Alas, I ran out of time to get my stuff ready to game with tonight. Long day at work, not enough time to finish the models I wanted to and so I pushed it back. Instead had an evening of TV watching and hanging out with The Sister, while also writing up a little more of my battle reports from the fantasy games.
However, I also had some time to play with the UK para STLs I bought from Kickstarter. I have to admit, the 1 hour turnaround from payment being taken to files on my hard drive that occured yesterday will be hard to beat. Spent last night with them and finally got some prints off this morning and… I’ve got mixed feelings about them. The files are massive compared to the regular files I get from most other STL sources (over 100mb for a 28mm sized figure). There also seems to be lots of voids in the models (such as gaps between vests and torsos) which is usually recommended. Lychee gave me several warnings about them so I let it repair, send it to print and waited the result.
Well that’s not good. Lychee and 3dBuilder’s repairs turned small voids into big ones, tearing off back packs and arms of models.
Deciding to try the raw files gave a much better result. To be positive for a moment – I really like the posing and details on these models. The heads might look massive on the STLs but once printed they seem like reasonable gaming pieces. It’s also cool to get two versions of each (helmet and headset) with the headset one including a helmet elsewhere on the figure. There is also a nice mix of weapons and gear, so they look like a team of ally looking soldiers.
However, it’s not all perfect. There are some issues with the sunglasses (they seem to collapse in on themselves) and the rail system is actually hollow, rather than a solid block. This might be good for detail, but this tore away through some movements as I trimmed off the supports.
I’ve mentioned these issues on the Kickstarter page, not sure I’ll receive much assistance. Even with the issues, these models are definitely worth playing around with, especially as I need some L85 armed figures that look different from my Empress and White Dragon ones.