This last winter I was talking with RMN Jr. and we discussed 3D printing. As an engineering major, “additive manufacturing” is a big part of his education and future job concerns. I mentioned that I was thinking about doing some “lite” 3D printing as part of my wargaming hobby.
Fast forward to this last week and the RMN Boys gifted me a Bambu Lab A1 Mini printer. After setting it up I printed the Benchy default little tugboat. It turned out OK; needs some clean up but the print is generally good and without major flaws.
My first print also taught me a few lessons. First, I need to place the printer on a separate table/stand. It currently sits on the edge of my office desk which is fine for space but, sheesh, it makes the whole table vibrate something wicked when printing. Second, it also appears I will need to recall some of my (atrophied) model building skills if I want that really nice finish. Oh yeah, painting models and minis almost certainly will make a return.
Now to set up Bambu Studio and get a 3D model that fits me. Maybe go War of the Worlds meets naval miniatures?
Feature image courtesy RMN
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Rocky Mountain Navy Gamer 
If you want to go modern naval there are plenty of free and pay files out there that my Bambu A1 mini has had no trouble printing in 1/3000 scale.
For example:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6642511
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5786072
etc
Thanks. Am in my “toy learning” stage and trying out new things on the printer.
Figures and painting.
We don’t see much of that on your blog. Looking forward to that!
We’ll see how it goes. Right now in the “toy stage” of learning. Want to quickly progress to making the 3D printer a wargaming/RPG tool.