Bloodkite printing

Starting to print the Bloodkite at 1:100

1/100 Mechs - Paint Progress

Here's a WIP photo of partially painted 1/100 Clan mechs. Progress has been pretty slow...

1/100 scale Clan Star

1/100 scale 3D printed Clan Star awaiting paint:

Ready to print

I finished the Gargoyle 3D model today - at least enough to do a 1/100th scale print from. Hopefully will start a printout soon, but may have to do some printing for a client first...

Cleaning out the Closet

I'm having a closet cleanout and throwing some stuff up on ebay over the next few weeks. Some Gundams and whatnot are going up for sale this evening. Give it a look!

http://www.ebay.com/sch/bgreen42/m.html

Of interest to this group might be the rare Crusher Joe Ostall AKA Battletech Locust kit...

In the works...

I've got the design work about 90% done on the Gargoyle / Man o War. Once again, sticking closer to the original 3050 design...

On A Roll

So far I've got parts printed for my 1/100 Fenris, Ryoken and Deimos... put that with my Vulture that I printed a couple of summers ago and I've almost got a Clan Star!

Anyone finish their Ryoken?

Just curious, did anyone that got my cast resin Ryoken back in the day ever finish it? Tim? Scott? Mitch? If so, I'd love to see pictures!

Tentative Plans for 2015

So what do I have planned for 2015 we'll pretend you asked?

I've got 3 more 1:100th scale mechs that I want to print before moving on to other things. I've got STL files that I downloaded for the Deimos and the Atlas (MWO version) that I want to print for myself to help bulk out the 1:100th scale collection. Also want to get around to designing and printing a Gargoyle/Man-o-War.

THEN I want to seriously look at converting all of my 1:100th scale patterns to 1:60th scale to print out for others (1:100th will continue to be my preferred gaming scale but I've starting to collect a small pile of 1:60th scale stuff despite myself... I'm hoping that with the Form1 and cheaper 3rd party resins, that I can come in at similar prices to cast mechs.

To summarize, I currently have 3D models and STL files for the following (based for the most part on artwork found in the original release of TRO3050)

Urbanmech, Flea, Vulcan, Whitworth, Sentinel, Scorpion, Rakshasa, Hatamoto Chi, Ryoken, Fenris (Gargoyle coming soon)

I also have STL files for a few others, but because I just downloaded them and printed them, I won't be offering those. My intent would be to upscale the parts, add a little more detail and re-hollow them to make them more suitable to print at the larger scale. At a guess, I think I can hit $70 with the 45 tonners with assault mechs pushing closer to $200 -- but I'll have to see how much plastic I can hollow out of the larger scale mechs.

Anyone that is interested in pursuing this can contact me via the blog or at
bverde84 atsine hotmail dawt com

Let me know which mechs you would like me to upscale first. Worth noting, I probably won't be starting the 1/60th scale projects til June or so.

Work in Progress

Thought I'd post a few pics of 1/100th scale mechs that I have in progress:

This is my second printout of the 1:100 scale Fenris. The first one seemed a little big and so I gave it another go...

This is the latest printout. A 1:100 scale Ryoken under the curing light. For once the bayonet mount for the waist printed out perfectly. I'm going to try and make the weapons bays for this somewhat modular with pullout missle packs and changeable arms.

This is our version of the Sentinel. One of the student placements at Price did this model for me so if I sell any she gets a cut! Hi Danielle! The main feature of our 1/100th scale version is that he is SMALLER THAN A DAISHI!!!!!I never did like the lead mini for this reason.

All of the mechs shown here were printed with the Formlabs Form1 3D printer using Makerjuice gray resin.

2014 Christmas Auctions

The Fourth Axis 2014 Christmas Auctions will be starting up again this evening 8:00EST Nov 9 2014. The first week will include old standbys with rarer items appearing in following weeks. For those that have been wondering, we will have at least one NSEA Protector ornament this year and there will be at least one Space Wheel up for auction. In addition to Christmas ornaments, we will also be auctioning EVA POD fridge magnets, a KLF Dalek kit and a test print of a Battletech Fenris (approximately 1:90th scale - so whoever bought the FLEA and the VULCAN test shots, this should match pretty well in scale to those).

So visit ebay and get your bids on!
http://www.ebay.ca/sch/bgreen42/m.html

A New Post Just to Stay in Practice...

So the Form1 kinda pooped out after Christmas. Formlabs support, for the record, was wayyyyyyyyy more helpful than 3D Systems has ever been. So while it is away getting exchanged, I'm getting caught up on some mech painting. Base coats and dry brushing started on the Rakshasa and Vulture:

Rakshasa

I just realized that I never did post a pic of the assembled Rakshasa. This could well be the last mech that I print on the V-FLASH.

 

Someone's going to have to paint some mechs soon...

Coming soon(ish)

No progress on the Rakshasa. But I haven't been standing still. I've got near-print-ready models of Fenris, Ryoken and Sentinel (thanks Danielle!) waiting in the wings. Just waiting for the Form1 to arrive. I hope they clear the order backlog soon. Otherwise I'll be forced to buy just one more hideously expensive cartridge for the V-Flash to get me through the summer. Anyways, here's some teaser renders:

Rakshasa Print

I finished up designing the joints on Saturday and did a printout last night. It turned out good for the most part except for the tips of the medium lasers. I'll be reprinting those sometime down the road. I'm hoping to get the cleanup done today and assembly done sometime during the week.

Coming Soon! Rakshasa!

I've been puttering with the Rakshasa this morning and have just about all of the bits modelled. Just have to figure out how to do some of the joints and it'll be ready to print...

Its a 75 ton mech so it'll probably be pretty pricey to print on the V-Flash at 1/60th scale at the moment, so will probably just do a couple at 1/100 for now.

Things are still looking positive for the Formlabs printer. Hopefully will have one in April or May -- then we can take a look at getting the costs under control for 1/60th scale prints of all the mechs that I've modelled so far.

Whitworth for Sale

I just posted the auction for the 1/100 scale Whitworth. Not sure yet if this will be the only Mech auction this Christmas. I've got a few more 2001 items that can go, and some other random stuff will appear as I finish it.

I've been doing some new CAD files so that I can print the 2001 ornaments on the V-FLASH. That would mean better detail and lighter ornaments. So far, I'm close to finishing the ARIES lander and have done some preliminary work on the POD. Hopefully you'll be seeing these at auction for Christmas 2013!

Christmas (auctions) are coming...

There will be the usual 2001 stuff and a couple of 1/100th scale Battletech mechs for good measure...

yup...

any day now...

V-FLASH and 3D Systems

V-FLASH... every printout is an adventure. Y'know the kind... where most everybody dies from exposure or starvation and you end up eating your bunkmate. Sigh. Only five months til I get my Form1. Then life will be sweetness and roses... (I can hope)

Our friend Scott over at Messy Desk wanted a 1/60th scale Whitworth, so I thought I'd give it a go on the V-FLASH this weekend.

Lets see... took me an hour and a half to clean and prep the printer. First it needed cleaning. Then the resin in the cartridge needed to be mixed (it kept coming out clear and inconsistent). Then the header came off the tranparent feeder. Then I found the missing pin and reassembled it. Then I put the cartridge back together without the resin feed tube connected. Then I took it apart again. Then I lost a spring from the drive coupler. Then I found the spring again. Then I put the cartridge back together. Then I cleaned it again. Then I started printing.

So maybe, just maybe, there's a 1/60th scale Whitworth printing as I type...

ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!! I coulda had an Objet by now...

Why 3D Systems would continue to use FTI technology in their new Projet Printers is beyond me.

Whitworth on a Hexbase

And here, finally, a pic of the half painted Whitworth...

BTW, not crazy about the new blogger interface. Took a bit of poking around to figure out how to post again. Although the metrics are kinda neat...