Impact Miniatures Review: Follow-Up

This is a follow up to my Previous Post that compared Impact Miniatures 3D printing to that of Hero Forge. If you haven't read it, the long and short of it is that you can expect even higher quality and more affordable printing by designing a miniature with Hero Forge, buying the STL, then having Impact Miniatures print the model for you. (Or really anything these days, from Thingiverse to the numerous Kickstarters for miniatures that are out there.)

Since my original post I've taken many opportunities to mention Impact's services on social media to people interested in getting their own miniatures printed or liked what they'd designed on Hero Forge and were looking for better printing options.

And yes, he's still able to operate during Covid!

(Full disclosure - the "Punk Turtle" miniature I designed was printed by Impact for free as a review piece due to the details on him, but the minis / parts I and my friends have purchased we paid for.)

Nightstalkers: Sutter's Nightmare (King's of War)

I've been meaning to post this project for a while, as I painted this army up over the winter. It's tabletop quality, not like my usual Hordebloods level of detail, but it's completed and I'm happy with it!

One of the things I'd looked forward to with this army was creating scenic bases, rather than individual models. It's a new way to create your miniatures and allows you to combine terrain making with basing.

I took this idea a step further using inspiration from a scene on one of my favorite scary movies, In the Mouth of Madness. (Which also stars one of my favorite actors, Sam Neill and directed by the legendary John Carpenter.) In this scene, reality tears and Neill stares into the void. It's a simple concept but it added extra flavour to my bases.

This won't be a tutorial - that will come later. But I will discuss concepts and details.

OK, so - goals:

• I wanted the army to be completed in a reasonable amount of time.
• This meant tabletop quality.
• To paint them quick and still highlight detail, I tried out the new Games Workshop Contrast Paints.
• I wanted it to appear as if they'd come from the pages of an occult book.
• For these I printed pages from the Necronomicon onto light yellow paper and covered in paint to age them.
• Not just coming from the pages, but tearing through reality. Blurring the lines between what's real and fiction. Is the book merely a portal into our world? Or is the world a reality woven from the words in the book?
• To execute this, all the bases have some level of detail where reality is literally being "torn" open to reveal an inky black void on the other side of the pages of the book.
• The book is created by gluing down portions of the Necronomicon which are ripped outwards.
• Void
• The inky blackness is made from Heavy Sculpting Gel mixed with Black Gesso and covered in matte varnish. (Some of the void creatures are created the same way, either covering an existing form or with a wire skeleton.)
• For the colours, I'm working with a limited palette:
• Browns and yellows for the core of the creatures, with accents of red and white tipped weapons.
• Terrain is primarily rendered in the green spectrum, (Grass, leaves and stone.) with some brown dirt and paths, small red rose bushes and some yellow hay and flowers.
• Even the water is coloured green and to keep the limited palette I've used white sand / shells for all the shore and lake features.
• Sturdy Scenic Bases
• Each unit has a thin wooden base.
• Most units have 3D printed structures that I designed myself to build the form of the terrain they're built upon.
• Tokens needed to stand out from the rest of the army somehow so they don't blend in.
• I ended up going with blue, taking a line from the movie where the author makes everything change to blue, his favorite colour, to prove the control he has over the world.
• Tokens were also 3D printed.

Overall I feel I executed a nice army with a warm colour scheme on a cool backdrop with strong white accents.

Below, you can see the full army. Click through for more army photos and individual shots and descriptions.

Molotow Chrome Pens and 3D-printed Holder

It's my birthday today, but in a twist, I'm going to give you a present! This is a 3D-printable pen holder that I designed to hold 4mm Molotow Pens. Why do you need these pens, or a holder for them? Mirror-chrome! Both paintable and airbrushable. The holder I designed allows you to keep the pen upright and opened without worry about spilling. Since these pens need to be kept upright once you crack the tip, this holder can also be used for storage.

Painting Punk Turtle and Jeans

You may have read my post a few weeks back where I reviewed the 3D printing services from Impact Miniatures. (If you haven't, I recommend taking a read!)

This week I want to focus on the steps I took to actually paint the miniature. (Like the Jeans) I painted him in a style very "me" and as usual, really like how he turned out. I did try a few things though as a way to challenge myself and experiment and there's going to be a few things I'll take away from this one.

To touch on these items, the first is that I used a new flow aid. Simply, Curry's brand instead of Liquitex. The difference I found was that Curry's was a little more "oily", (Not really, because it's water based) but that's kind of what it felt like - essentially this was nicer for blending from one colour to the next and it kept the paints a little wetter longer.

The other thing I did was I avoided using washes. (Mostly)

Impact Miniatures 3D Printing Review

[Update, Feb. 2021] Read the follow-up review to see how Impact has improved their printing even more.

The future is now.

No, really, it's pretty close to being here and today I'm looking at one of the reasons why. 3D printing has come a long way in recent years and I'm always excited to see how it can be applied to our hobbies involving miniatures and wargaming. Maybe you've read my previous review on Hero Forge, a site that allows you to custom design a miniature, then order it 3D printed for your gaming and painting needs. Well, now they give you the option to purchase the 3D file and print it yourself - or, get it printed by a third party like Impact Miniatures.

This is a company that offers high quality 3D Printing services at excellent prices. (In addition to their ranges of dice and accessories as well as miniatures in the styles of chibi, fantasy and more!) Don't take my word on it though, there are plenty of photos within this review so you can see the quality for yourself.

Full disclosure, I was contacted by the owner of Impact Miniatures, Tom Anders, and was provided free samples for the purposes of this review.

Frankenstein's Bust

This past spring was the 200th anniversary of the novel Frankenstein and our local library system celebrated it in a number of ways. As the Artist at Work that month and them wanting to promote their 3D printing services, I decided to paint a Frankenstein Monster bust... which was also my first time painting a bust and a neat experience.

In this article I'm going to briefly talk about the demo experience, then some 3D printing, painting the bust and finally mounting it to a plinth.

Review - HC SVNT Dracones 3D Printed Miniatures

I've had the opportunity to review another company offering custom designed 3D printed miniatures and again, impressed at how the technology is coming along. You can either watch my full review on YouTube or keep reading for a text version.

* Full disclosure, they provided a free miniature for review purposes.

HC SVNT DRACONES is a company with both an RPG and Custom Miniatures. Their unique offering is that they're about the only company out there offering a wide range of anthropomorphic miniatures and body parts.

Distribution is through Imagine 3D Miniatures, who offer a range of custom miniature services. Printing is done through a company called Shapeways, the same company my Arc Pucks are sold through.

I'm going to do this review in 2 steps. First, the building interface. Second, the model I received in the mail.

* BONUS - They've just launched another Kickstarter if this is something that intrigues you!

Review - Hero Forge Custom Miniatures

I had a chance to review Hero Forge's new high quality Gray Plastic and was quite impressed. This is definitely the beginning of a new way to approach miniatures. You can either watch my full review on YouTube or keep reading for a text version.

* Full disclosure, they provided a free miniature for review purposes.

What is Hero Forge? It's a website with a 3D interface that allows you to build a character. Characters can be saved to a library in your account. The entire design process is free. Once you've created the Hero you want to own, you place an order and Hero Forge will have it 3D printed and shipped to you. (Unpainted)

If you want to try out their service yourself, take a look at Hero Forge and build your own character today.

Printing is done through a company called Shapeways, the same company my Arc Pucks are sold through.

Now FOR SALE: The Arc Puck

From the great white north, the Arc Puck is a great way to mark the center points of bases for miniature wargaming and ensure accurate game-play. In addition, proceeds from these purchases help support the artist of Wargaming Tradecraft where articles full of tips and tricks for creating beautiful miniatures are freely available.

• View the "Arc Puck (Compact)" in Store
• View the "Arc Puck (Full Size)" in Store

Keep your eyes peeled for a follow up post where I detail the development process. For now, the basics are that Shapeways 3D prints, performs quality control and ships products as they're ordered. They do this for a price based on the volume the object fills plus a percentage of the markup I set. Read more about it.


Sizing

Each layer is sized for 30mm, 40mm and 50mm bases.

Please be aware that manufacturers of bases are not always consistent with their diameters and some may be smaller or larger than expected. This will affect how bases fit in the Arc Puck. Exact sizing is 30.25mm, (compact) 30.5mm, (full size) 40.5mm and 50.5mm, which fit all bases tested.

For example, the Privateer Press bases I measured were small sized 30mm and the medium and large bases were nearly 40.5mm and 50.5mm. While discussing this with others it sounds like their metal bases are smaller.

Two Versions

The Arc Puck comes in two versions with multiple choices of colours. There's a compact model and a full-sized one that's tall enough for text around the side. (For larger orders, I'll discuss customizing this text.)

Storage

Thanks to the size of the Arc Puck, it stores away easily wherever you want to keep it.
Exact sizing is 63mm total diameter with a height of 4.5mm (compact) or 8mm. (full)

Save on Shipping

The cost of shipping a single puck isn't far off from shipping multiples. Make a group purchase with friends or see if your FLGS will order for you.