My FDM printer (an Elegoo Neptune 3 — which is an absolute steal at Amazon right now, check the link) has been down for sometime due to a loose connection with the touch screen interface, which is a shame because it’s really a low-fuss printer (it has auto-bed leveling, auto-resume for power failures, and pauses the print when it’s running out of spool). I have to get on the phone with tech support about it, but I have so many other projects going I can’t be bothered to do it.
That hasn’t stopped me from working on new 3D printed buildings, though! I bought a couple of very reasonably priced multipart medieval buildings at the Harrisburg Comic-Con this past weekend. Here is the first, a stone chapel, or some other type of building with a tower. The interior is not at all laid out like a church, so it could be a private residence with a tower (perhaps on the thinly settled border region, in which case the tower is an essential safeguard.
This marks a milestone because it’s the first miniature I’ve ever used an oil wash on. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve ever used oil paints at all (even when I was trying to emulate Bob Ross wet-on-wet technique several years ago, I used acrylics, which was a failure since they dry too fast). I have to say I am glad of the results. I didn’t quite achieve the depth and darkness that I hoped, but even so the result is much better than the acrylic washes I’ve been doing on other buildings, and requires much less tidying (or de-tide-marking, if you pardon the pun) afterward.
The painting was simple, but somewhat time consuming. I started with a gray spray primer and built up the stonework and tile roofs with a couple of progressively brighter dry brushing, painted the wooden frame, floors, and ladder, and then washed it. I’m not sure how look it took to dry, since I came back several hours later, but it was good to go by then. I then went back to work with the dry brush on all of the parts. At the end, I picked out a few roof tiles and foundation stone to paint in different colors for visual interest (and to represent replacements and weather damage, in case of the roof tiles).
