Production Lines

As I ran out of miniatures to paint for my Astral Claws, it became simultaneously apparent that it was extremely unlikely that I would be able to attend any of the remaining campaign events.

This had a massive impact on my desire to spend much more money on an army unlikely to see massive amounts of table time.

However, this did open up an opportunity to test how well my FDM printer could handle vehicles other than ramshackle Ork constructions.

I've started with a Rhino which is a free file available on one of the well-known sharing platforms. I printed it using the 0.4mm nozzle and standard settings as using the smaller nozzle had a ridiculously high print time.

The Rhino printed in three pieces and is hollow inside and there were no issues with the print, although getting the supports out of the racks was a bit fiddly.

When it came to painting, I kept things as simple as I have done with the whole Astral Claws army. Spray silver, wash black, dry brush silver. Add blue bits (gloss varnished) and gold details (Agrax wash) and then finish off with the lights.

I limited the amount of transfers on the model as I am trying to avoid buying a new sheet and there aren't many big flat spaces on the model.

Overall, I'm happy with this little experiment although I do have to admit that the layer lines are very much visible and this is no match for one of the plastic kits.

However, given that I'm not trying to paint this army to anything other than tabletop standard, from 3 feet away the Rhino looks fine and cost significantly less than the RRP of a standard Rhino.

I'm going to go the 3d printed route for a few more vehicles for this army, a decision that is helped by the same creator having a couple more vehicles in the same style (the Astral Claws made heavy use of the Rhino chassis apparently).

This experience has helped me to decide that I probably won't print any additional vehicles for my Blood Angels as I want to keep my armies consistent. Where I actually buy more for them remains to be seen.

Acquired: -97
Painted: 150
Lead Mountain: 406