HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023!

As the header states, a very Happy New Year to everyone!

2022

An entire year producing original 80s anime garage kit style 3D printable sci-fi space fighters. The collected image of all of the box arts really brings that home. While I may not be cranking out piles of STLs, like the bigger 3D printing Patreons do, I've, instead, tried to produce unique designs with the added art bundles to further set the work apart. Whether this was a good idea, or not, it was something that has felt right to me, seeing I've always been an illustrator first, and those old school 80s model/garage kits had a huge part in setting me on the path of doing concept design.

If I was told, a couple of years ago, I'd be making little resin sci-fi garage kits, I just wouldn't have seen that one coming. I honestly didn't expect I'd be doing this, but the decision, back in late 2020 (during all of the Black Friday sales) to take the leap into resin printing with the purchase of a Qidi Tech Shadow 6.0, ultimately led here. As many ups and downs as learning the ropes of 3D printing has been, no regrets, it's been mostly a blast.

If there was anything I've seen that I find frustrating is the continuing erosion (and this is beyond the mess at twitter) of social media as a viable platform to get your content seen. Working hard on content that, sells it self through visuals, only to post said content and see the analytics show it's simply not being seen, or worse is suppressed, can be a pain in the ass. Unfortunately, right now, as odious as it is, social media rules the dissemination of content, so all you can do is try to make interesting work and get it out there.

Heading into the new year

The box art and ortho illustration bundle, for last months TE-70 Stiletto Mk. II is just about done. I could have dropped it all last night, but rather than rush it, I wanted to  do the fighter justice with some really nice art. If I don't drop it tonight, it will be in the next day or so. The rest of the painting tutorial (and more) is very much coming as well as more artwork for The Three Nine Line. While I was indeed busy with content for the Patreon, last month, I also had the Palladium work resume as well, and there's a lot of that work that was already underway, from months back (The work was on pause while Palladium navigated a lull in sales, due to all of the supply chain issues last year) so it takes precedent.

Successful first test prints on the Elegoo Saturn S

With the weather having significantly warmed up, here in Michigan (and the new resin I ordered arriving as well), I finally fired up the new Saturn S to run my first test print. To play it a little safe I decided to just run a test of the default "garage kit" size STL of the new Stiletto Mk. II. First test print, right out the gate, fantastic overall. The following day I decided to get a bit more adventurous and run a 140% scaled up print of the Stiletto Mk. II to try to get an initial feel of running a larger print and supporting it. To be even more crazy (cause sometimes I stupidly like doing things the hard way), I decided to go solid and made sure to support the hell out of it. This larger second test print; overall a success, though I certainly see I'll be working to adjust and tweak how I go about supporting larger prints (there are some spots of layer shifting wonk but nothing truly awful. Certainly have a lot of sanding to do on the bottom).

Initially I was considering releasing a Saturn build volume scaled up pre-supported STL of the Stiletto Mk. II, but, for now, I'll hold off and likely add it to the full release later. I also plan to run a hollowed test of the same file soon as well. You can see a photo of both of the Saturn S Stiletto Mk. II test prints, in the photos above.

Verdict on the Elegoo Saturn S, so far; lovin' it.

On the build plate for January

This brings me to: minis. I had planned to get into "officially" releasing tabletop gaming size minis last year (though, yes, I have released a few of the test print files already) but I was so damn busy, outside of doing the Patreon content, that I simply didn't have the time to really get into sussing it out. This month, the focus will be initial pre-supported versions of the fighter series so far. They will get their own box arts, which may end up roughly what the TE-60 Stiletto box art comp, included in the images above, looks like. I've already run several tests of some of the fighters so far, and now with the Saturn I'll be running batch tests this month to get things rolling.

There may be a pause in the garage kit fighter releases this month to focus on the minis, however I may end up producing something new anyway, we'll see (it's just a matter of time as I will be working on Palladium freelance as well and there are a few commissions I can now finally get into discussion with those potential clients about as well). However things go, there will be new fighter prints this month, they just might be small, and many :)

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year and, as always, I thank you all for the interest and support!