Defensive Walls & 3D Printing

Time for an update on the defensive walls I had 3D printed - for a recap of how this started have a look at this post.

If you don't have the time to read that the models I had printed looked like this...

Corner piece on the left and straight section on the right
(which is pretty obvious so i'm not sure why I am telling you)

So the 3D prints arrived, turned out to be a quicker turn around than I expected.

I went with two different materials to see what the difference was.

The 3D Prints:

The straight section used the bog standard, run of the mill cheapest material ('White, Strong & Flexible') while for the corner piece I went with a more expensive material (Alumide) though the difference between the costs wasn't huge, but if you were doing many prints or large pieces the cost would be noticeable so it was worth investigating both materials.

There isn't a huge difference between the two pieces. The surface texture seems to be the same on both, there is no noticeable difference. However the more expensive material does have sharper detail especially on the top. The detail on the straight section is definately less defined, the straight section also has slight 'sagging' along the top face. I think as the material has cooled it fell slightly (like a cake?), it is very, very minor, maybe a .25mm and probably wouldn't be noticed if you weren't giving the pieces a good look over.

I gave the two pieces an undercoat, partly to make it easier to compare the pieces and also to help with the moulding process as the WSF isn't great for moulding due to being slightly porous, but with the undercoat I hoped this would be overcome.

Coat of Helfords grey prior to doing the moulds.

Playing with Rubber.

So some rubber was poured and after 24 hours I had a mould of the pieces and I set about making some casts.

I bought a big bag of plaster for the casting as it is a lot cheaper than resin. I was uncertain how it would deal with the detail however but at only about 15 quid for 5kg including postage it was worth investigating.

Cast One - Complete Balls Up - got the mix wrong (should of read the instructions better...)

Idiot.

Cast Two - Much better, but still not great. In hindsight I would of done the mould different as I did it with the mindframe of a resin cast.

Getting Better.

Cast Three - thought I would do a cast using resin as a comparison to the plaster versions. Detail is definately sharper. The detail on the top for example is more defined.

In hindsight I probably wouldn't of done the top detail as it is just a bit too fine for the materials used and for the casting, the plaster especially struggles with it.

Moving forward I will be doing some more casts in plaster to try different things out, such as different water/powder mixes.

I think I will order some more casts as well to try out more materials. Basically the money from the Looted Wagons I sold are being put into this with the aim of getting things right before doing anything bigger or more ambitious.

The surface texture issue is fine on these as they are meant to be concrete so the rough surface works. For other things, such as tank pieces or detail pieces I will need something better - hence needing more material experiments.

Expect an update sometime in the near future...

...btw, i've not done anything with the backpack yet so don't ask...