order...
All Early War Germans.

I have already begun assembling and painting these, but that's something for another post...

Next on my list were some rulesets... I picked up the Crossfire rulebook first, which actually looks more like a magazine than a proper book; all black and white, soft cover and staples...

Astoundingly, this cost me €30,- I really hope the rules are as good as I have read/heard them to be...

Funny enough, I also paid €30,- for the two hardback, full colour Battlegroup books (picked those up at the PSC stand)... About 200 pages each, filled with interesting background information on the theatre, army lists, scenarios and inspiring pictures. I only intended to replace my digital rulebook with the paper one, but couldn't pass up on their special CRISIS offer... The army lists from both these books (Tobruk and Torch) should be compatible with our Seelöwe campaign...

And right across from the guys from PSC was the trade stand from Too Fat Lardies, where I purchased the I Ain't Been Shot Mum book. Forgot to pick up the cards though...

Next was some paint for my Early War German Panzers and Infantry, which I picked up at Foundry.

And last in the bag were some packs of grass tufts...

All in all a good haul! Assembling and painting the Micro Armour has started and we are getting ready for our first 6mm game.

Already looking forward to CRISIS 2020...