3D Printing for Wargamers: Finding STL Files

[@HardingWE]

Think the biggest danger of 3D printing is where the heck do you store all the stuff you're going to print! Great video.

[@jamesschardt]

This!

[@keegancorey7750]

InstaBlaster...

[@3dalienworlds738]

Thanks for the mention! Very glad to hear you're enjoying the samurai terrain!

[@lwtvsteve4975]

From what you've produced so far, I think your stuff is the best out there for this period/genre. As we speak I'm painting up your zen garden -- brilliant piece of terrain! Now get back to work on those modular farmhouses!

[@redmist1122]

Having watched all the vids in this series a few times, and this one in particular 6 times...yes 6 times, it inspired me to get rid of my current printer which I had nothing but issues with, and find a more introductory printer. That should be arriving in the next few days. What really got me excited was the U-boat you displayed at the end of this vid. Looking forward to a more pleasant experience than before. Thanks again for the inspiration.

[@lwtvsteve4975]

That's a lot of views and I'm glad I'm providing inspiration! Good luck with the new printer!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Sometime later this year, you might see that very U-boat on the tabletop in a wargame. You can't print a 3' U-boat and NOT put it to good use!

[@redmist1122]

@@LittleWarsTV Exactly! I have a nice collection of Kriegsmarines...so this will be one of the fists prints...or at least in the top 10.

[@redmist1122]

@@lwtvsteve4975 Thank you...will post back on later episodes on the success.

[@GentleGiantDK]

Another sculptor to look out for is Iain Lovecraft. He has done his own stuff (usually through Kickstarter and then the models go on his own website) and has done modelling for other people's Kickstarters too. On his site he has a lot of models for Mesoamerican and Roman buildings/scenery: i-lovecraft.com/ Speaking of Iain Lovecraft and his work for others, he's the modeler behind 3D-Printcrafts "City of the Hobgoblin King" Kickstarter, which happens to focus on versions of Japanese Medieval-type buildings (and mythology): www.kickstarter.com/projects/700625190/city-of-the-hobgoblin-king-3d-printable-fantasy-rp/ The campaign is about to start fulfillment, so the models should start to be available commercially soonish too.

[@lwtvsteve4975]

Claus Olesen Thanks! I’ve seen Iain’s fantasy stuff in the past but not the historical stuff, and it looks great!

[@funwithmadness]

This just tells me that I need to design some historical models for you all!

[@hamm6035]

How hard is it to learn to create the files?

[@jerryudonneedtoknow3903]

@@hamm6035 no hard, just time consuming

[@TheOleGreyGamer]

Tip on how to find things easier in Thingiverse. Do a Google search using the same words you would search with on thingiverse and include the word thingiverse. For instance a Google search of T34 thimgiverse will give you a result that has all of the things on thingiverse that are tagged with T34.

[@scottpankonin1068]

Cromarty Forge. Great 15mm scaled figs for the Roman Era. They have early and late. I am working through some Goths now that are awesome. 12-15 poses in a set so you can get a lot of variety. They have sets that feature dynamic "attacking" poses as well as more traditional "standing" static poses. I'm hoping they expand their range into Medieval. They have vikings so moving in that direction.

[@smoothvirus]

Thanks for making these! I recently got a 3D printer for my RC flying hobby but soon figured out I could print a lot of other things as well. Hoping you'll cover painting the miniatures, and also going out and finding rule sets you can use for tabletop wargaming with the miniatures we print - this has been my biggest issue so far. I have seen some rule sets for sale (Bolt Action) but they also include (very expensive) models. I don't need the models, I need the books that come with them.....

[@thattassiewargamer]

I’ve printed WWII Nornandy houses from both Jens Najewitz and Printable Scenery and I’ve found both really good but found the design of Printable Scenery stuff to be better, with more detailed brickwork and pegs that hold upper floors in place. The assembly design is a little odd on houses from Jens.

[@lwtvsteve4975]

Darren Wishart-Brown I agree, Printable Scenery is in a class all its own, and while sometimes fiddly, Jens’ stuff is still very good and his range of available models is terrific.

[@bobm203]

Suggst you look at Henry Turner sells on minifactory & kickstarter…huge napoleonic & acw sets (mostly in 6 mm but scaleable) also several 1650-1800 sailing ship ranges. (Current kickstarter for 7 years war) Sevnd lookup wow buildings web site…..many many scalable buildings…also does kick starter. Good designers that stand behind there stuff & fix any problems found

[@wileywiggins9049]

You can also check out wargaming3d.com. Some of the modellers from Thingiverse have moved there, including MBergman and TigerAce1945.

[@stephenrenwick8781]

You pretty much covered everywhere I have looked at or purchased from.

[@idc5025]

Oh good grief. I'm gonna have to get one of these 3D printer contraptions, aren't I?

[@idc5025]

@@IronIvanKeith I like your cunning plan. 😈

[@blackhawkuh-6026]

@@idc5025 did you get one?

[@a7i20ci7y]

I once had a boss who explained to me that at Disney world the employees are called cast members, and even the guy who sweeps the street is the "happy go lucky street sweeper" and that I need to smile more. We worked on SCADA systems. I just stared at him. Anyway, I feel your emote pain, even if you don't express that pain on your face.

[@AlwaysCensored-xp1be]

Yep got resin printer becuase I couldn't figure nd Aixfix soldiers any more. Now trying to find the 3D models.

[@Nightmare-cr3iw]

You mentioned in your first video that getting tanks and terrain is easy, but getting miniatures of soldiers is tough. Well I happen to be running into that VERY same issue right now. My father and I are trying to put together a WWII Africa theater set using Fistful of TOWs and I can find almost everything EXCEPT soldiers to fill my infantry stands. Got any suggestions as to where I can find some great looking British and German soldiers in the 6-10mm range?

[@LittleWarsTV]

Pendraken for 10mm WW2 is a great option. In 6mm, we have a lot of WW2 infantry from Heroics & Ros as well as GHQ. Baccus is working on a range for WW2 but right now it's not fully comprehensive yet. The Baccus infantry are gorgeous but very much on the "big" side for true 6mm compared to the others.

[@johnpjones1775]

I’m looking for designs for 1860s-1890s ships and models. It seems models jump from ACW to WWI/WWII

[@leonleese4919]

Great info. I’m looking for buildings for war of Spanish succession and Austrian succession that won’t look out of place on the major European areas of conflict. Any specific suggestions?

[@robertshewring8840]

Also WOWBuildings . He just does WW2 stuff. is on kick starter but also store front and kickstarter is cheaper

[@Emian328]

Any chance you can point me to an stl file for printing 15mm ancient city walls, like your cardboard walls pdf? If I could find that, I'd totally get into a 3D printer. I've looked and cant find them, but I thought I remember you referencing printed walls on one of your videos.

[@aceyirl]

Cults3d has some items I found. Thanks for this list!

[@hamm6035]

If you could answer this please. Still kicking around which type of 3D printer. Amazon now down to $250 and $200 for a special. Is there a format difference so the files are not interchangeable. I'm considering one of each for the different qualities they have. (Just daughters doll house furniture will pay for one the first month). I'm finding for myself, war-gaming vehicals are killing me. If I can print armies for less than $400, (that should be easy), again I get to learn something and make cool things how can I loose.

[@bigremy4569]

Anyone know a good spot for world war 1? Been checking all these places and can’t find a lot for the Great War

[@corvinuis]

nice video thank you i found 3 sites i had never heard about

[@charlesrichardson6027]

Thanks, Steve!! Very cool! How hard is it to modify these files or create your own?

[@lwtvsteve4975]

Charles Richardson I have not really tried to modify STL files (other than change size in the slicer, which is easy), but I have dabbled in file creation. That proved surprisingly easy after I was willing to spend a little time learning some 3D modeling software that’s freely available out there -specifically Fusion 360 and Sculptris.

[@redmist1122]

You mentioned changing the size...what would be the trick to convert a 1/56 model for 1/48 scale?

[@lwtvsteve4975]

@@redmist1122 You'll have to figure out the percentage scaling necessary, and fortunately there is a calculator to do this at a new(ish) website I've been alerted to and will likely discuss in a future video. Check out: www.wargaming3d.com/scale-conversion-for-3d-printing-wargaming-vehicles-terrain/

[@MattVogt2]

That was some high quality emoting :-)

[@e-4airman124]

thank you for all the information.

[@commandosolo_193]

thank you for this video!

[@sirus976]

Why hello little wars T.V 😃👋👋

[@dluff]

I also use Yeggi

[@lwtvsteve4975]

David luff I agree that Yeggi can be very useful if you know exactly what you’re looking for.

[@dluff]

LWTV Steve true, can be a pain searching

[@ericdeutsch9665]

Hate to be negative but the reason you can’t find many historical files for 3-D printing is because his Historical gaming is absolutely dying as a hobby.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Compared to 20+ years ago, it does feel like the historical side of the wargaming hobby has declined. But we don't think it's an inevitable demise!

[@ericdeutsch9665]

Compared to five years ago is declining significantly example I went to historicon in 2009 and was amazed and all the amazing games I looked at the games this year and they were nowhere near the amount of history based games factors more Warhammer age of Sigmor and fantasy-based games another example where I am there’s a convention called recon When I first went to this convention back intothousandfive I was absolutely amazed and blown away by the amount of historical games historical miniature sugar pie it was amazing now all the people run these games are dead we’re not coming to the conventions anymore and the younger players who came to the conventions with their dads and granddad’s have absolutely no interest in playing these games and if you go to most gaming stores or gaming shops you don’t find what you did back in the late 80s or early 90s here in the mid 90s it Warhammer magic and dungeons and dragons there is no flames of war very little Bolt action no saga no DBA no check your six quite literally nothing not saying these are bad games I think I love most of them but the problem is the younger generation does not care. Unless it’s a superhero or video game and yes I’m sure you can point out that there’s gonna be a lot of Younger players of the July show but they are nothing compared absolute stunning amount of Younger players that go to Gen Con and dragon con and that’s future of gaming it’s sad I know but that’s where we’re headed to

[@Metaman2012]

​@@ericdeutsch9665 I may be rather late with a response here but bear with me. Note that everything below is based on my observation of wargaming as hobby for several years, and that i am by no means an expert, some things here are speculation derived from said observation, so feel free to take everything written here with a grain of salt. I will have to disagree somewhat with this idea that historical wargaming is dying, one must remember that historical wargaming is one part of the miniature wargaming genre as a whole , a genre that for the last decade has literally exploded in growth and popularity, and that includes all forms of it, historical and non historical games. Newer technologies in molding and materials have made everything easier and less expensive, the internet has helped divulge the hobby and helps different people organize to play, and crowdfunding and 3d printing have made the hobby in general incredibly acessible. However, non historical wargaming(fantasy and sci-fi) has benefitted the most from this boom in the hobby, but historical games have also enjoyed some growth as well. One has to remember what the Little Wars TV folks have said: "Sci-fi and fantasy have always been gateway drugs for historical wargaming" (not the exact words, but i digress), so if even 10 to 20% of the tens of thousands of new players that play non-historicalwargames get into the historical part of the genre, that is still an absolute ton of new people. one can see it in the historicon and other con videos, dozens to hundreds of youger people playing napoleonics and ww2 games, and a ton of other games as well. So, historical wargaming is most definetly NOT dying, but it taken the second place to fantasy and sci-fi. It will likely never really die, at worst it becomes a very small niche in the market, but i really dont see that happening. Sorry for any spelling mistakes, i am not a native english speaker.

[@ericdeutsch9665]

André Felipe Carioca Don’t worry about it I think you for a pleasant discussion.