You can’t buy this six-inch tall, posable Atlas battlemech from any toy or collectible maker, and it isn’t a Comic-Con exclusive. It’s exclusively from the 3D printer of a Mechwarrior fan.
The Atlas has (by my count, anyway) 11 points of articulation, and creator Valcrow says that from the torso up, just two parts were glued together, meaning he built much of it to snap into and out of place. That’s to give the thing interchangeable weapon mounts on the sides of the body.
“The biggest challenge was keeping the integrity of the atlas design while making the joints operational in a physical model, coupled with the limitations of FDM printing,” writes Valcrow.
“Head printed at 75 micron layer as opposed to 150 for the rest. shines a bit differently.. kinda like hair,” he writes. I have no idea what that means but it looks damn good. Many more images at the link.
6″ Tall Posable Atlas [Mechwarrior Online]
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24 responses to “The Future Has Arrived: Print Your Own Mechwarrior Toys”
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Hmm I wonder if you could not just upscale the design to say maybe around 60 inches? With a few slight modifications of course but who would not want a huge Atlas?
That’s a lot of ABS and a lot of time, but sure, especially if you are limited by the build platform of the printer, but sure it’s doable
could even change the design slighty to then have hollow legs/ arms etc, that’d save on ABS
Even then you need to print a lot of support materials to retain overhanging structures. At this level of detail, too, it takes a lot of time. But yes, you wouldn’t print this solid, maybe 25% infill, if that.
Oh hell yes.
you’d need to get a rather large 3d printer, main benefits of this is no assembly. Articulation of joints can be printed which is a massive advantage.
you know i never cared for th atlas, i was always a TImber Wolf and Dire Wolf fan.. also loved the coldrunborn and warhammer 2c
I’ve got a Timberwolf (DIE Cast, about 6 in tall) sitting on my desk at work. It’s been to every job I’ve had in the past 6 years or so 🙂
IMO though my favourite was always the Warhammer
coming soon! the entire warhammer tabletop gaming archive online in OBJ format for your 3d printing leisure.
Beginning of the end for Games Workshop…
3D printing could see the rise of many new Tabletop miniature games.
They sell you the game as a PDF, they include the miniatures as 3D printables, you print the force you want and you pay the manufacturing costs getting everything way cheaper. In a discussion with friends about 3D printing we mentioned it was $45 a kilo for the material, your not getting a lot of Games Workshop minis for $45 and definitely not a kilos worth.
These costs would only come down overtime too.
problem is that the plans would end up in p2p-filesharing in no time. I could also see china churning out thousands of derivative models to.
I’d be selling you the games rules, and giving you the designs for free. While I’m sure there would be those who pirate the game I’d like to think those who enjoy it would in fact pay for it.
I’d also sell a Hardcover with a Disc of the files. But yeah I honestly expect the designs to be stolen by China.
Considering the price gouging Games Workshop’s doing for a number of countries and threatening to cut off supplies to stores that sell overseas, I’d expect the WH40K gamers to really take to this.
Games Workshop price gouging aside there are still some problem with 3D printing miniatures.
Firstly. The average desktop, home printer will not print anything near the level of detail of GW products. You could print larger things like this mech or player pieces or board games, but the technology is not quite there yet for GW stuff. Also the surface finish is rubbish and ABS tends to be a bit porous so painting it is annoying.
Now I did recently see a new 3D printer at a manufacturing expo. It will do 1 micron layers which would be perfect for GW stuff. Takes ages to print (at such a tiny resolution) and the printer is $26K.
But the detail and surface finish is awesome.
The next problem is getting the CAD files for the miniatures. The mech shown here is cool but it’s very simple and made up of flat surfaces and boxes.
Modelling a face or curved space marine armour takes a lot of skill and a lot of time. It’s not impossible but I don’t think many people would be doing it for free.
For the time being, I think 3D printers are awesome for modifying existing miniatures. Make your own bases, make a new shoulder pad or a new weapon. Things that are a bit bigger, bit less detailed.
But that’s still not quite there for a $2K desktop home printer.
I’ll get some very small high detail stuff back from Shapeways this week so i’ll have a better frame of reference.
To be honest I’m thinking that 3D printing would be done by a shop and you pay for the volume you use plus a fee. That way your merely renting a $26k Printer rather than purchasing one.
That being said the home printer will come down in cost and increase in resolution (not sure if that’s the right word) over time. Buying a 3D printer now is buying cutting edge technology, it’s not ready for widespread use.
Home Laser Printers where thought impossible once, now you see em for $50 at Office Works (Admittedly the Toner is probably $200 for that Printer)
Problem with someone printing it for you is copyright issues.
That would be ideal (I got my Shapeways order in yesterday) but we would need freely shareable CAD models for that to work.
Metal Gear Rex…here i come.
I’ll take an Uziel, thanks…and maybe a McKenna battleship…
The bear in me desires some Kodiak loving.
For a second my brain removed the word “toys” from your title…..which would have made it even more awesome!!!
I want the old Atlas, not the MW:O version. The MW:O version looks too squat and stocky, more like a fat dwarf than an imposing barbarian god.
TimberWolf! TimberWolf! TimberWolf!