3d printed minimates

[Mattallica]

im new to the whole 3d printer thing but picked one up now i want to print some MM parts anyone have files for accessories? i really want to make a giant mate anyone have files for one of those suckers?

 

thanks

[cylonchaney]

Congrats on your purchase. Resin Printer or FDM (oozing plastic) type?

There are some minimate plans for sale on one of the model download sites. No idea if they are any good. I think you'll find people reluctant to share their minimate or minimate-like designs for free. I'd recommend getting familiar with your printer and getting good prints out of it before attempting anything too complicated.

A general recommendation I can make is that there are a lot of free files out there of stuff for 3.75" figures. Scale them down to 70% or so for a good fit for minimates.  There are files on thingiverse for a 70's Mattel Viper scaled up for 3.75" figures. The original Viper is too small for a mate. The thingiverse one is too big. Scale it to 70% and you have a great classic Viper for Starbuck. I've done that one myself. Sometimes scaling down will make a part too small to print so it can be trial and error. But I've printed a Mattel Viper and a more realistic one in scale for mates to pilot. Currently seeing if I can scale down the Cobra Vamp that I found.

[Mattallica]

thanks for the advice, i wonder why people dont want to share, is it just minimate stuff or is that the general feel of the whole print community?

i will look into the viper for sure.

oh and FDM

again thanks!

[THE_CRIPPLER]

5 hours ago, cylonchaney said:

Congrats on your purchase. Resin Printer or FDM (oozing plastic) type?

There are some minimate plans for sale on one of the model download sites. No idea if they are any good. I think you'll find people reluctant to share their minimate or minimate-like designs for free. I'd recommend getting familiar with your printer and getting good prints out of it before attempting anything too complicated.

A general recommendation I can make is that there are a lot of free files out there of stuff for 3.75" figures. Scale them down to 70% or so for a good fit for minimates.  There are files on thingiverse for a 70's Mattel Viper scaled up for 3.75" figures. The original Viper is too small for a mate. The thingiverse one is too big. Scale it to 70% and you have a great classic Viper for Starbuck. I've done that one myself. Sometimes scaling down will make a part too small to print so it can be trial and error. But I've printed a Mattel Viper and a more realistic one in scale for mates to pilot. Currently seeing if I can scale down the Cobra Vamp that I found.

Any pictures of your 3D printed vipers? I have a guy offering to print G.I. Joe vehicles for me. He can do a HISS, Fang, Wolverine, Trouble Bubble, etc. $30 for a 3D printed HISS sounds like a good deal to me. I just wasn't sure how low to reduce the file so that Minimates fit (file is for 3 3/4 figures). He currently increases the size and prints them for G.I. Joe Classified figures.

[SignatureChoice]

16 hours ago, cylonchaney said:

Congrats on your purchase. Resin Printer or FDM (oozing plastic) type?

There are some minimate plans for sale on one of the model download sites. No idea if they are any good. I think you'll find people reluctant to share their minimate or minimate-like designs for free. I'd recommend getting familiar with your printer and getting good prints out of it before attempting anything too complicated.

A general recommendation I can make is that there are a lot of free files out there of stuff for 3.75" figures. Scale them down to 70% or so for a good fit for minimates.  There are files on thingiverse for a 70's Mattel Viper scaled up for 3.75" figures. The original Viper is too small for a mate. The thingiverse one is too big. Scale it to 70% and you have a great classic Viper for Starbuck. I've done that one myself. Sometimes scaling down will make a part too small to print so it can be trial and error. But I've printed a Mattel Viper and a more realistic one in scale for mates to pilot. Currently seeing if I can scale down the Cobra Vamp that I found.

Might be all the Joe in the air lately but the fact the 3.75 Viper was BSG (and indeed, a vehicle, not a trooper as I was envisioning ?) until the mention of Starbuck...

I've seen some similarly scaled, and articulated 3D printed skeletons at friends houses, not a printer myself but I'll try report back

Groovy thread, looking forward to and wishing you luck in your endeavours Mattallica!

Edited March 6, 2022 by SignatureChoice
(I changed 'not the trooper' to 'not a trooper' because I wasn't thinking of any particular trooper, to be honest I might have been thinking of the B.A.T)

[cylonchaney]

16 hours ago, THE_CRIPPLER said:

Any pictures of your 3D printed vipers? I have a guy offering to print G.I. Joe vehicles for me. He can do a HISS, Fang, Wolverine, Trouble Bubble, etc. $30 for a 3D printed HISS sounds like a good deal to me. I just wasn't sure how low to reduce the file so that Minimates fit (file is for 3 3/4 figures). He currently increases the size and prints them for G.I. Joe Classified figures.

The devil is in the details. Someone made a huge arsenal of both Joe faction's vehicles for a board game or something. Other folks have scaled those minis back up and chopped them for printing and added back some articulation in some cases. That's where a lot of these 3d printable GI Joe vehicles are coming from. For $30 I'd be happy with a correctly sized brick in the shape of a Joe vehicle if you know what I mean. It sounds like a good deal if your expectations aren't high. I'm trying to print a stinger (the cobra jeepy thing). There are  models where you print the whole thing as one piece basically except the wheels. The one I'm testing requires me to print 30 different parts and assemble them.

I was going to print a HISS. The model I chose had working tank tracks. You had to print each tread and two pins to attach to the next piece. When scaled down to mate size, it was too much small detail for my printer. I think there might be another model out there where the treads are one solid piece and don't move. 

I would try to get some details of what to expect for your $ so both sides can exit the deal happy.

As far as scaling for 3d printing goes, it's as simple as selecting a scale percentage in the slicing software that creates the "instruction" file for the printer. I took the Viper model I wanted to print and set it to 60%. That turned out to be too small so I did another at 70 and it's a great fit. A great tip is to print the seat or cockpit first and fit some mates in. If it doesn't look right or they don't fit, try again. Another is to print the smallest parts first. See if scaling them down possibly has made them unprintable. And lastly, learn some kind of tool that can manipulate 3d files. Even just the basics. The Mattel Viper I printed had a canopy that wouldn't close properly. I was able to stretch it a little to make it fit better without being a 3d guru or having to design a new one.

I'm so out of touch with photo posting. Is there a defacto photo hosting site that makes it easy to embed photos in forum posts? Any tricks I should know for using with the verse?

Edited March 6, 2022 by cylonchaney

[buttheadsmate]

2 hours ago, cylonchaney said:

 

I'm so out of touch with photo posting. Is there a defacto photo hosting site that makes it easy to embed photos in forum posts? Any tricks I should know for using with the verse?

I sit in your boat .

[THE_CRIPPLER]

I'm not sure how to post pics these days. I used to use Photobucket on here many, many years ago. I have no idea what works these days though. I usually just post my pics on the Facebook group lately. It is so much easier. 

[Mattallica]

try flickr

[cylonchaney]

So I found a new Viper model. Well new to me. A Mark II designed for minimates. So I printed one up and am using it to test a new flickr account. I picked an appropriate pilot from my collection. LOL

The model can be found at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5150135

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by cylonchaney
Added a couple of photos with the Mark V for scale

[cylonchaney]

And here's a couple of shots of the Stinger. I haven't glued anything yet and will probably reprint a couple of parts before doing so. This is scaled to 70%. It leaves lots of leg room but if you go any smaller you run out of shoulder room. I think it will look OK when finished and glued.

 

 

[cylonchaney]

Oh and Matt when I was talking about people not wanting to share, I just meant their Minimate or Minimate-like designs. I'm aware of at least 4. I think it's the amount of work that goes into getting it right. Just the figure.

There's all kinds of great stuff people put out for free. Like the Viper above. Also, if you see something you might want to print, grab it now. Models disappear for all kinds of reasons without warning. If you already have a copy, you're good. The Cobra HISS I was testing out is gone. Someone was threatening the creator to report him to Hasbro so he took it down.

Edited March 23, 2022 by cylonchaney

[cylonchaney]

@Mattallica How goes the 3d printing? Made anything yet?

[Mattallica]

not great ,ive made a few small items, tried to make a few others that didnt turn out well, but havent really had a lot of time to devote to figuring it all out to be honest.

[cylonchaney]

One thing I recommend is finding and following a tuning guide for your specific machine to dial in the hardware. So when the machine is instructed to move 100 mm it moves 100 mm. When it is instructed to extrude 20 mm of filament it extrudes 20 mm of filament, etc. Get a digital caliper if you don't already have one. Do this before you start messing with software settings to improve your prints.

I'm coming up on the 10th anniversary of my first 3d printer and have 5 of them in my collection. If you have questions I can help with, I'm happy to do so.

[Mattallica]

thanks for the info and offer

[Tribble_WC]

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/customizable-minimate

 

I just found this, thought it might be helpful. 

[cylonchaney]

3 hours ago, Tribble_WC said:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/customizable-minimate

 

I just found this, thought it might be helpful. 

Just an FYI, they were using photos stolen from Ivan and davypenn (now removed).

The renderings shown appear to be quite low res. Hopefully, the actual models are smoother.

However, at $5, It's not going to break the bank so maybe worth a go.

If someone goes for it, please report back on how it worked out.

[Tribble_WC]

I got home and purchased the file. It seems to be set up as a basic sized minimate. I've scaled it bigger and currently have it printing. Should have something to report in 7 hours and 15 minutes. 

[cylonchaney]

It's been way more than 7 hours and 15 minutes now.

[Tribble_WC]

Lol, got side tracked. The sizing was a little off, but it prints pretty smooth. Could be better, but for $4.40, I'm not complaining. I've just got to work out the kinks to get the size of each file to match up.

[Onyx_6]

Curious for details on the outcome of this. I have been tempted to buy that file for a while, but I recognized it was stolen photos, so I wasn't sure.

[Padrino]

anyone able to design the awesome new hood/cape combo for doctor doom? I need one in every color.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Padrino

[buttheadsmate]

I always read this thread & I continually ask myself why the avenue of 3D printed Minimates isn't fully exploited . As always I probably need to explain that I'm not patronising or criticising those people who are making such fantastic 'pieces' , no way, I am in awe.

I am questioning quite why someone hasn't fully exploited what must be considered to be the future of Minimates ?

That's a question .

[Padrino]

3 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

I always read this thread & I continually ask myself why the avenue of 3D printed Minimates isn't fully exploited . As always I probably need to explain that I'm not patronising or criticising those people who are making such fantastic 'pieces' , no way, I am in awe.

I am questioning quite why someone hasn't fully exploited what must be considered to be the future of Minimates ?

That's a question .

I think its an excellent question. Minimates are advertised as modular. this would be an amazing add on