Mini from Arbiter miniatures, scaled down to 15mm. ELEGOO PLA Pro Purple. Bambu Labs A1 mini with 0.2mm nozzle. 0.06mm layer height.
So back to basics I got a new ELEGOO PLA Pro to test versus my ELEGOO PLA basic. After doing all relevant calibrations I tried using it with the highly fine tuned settings I had for basic (0.03mm layer height, low speeds, etc).
The results I got were disheartening at least. I got really fine stringing like hair which would cause minor imperfections. I tried adjusting temperatures, retractions, z-hop, drying the filament. Nothing worked 100%.
Then I remembered a lesson I had learned when starting 3d printing: back to basics. Whenever something doesn’t work, reset to default settings.
I switched to the Bambu default presets for 0.06mm layer height High Quality. The results were amazing. Rigid printing minimal layers, no imperfections.
My theory is that the different properties of Pro are more rigid, so it doesn’t allow the squishing of my other settings I was using for basic. However it works really well with default settings perhaps it fixes itself better together with no curling, stringing or gaps.
Reptilians, aliens, slugs. It wouldn’t be space opera without some (more) xenos. These sculpts from Brite Minis will make great additions to my existing collection.
I painted the reptilians green with vermillion colour armor. The slug and the alien, in simple colours. Gave the slug a yellow bottom part and satin varnish for this moist effect.
On another note, I tried to improve my miniatures photography. Used Adobe Lightroom and my white photo box and I think I’ve gotten some better results than before.
Space ReptilliansReptilian with minigunReptilian with pistolReptilian with rifleSpace alienSpace slug
Continuing with various robots from Brite Minis. I love the sculpts with the cloaks, I find them quite unique and fun. The robot inspector is nice too, plus a robot wizard. They can easily work as Soulless or Bots in Five Parsecs from Home., and will be a nice addition to my not-necrons (cyborgs from alternative armies).
Space RobotsSpace robotSpace robotSpace robotSpace robot deathead with scythe Space robot wizardSpace robot PI
More dudes in space. Four space bandits and one adventuress from Brite Minis. The space adventuress has a small imperfection in the face during printing that I hadn’t noticed until after painting, (these minis are tiny let’s not forget), but I guess it could be a scar from a space battle with a space beast.
Space BanditsSpace bandit with blade and pistolSpace bandit with club and pistolSpace bandit with club and rifleSpace bandit with shotgunSpace adventuress with shotgun
Pookah space nice from dutchmogul/Ill Gotten Games. Two space fringers already in 18mm scale, and one space pirate from 28mm scale that I had to scale down appropriately. I also did some reposing of the pistol arm of the latter for support less printing, but the supported version turned out okay as well, so I painted both.
Some more sci-fi miniatures from Brite Minis sculpts. Again printed in FDM, 15mm scale (60%), 0.03mm layer height. Printed in a Bambu Labs A1 mini with a 0.2mm nozzle and ELEGOO PLA.
They’re a space Minotaur, a space elf, a dwarf with minigun and cloudbuster (tribute to Donald Sutherland). The last two are actually “modern” minis that can double as sci-fi.
They’re not actually a space crew, but… they could be, and given that I painted them together as a group, here they are.
An odd space crewCloudbusterDwarf with minigunSpace ElfSpace Minotaur
Lately I’ve been printing and painting even more of sci fi miniatures. I’ve been reading Five Parsecs from Home: Tactics, and really want to get back into Unified Space. To do this, I’ll want to expand my collection with more sci fi minis and terrain, which I found recently to be a really enjoyable part of the hobby.
I finished several different sets these past few days, but I found that photography against the white photobox background really messes up with exposure. So I printed a black photobox, hoping for some better results. Exposure and contrast is better, but the background is visible as the gloss black layer lines of the photobox reflect the light that falls on them. Nevertheless I find it looks better.
So, Brite Minis has released a set of Space Knight riders. Since they’re modular, I took their heads and weapons, along with some from the Modular Space set, and printed five more Space Knights (and a Space Ranger).
Space Knight with Eyepatch Space Knight with BolterSpace Knight with Dual gunsSpace Knight with BolterSpace RangerThe entire squad of Space Knights
…and a Space Halfling. On a quest to reclaim long stolen credits by a Space Dragon.
Three Space Dwarves and a Space Halfling from Brite Minis. Printed in FDM, 0.03mm layer height. Love their style. Painted them in a similar style to their showcase pictures, washed with Soft Tone wash to lighten their look.
Space partySpace dwarf with pistolSpace dwarf with pistol and axeSpace dwarf with mini gunSpace Halfling
3d printing miniatures is not yet an exact science. There is a lot of trial and error, and when you get some consistent results, it is imperative that you maintain the same parameters for as long as possible in order to have repeatability. I’ve been printing a whole lot of miniatures lately using the settings I’ve defined, and I think it’s about time I’ve sat down and started painting them. I’m tackling first the sci-fi theme, starting with the Brite Minis Space Knights (now available only in MMF as Brite Minis modulars are available in the patreon only on the month of release).
I decided to go with a colour scheme similar to the one Brite Minis did on their print showcase. I’ve mixed different techniques; slap chop, layering and washes. Overkill? perhaps, but I love the end result. The armor is painted in reds (Karmine<Pyrole<Vermillion), the cloths are painted in yellows (Vermillion<Yellow/White mix), and finally some greens (Light Green<Yellow Green<Lemon Yellow), for the skin tone I went with my regular mix (Burnt Sienna<Naples Yellow Red<Naples Yellow Red Light), and some Silver for the metallics.
Space KnightsSpace Knight SergeantSpace Knight with BolterSpace Knight with Plasma gunSpace Knight with Flamer
In the past couple of months I’ve been 3d printing miniatures in 15mm scale using my Bambu Labs A1 mini with a 0.2mm nozzle and basic PLA filaments. The results so far were good, some better, some worse, but good enough for my (solo) table.
However, continuing my last post about painting these, I could not help but have a slight feeling of frustration fighting against these minor imperfections and layer lines.
So I decided to take a plunge further, and see if I can accomplish even better results on the printing side.
I’ll explain all my process, because I think there’s valuable info, if you don’t want to read it, and just want the print settings, scroll down.
The Basics
My machine is a Bambu Labs A1 mini. I have installed a 0.2mm nozzle. I got a big supply of ELEGOO PLA. It’s really cheap, as I got it at about 10 bucks a roll, final price with shipping, no customs or extra charges. Perhaps some more fancy filament would give better results, but that’s what I have and what I worked with.
Calibration
With Bambu Labs A1 mini I was complacent, reliant on the automated calibration settings, and just using filament manufacturer specs. It became evident to me that if I want to get the best print output I want, I’d have to do manual calibration.
I used Orca Slicer, and run a temperature tower from 190C to 230C. At the temperature of 190, 195 and 200 I had no stringing.
Temperature tower
I then did a Flow Rate compensation test. For ELEGOO PLA the manufacturer gives a value of 0.98. After running the calibration, I increased it to 1.029, as I found the +5 had the best surface.
Flow Rate calibration
I followed up with the Pressure Advance test. I did, Line, Pattern and Tower. For my 0.2mm nozzle this gave the best results at k 0.2
Pressure advance calibration
Just a minor note that I also flow rate calibrated all my 3 opened colours (white, black and space gray) of ELEGOO PLA and got consistent results of 0.2 for my 0.2mm nozzle and 0.02 for my 0.4mm nozzle.
Finally I did a retraction tower calibration and got no stringing at all. So I kept the retraction length at 0.4 as proposed.
Retraction calibration
The I printed a miniature with temperature at 200C. The improvement was evident, but I could see very fine stringing on the prime tower, so I decided to go lower, at 190C which is within manufacturer specs and also was good at the temperature tower, and what do you know? Stringing disappeared.
The takeaway here is if you want to print minis, spend some time and calibrate your printer. It pays off.
With this out of the way, let’s talk about print settings.
Acknowledgments
First of all I’d like acknowledge /u/HOHansen’s major input into giving valuable guidelines, settings, painting tips and driving the FDMminiatures printing community forwards. Thanks. I doubt all of this would have been possible without a strong foundation to experiment with.
Also many thanks to Fat Dragon Miniatures who have shared their print profiles and show that nice quality minis are possible with FDM.
Settings
I won’t go into many details here, as I have done this thoroughly in the past, but give some highlights and thoughts, as well as as key improvements.
First of all I decided to experiment. I used Orca Slicer and used all their fancy bells and whistles. Scarf joints, Precise Z height, whatever I read that could improve quality and was experimental, I enabled.
I lowered my Layer Height to 0.03mm. Yes. That’s lower than the calculated 20% of nozzle size. I reduced resolution to 0.001 and also the Slice Gap Closing radius value.
I reduced the speeds significantly. Quality takes time. I get 2-3 hours of printing time for a single 15mm miniature. Silly? Not for me.
Kept Arachne, and my Prime Tower.
NOTE: I have not tackled support settings yet. If you need supports you’ll have to plug in your own settings, these do NOT work.
Clean levelled plate, lubricated Axes, Dynamic Flow Calibration Disabled. Good to go.
Then I went ahead and printed a Brite mini with my fingers crossed. And what do you know? It worked, amazingly well if I may add. I then printed another one to ensure I have repeatability, and it wasn’t plain luck, it worked as well. Even my “shield” issue was gone (if you’ve noticed my prints so far, the shields had a warp in the lower left side).
There was no stringing and had to do no post processing with a lighter.
On purpose I chose well detailed miniatures like the space bandit and Greek hero.
Bandit frontBandit backGreek hero frontGreek hero back
Painting
I felt confident and decided to go ahead with my “regular” painting process and do my horizontal slap chop., a single damp coat of paint and varnish.
However as /u/Toprewolf proposed, I decided not to apply my regular water based washes, and experiment with Oil washes. Last time I had tried it, it didn’t work as I had hoped, but this time I studied better. I’m still expecting some quality supplies to arrive, but I still wanted to test it. So I decided to test an oil wash made with my dollar store oils on the Greek hero.
Greek hero frontGreek hero rear
It’s still pending the oils to cure and an oil varnish to secure it. But it’s good enough to showcase.
I’m absolutely thrilled with the results. The layer lines are almost nonexistent and this was evident in all steps. Imperfections have vanished. I could see details in the toes and sandals, that my painting covered.
Once I get my quality oils and varnish the minis, I’ll take new photos and upload the results and update this post but I know people are asking about this, so I wanted to share as early as possible.
Next steps
I’ve decided to modulate my hobby time so as to have the most fun, so it’s going to be mostly playing on weekends and painting and printing on weekdays.
On the printing front, the next thing I want to address is Supports.
Summary
Printing high quality minis in small scales is possible in FDM. You’ll need a quality printer that is carefully calibrated and well maintained. Filament must be in a good condition. Reducing the layer and resolution means you’ll need to go slow. Going slow, in turn means reducing the temperature to avoid stringing and oozing. A prime tower is important to allow for the small 15mm mini to cool before the next layer.
Solo, Pen, Paper and Dice 
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