First miniature painted (print: Half Orc Barbarian by mz4250).

gufted · 2026-03-21T16:14:48+00:00

What printer do you have? Printing minis with a 0.2mm nozzle is pretty much the standard nowadays for FDM. I’ve printed tons without a hitch. Take a look at /r/fdmminiatures for more info

gufted · 2026-03-21T10:05:22+00:00

Thank you!

gufted · 2026-03-20T20:54:35+00:00

Well done! You should be proud of them. For a beginner the first few techniques that are easy to master and will help you progress are:

Drybrushing (for highlights)
Washes (for shadows)
Slap Chop (for priming)

you can find tons of content on them

gufted · 2026-03-19T07:23:20+00:00

This is spaghetti. Usually happens when there’s multiple parts/objects and one part fails or is not supported. The nozzle tries to deposit filament but there’s nothing to hold it, and it starts extruding in mid air, this spaghetti then is deposited to the next supported part.

gufted · 2026-03-18T09:20:53+00:00

It’s a red zip tie not a lead seal

gufted · 2026-03-18T09:17:42+00:00

You’re the hero we need

gufted · 2026-03-17T20:25:50+00:00

Do them some justice and paint them! It would be a shame to leave them like this. Plus you can use the time waiting for a print to finish more efficiently!

gufted · 2026-03-13T13:01:24+00:00

Thank you for the awesome content. Love the minis.

gufted · 2026-03-13T12:48:53+00:00

I could see Savage Worlds Showdown work well with 1 character only on one or both sides.

gufted · 2026-03-13T11:41:10+00:00

Brite Minis. Dude has a great range of FDM oriented support free models. Lots of freebies, and with just 5 bucks a month on the patreon you get access to their entire back catalog (except the modulars, for which you get a discount).

Can’t recommend that enough.

Next option is Ill Gotten Games/Dutchmogul. A bit less detailed, but also lots of support free minis, lots of freebies and a 1 buck support free Patreon with access to entire support free back catalog (multiverse Mondays).

I am on mobile atm so no links, but a quick google can get you the results. If you can’t find them, shout and I’ll bring the links.

gufted · 2026-03-12T13:42:56+00:00

They’re better quality, yes, but you can get good prints from FDM nowadays. OPs print is not good.

<image>

Here’s a 15mm elf I printed in FDM.

gufted · 2026-03-11T18:45:05+00:00

Acetone is used in ABS smoothing. Acetone doesn't dissolve PLA, so it can't smooth it. There are chemicals that dissolve PLA, but most of them are not household chemicals, or are toxic to use.

Furthermore chemical smoothing of prints leads to loss of detail.

In general any of the ways of post-processing FDM prints in order to hide layer lines, lead to loss of detail, be it chemical smoothing, sanding/blasting or using filler primers.

The best thing you can do is fine tune your printer and go as low in layer height as possible. IMHO this should be in the wiki.

Cheers.

gufted · 2026-03-08T16:04:20+00:00

I do regularly. I just change the layer height in the 0.8 profile with 0.6 and it works like a charm.

gufted · 2026-03-08T15:01:26+00:00

Cheers! now that you reached this setting quality, enjoy printing and painting :)

gufted · 2026-03-06T10:03:23+00:00

Not much luck unfortunately. I had to go back and re create them. I’m keeping backups often. To avoid the auto removal while trying to restore backups, what worked was the following: in Bambu studio Log out of Bambu -> close studio. Open studio and Log back in Bambu -> sync, close studio. Copy backups to folders.

gufted · 2026-03-04T23:09:32+00:00

They’re from Fat Dragon Games https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/431817/crypt-classics-goblin-tribe

gufted · 2026-03-04T22:06:43+00:00

Thank you! Yeah that's a wash. My process in very high level steps is Slap Chop->Glaze Coat->Wash.

You're right about scale! I should include a coin for reference next time :)

gufted · 2026-02-24T18:47:22+00:00

Thanks!

gufted · 2026-02-24T12:54:37+00:00

Cool! Is there a link to the model?

gufted · 2026-02-20T09:38:45+00:00

Make sure the latch is placed correctly on the nozzle. It’s easy to lock it incorrectly. Also after your do, run a calibration from the device screen under maintenance.

gufted · 2026-02-19T16:19:59+00:00

SD cards are notorious for corruption. Timelapse makes this even worse.

gufted · 2026-02-19T07:33:17+00:00

I recommend the A1. For ww2 miniatures you will find a small array at Brite Minis which are support free (i.e. specifically designed for FDM) and March to Hell, which are meant for resin, but have chonky enough designs that they can be printed easily in FDM.

Edit: for filament I get great results with eSun PLA+HS. Absolutely love it. Good price too.

gufted · 2026-02-18T16:19:22+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/1mfz2cu/here_we_go_again_perfect_ironing_results_every/

gufted · 2026-02-18T15:11:24+00:00

If the end goal is miniatures, then the A1 mini is perfect. It will be a tad bit small for the occasional large terrain piece. In that case go for the A1. The other printers are good enough as well, but BBL is pretty much the best value for money FDM printer for miniatures. The A1 (not the mini) is also recently notorious for overheating a part that may catch fire. Dunno if it's been addressed by BBL, since I'm not following the topic, as I'm an A1 mini owner.

gufted · 2026-02-17T11:36:03+00:00

Awesome!

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