Etsy, oh you Temptress

What's wrong with Etsy?  Absolutely nothing if you like an empty wallet and to have drool over your computer screen.  But for those of us on a hobby budget and a shared home computer, its a challenge.  Back in early summer I saw some cool new terrain items so started adding to my cart, went to the summary and realized it was over $600, way too much for a one off set of terrain.  

Due to the costs on Etsy, I got curious and looked at FDM printers and it turned out they were on sale, a huge sale!  Elegoo were clearing '23 models to make way for new kit.  I got a printer and a ton of PLA plus the same STL files I was looking at on Etsy for a fraction of the price of that fancy new terrain on Etsy.

So now I'm in the make-my-own-toys biz, or at least I thought I was. 

 The FDM printer was a breeze to set up and get going.  Too easy perhaps?

A couple of early attempts, the building is a commercial STL, prints flawlessly, the VTOL is a freebie.  And the lesson learned, you absolutely get what you pay for...  And next, a stated scale in an STL seems to be completely arbitrary.  I've seem 6mm figs which are 10mm , 28/32 mm figs 40mm and more.  There is a lot of tinkering to work out if the print is the 'right' scale.

So, the FDM is great for big things but less great for small ones, Mini-Me Minor wanted to make some figs for his DnD campaign.  So we did, they are OK, at least when ~30mm-is size, but drop them to 15-20mm and they just don't work.  Turns out scaling 30mm down detail is too fine and gets lost, we have had more success scaling up 6mm figs for him.  But there is less choice.

On the other hand, there are lots of things I would like to make.  So it was back off to check out those sales, and here's where I ended up with a shiny new 8k resolution resin printer.  The learning curve with this is steep, but manageable.  I'm now getting there and planning to really use it.  How you ask? 

Well the next GZG ECC planning time is now, this is what I'm thinking of (some test prints)

These are 15mm Scopedogs from VOTOMS.  I'm thinking a VOTOMs like mass mecha battle could be a fun Cinegrunt game.

I now only need a to crank out whole bunch more for the next GZG ECC!