So it’s common knowledge by now that I suffer from PTSD, insomnia, and I’m bi-polar. All these combined lead to many sleepless nights and a condition where I can function perfectly fine on 3-4 hours of sleep per day with no problem…. no problem except an overactive imagination and occasional boredom. Which brings me to this post…
One of the easiest things for me to do in the middle of the night that doesn’t wake the rest of the house is to work on 3D models. It’s a relatively quiet project unless I start cursing and throwing things because a model just won’t work right or I can’t figure something out.
As of late I’ve been working on a lot of Soviet vehicles for the Team Yankee game. These models come from all over the web in various forms that were never meant to be printed in the first place but I bought the rights to, traded for, found laying around, etc. There’s also a fair number that I’m creating myself. So what I do is take the horrid models that were never meant to be printed and I fix them so they can be printed, add more detail to them, fix any holes and make them manifold ( watertight in a nutshell ).
One of the more interesting aspects as of late is something I’ve termed “A Walk in the Soviet Garden” which refers to the artillery carrying the GRAU nomenclature of flowers. Vehicles like the 2S1 Carnation, 2S2 Violet, 2S3 Acacia to name a few. So this is one thing I’ve been working on trying to fill up the garden with all the pretty flowers so to speak.
There are also other vehicles that I like to make/fix up that in theory SHOULD be included in the game as it takes place during the Cold War but for whatever reason they aren’t in the rules. These pieces can either have new rules made for them or they can be used as proxy pieces. One of these is the Volat Hurricane that I mashed together and custom modeled. It takes a Volat truck with the Hurricane MLRS launcher to create a much more beefy looking Hurricane that can be used as a proxy for the existing BM-27 Hurricane.
Why would I want to do that? Because I get tired of looking at all the armies out there and they all look the same. There’s only so much you can do with paint and no matter how many ways you paint up a BM-27 Hurricane, it’s still gonna look like a BM-27 Hurricane. This is where I hope to come in with my unique creations and alternative proxies that can be used in place of existing models to just add some variety to the table without anyone getting cheesed off that you’re using a T-62 to represent an M1 Abrams.
This is also not to say I won’t be making the actual models to represent themselves either. I’ve already whipped up several of the 2S series artillery pieces for the Soviets. Many of which just needed a little stank slapped on them.
Presently I am offering them up for free on Thingiverse and I think Cults imports them over there as well so you should be able to find what I’m putting out there. Here’s the link to my Thingiverse profile: https://www.thingiverse.com/asawulf2k/designs
Something I will also be working on this morning for a couple of hours is getting things listed for sale on Shapeways. I know not everybody has access to a 3D printer or a friend who knows a guy with a 3D printer, so I thought I would post things up there as well in case some of you wanted to get these vehicles printed but lack the printer part to do it. So here’s my profile on Shapeways: https://www.shapeways.com/designer/asawulf2k
So now, let’s look at some pics….
So as you can see I’ve been a bit busy with my bouts of late night free time. None of these models have been easy to make printable and have really pushed the limits of my sanity. There’s so many more I have that I’m working on as we speak that it’s unreal because I think this one just finished loading up on Thingiverse also:
Just a side note: On several of these models that have turrets, I absolutely hate fiddling with turrets and try to keep track of them. Even with magnets it can be a pain. That being said, a lot of these models are offered up as a one piece print which I feel saves time in printing and in some cases allows me to maintain the actual look and feel of the model without trying to figure out how to make a post and peg for some of these more challenging models.