pocketfleet gothic - half scale BFG

[Apocolocyntosis]

I've spent the last couple of months printing and painting half scale bfg ? been posting this on discord and now have enough to post up here.

This gives minis that are a very sensible size, with a cruiser becoming the size of a GW 28mm figure. I've slightly over-sized escorts and marines to keep then as sensibly sized playing pieces.

The files are from easily locatable free online repositories, though i won't put direct links here. In almost every case however i've then gone in and done custom re-mixing, for example the strike cruisers have death watch bits on, added extra turret details, etc.

Most of the painted collection so far


Direct size comparison


Heavily modified grand cruiser


Inquisitorial relic battleship heavy as a grey knight battle barge ? heavily modified from a file of the old space fleet battleship:


Pleasure fleet

[Apocolocyntosis]

chapter side of my deathwatch cruisers, turns out i get the sides the wrong way round ?


a current wip, goliath class ad mech factory ship modified from an ad mech cruiser, ark mech, and a lot of gubbinz

[horizon]

Neat stuff!

[Stormwind]

Ahh these are gorgeous!  Wonderful work!

[Ragsta]

I really like this idea, they look great. And smaller scale means you can fit in more 

[Dave]

I've always been a fan of "fleet scale", but all the games (BFG, Firestorm Armada, Jovian Wars) kept on going bigger. The painting's great.

I've had an Photon sitting in a box since their sale last November, how long did it take you to get good at printing with it?

[Apocolocyntosis]

I've had an Photon sitting in a box since their sale last November, how long did it take you to get good at printing with it?

Hi Dave – having a photon is a game changer for me, opens up so many opportunities … For first 48 hours i hated it and was on the edge of sending it back.

I had some v old/buggy firmware on mine as shipped and was unable to zero the build plate until i flashed it – after that it's been fine. Problem was it took me 2 days of frustration and cleaning up gloopy failed prints to realise that was the problem.

The key consideration i hadn't seen emphasised before i got one was temperature. The resin wants to be 20C+ (I aim for 25C+). I got my printer in the winter in the UK: 25C+ was an unrealistic temperature to maintain on anything that also wants to be kept well ventilated. Now it's warmer and in a place i dont have to clean the machine down fully after each print to pack away, im finding it very easy.

preparing and supporting files takes longer than you'd expect, although that's largely on me as im shrinking, remixing, combining etc everything.

In current situation, worth noting that it needs high purity isopropyl alcohol to clean – prices have shot up with people using it as a disinfectant. Methylated spirits work just as well and prices here at least have been unaffected by COVID. Do not turn it on until you have IPA/methylated on hand, nitrile gloves, and a stack of paper towels. You do not need an ultra sonic bath to clean prints, ignore the youtubers.

[Dave]

Thanks for the break down. What's the deal with curing? Do you just leave it out in the sun or do you have an ultraviolet setup?

[Apocolocyntosis]

I got an ultraviolet nail lamp on amazon for £10 or thereabouts, does the job fine, especially given how small the stuff i print it. My prints often finish in the evening and im too impatient to wait.

Oh, also worth saying: tinkercad is amazing. looks like simple kids school tool, but well worth having open. Amazing for chopping up epic/bfg files though. I can use Fusion 360 tolerably well for parametric cad, which is far more powerful/another level, but for blitz-box style cut and glue jobs tinker is excellent. I hate meshmixer, am slowly learning blender.

[Xyon]

Beautiful models! I'm wondering if you've experimented with 3d printing "shell" models kind of like how the original plastic cruisers came in boxes?   Certainly seems like less work to keep them solid.

[Apocolocyntosis]

Beautiful models! I'm wondering if you've experimented with 3d printing "shell" models kind of like how the original plastic cruisers came in boxes?   Certainly seems like less work to keep them solid.

Hi Xylon – do you mean shell as in having the models hollow, or as in a modular sprue-d kit? Almost all of these were printed partially hollow, not by using the proper shell command, but just by subtracting boxes from inside the main superstructures (with a hole of course). I was going to do them modular (might test print was modular), but 2 reasons I didn't: 1 the weapon bays are REALLY small, like, really. 2. it's so cheap and quick to print and paint one i just ended up printing mode instead of doing modular

Since my last post, a few updates:



more imperial ships added to explore other hull patterns:


30k style heresy mash-ups:


since then i printed and painted whole betrayal at calth box set game half size, but have yet to find time to set it all our for a photo

[Xyon]

I do mean more on the side of making the models hollow rather than printing two pieces that you would glue together.  I suppose it saves material but I'm more interested in just making the models lighter.

[Apocolocyntosis]

In that case, the main rectangular body sections were hollowed out roughly, but brows, wings, bridges etc, have not been.

Weight is probably not an issue given the size and material unless you have a very specific use case – at 'half scale' these are 1/8th the volume of normal BFG, made of a light material,( and have the bulky sections roughly hollowed).