— This is a work in progress soon to be updated —
As mentioned in the description of the listings the parts of my FDM printed Kits utilize dowel holes between them, for assembly both in alignment of parts and particularly strength. Four common sizes are used, 9.5mm dia, 6mm dia (both roughly 25mm long), wooden skewer roughly 3mm dia (roughly 15mm long), wooden toothpick (roughly 10mm long). I will use the largest possible on any split, toothpick dowels are usually only used on helmets or armour parts as those parts are only 5mm thick. I usually put numbered alignment marks on the print so look out for that. As of June 2024 I am including 9.5/6mm dowels with the kits!
Note: The dowels are meant to be tight, they won’t function otherwise, the 6mm dia dowels in particular can feel very tight, the rim of the dowel hole can be slightly smaller than the hole itself due to the first layer being thicker so using a blade to shave off that inner edge can help, using a 6mm drill bit can also work. The outside of the dowel can also be sanded down a little. Rest assured however that these are the holes/dowels I use myself. Dowels are very strong and superior to most other forms of connection (even better when paired with welded seams), particularly connections built into the model which rely on the strength of printed layers and also have an adverse effect on print quality as any surface above the protruding connection side would be printed flat onto supports which is bad.
This is how I assemble the kits for myself: I put the dowels in one side of the seam (it is meant to be a tight fit), I use glue on the face of the seam (lightly sanded then cleaned is better than being smooth), I then press the other side on and hold/clamp/tape them together while the glue sets (a note about glue, I use two part epoxy, others use regular super glue, there’s also plumber’s glue or specialty glue like 3d gloop pla made for this, it’s up to you). I then use a temperature controlled soldering iron (set to 220C) to ‘weld’ the seam by pushing and melting the two sides together. After this wood filler and some sanding should make the seam near invisible. Finally using filler primer to prime (automotive spray can is the go-to), primer is necessary to be able to paint plastic you cannot go without priming, and then regular paint etc. A protective clear coat is also a must so that handling the prop doesn’t rub off any paint. That’s just how I do it, there’s no need to do it the same way, but I highly recommend using the dowels at least as they are the core of strength holding everything together. Some customers have instead at a key point added very strong magnets to these dowel holes, so that for instance a long sword can be transported in two parts with the hilt and blade separate, an unintended but possible feature!
Helmet/Armour: The same process as props, however as mentioned they only use toothpick dowel holes along the seams for alignment etc, and using tape to hold the parts together while the glue sets is pretty much necessary, taping the inside works better than the outside, or both is even better. Try to avoid assembling in a way in which a part will have to be joined to two different seams at once, do pairs which then join at a single seam to another pair.
As noted in the descriptions areas printed onto supports can have a rougher surface, it is simply a limitation of FDM printing, the larger and more horizontal the surface the more pronounced it will be, but I always split and print the parts in a way to make sure that it will be in the least important/visible area possible. When completing the prop you can simply smooth the area over with a layer of whatever filler you use for the seams, or some extra layers of filler primer.
All of the 3D Printed Kits are private made-to-order items, raw kits of the design in question, provided in raw unpainted parts. Provided are dowels necessary for assembly, as well as a numbered authenticity card unique to the item, the parts include numbered marks to guide your assembly. In the future I hope to include a printed booklet with further assembly guidance from the Assembly Tips content in this FAQ.
Archives are and have been very commonly used across all computing for over 20 years since the days of floppy discs, including in 3D printing for sharing and transporting files. They are an accepted format for uploading by almost all services and have the benefit of compressing the size of the file within. To extract your .stl file from a single archive simply right-click the archive and click ‘extract here’ or other similar option. Windows by default includes the Winzip program to do this, or you can use the superior Winrar (https://www.win-rar.com/download.html) or 7zip (https://www.7-zip.org/download.html). If you are using a Mac you will need to download The Unarchiver (https://theunarchiver.com/) from the app store in order to effectively work with archives, or Keka which is a similar alternative (https://www.keka.io/en/)
None of my models either life size or miniature are pre-split into pieces unless otherwise specifically stated for a certain reason such as the Bloodborne Saw Cleaver being foldable. For miniatures/statues I mostly always print them in one piece myself and do not have split versions. After purchasing a model it is possible for me to split it into parts for you if needed however it is not a free service, so I always recommend that you learn yourself as it is a useful skill to have and will save you money. There are plenty of youtube videos and other resources out there on how to do it using the free software Blender. However these days the slicer itself (Orca, Bambu, Prusa, they’re all near identical) is very capable and actually easier to use, they’re FDM slicers but even for miniatures you can split them in Orca, export the parts, then slice them in a resin slicer. Simply use the cut tool and the various options such as pins/holes, or just holes and separate dowels (print dowels horizontally) etc. For life size props I’m sometimes asked about a central hole through the entire length for a rod (I recommend wood, or tube, not metal rod) to be inserted, you can do that too by adding a negative part>cylinder, scaling it to the correct width, length, and positioning it inside the model then clicking ‘mesh boolean’ to cut the hole out, after that you can split into parts like usual.
I have no plans to offer resin printed miniatures for sale now or in the future. Large FDM printed statue sized versions of miniatures could possibly be discussed if you contact me, I’ve done that for multiple commissioned models already.
None of my models are pre-supported. There are many reasons for this, first is that I cannot test print everything at this time. Second is that even professional supporting groups who support models for successful Patreon teams etc get complaints about the supports, nobody is ever happy. Third is that I don’t make even a fraction of close to enough sales to justify the time/expense of providing this. Sorry for any inconvenience if you prefer pre-supported! Auto-supports are improving all the time, the newest version of Lychee’s auto-supports are quite good but still need some manual adjusting after. I absolutely intend to print all of my miniatures for myself, but there are too many to ever support, when a truly one-click auto-support solution comes along, even if it costs money, I will use that to do so and start including the pre-supported file for every model after it has been successfully test printed.
Life Size Props
You may have noticed that all of my life size pieces such as weapons and armour are provided at just that, their game accurate life size. They may come life sized but you don’t need to use them that way, you can use them any way you like, a half-size display prop? Sure. A custom piece for a collectible figure? Absolutely. A tiny attachment for a miniature? Go for it. They’re not just for cosplay or display. Like above, these are digital models, making them smaller doesn’t affect them at all, although if scaling them all the way down to figure/miniature sizes you may want to increase their thickness, particularly swords so the blade isn’t too fragile.
Miniatures
Being digital models making them smaller or larger doesn’t affect them at all. As I usually mention in the description you can change the scale from 32mm to something else quite easily. For example if you wanted to change a miniature which is 36.2mm tall at 32mm scale to 28mm scale, you would times 36.2 by 0.875 (28 divided by 32) to get the new height of 31.6mm. Reverse the division if scaling up. Typically you would make that change in the slicer before printing but you can also save the model at that specific size for the future. Also keep in mind that I only work with true scale, so while they may be 32mm scale the large stuff can be very large indeed! They are not intended to be printed that large (for example the Riftworm from Gears OT is 11 metres long at 32mm scale!) but only to serve as reference for its size.
The following information is derived from my own custom sliding scale formula to keep all models under 200mm for tabletop purposes while retaining the size relations between eachother. Provided is the % scale I recommend scaling down the model to, any model not named should remain at 100% or if it’s new hasn’t been added yet. To be clear this is not the percentage to reduce by, but to reduce to, so if it says 75% that means reduce by 25% to 75%. It is currently very out of date! I will try to update it sometime soon.
This is the link to the Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10EtumvxgKeNeVSLHqwlO54P7ec8J0xNsFR7JdFIv9PQ/
Easy method to change the size of models for those who aren’t printing the models themselves. Download and install the free software OrcaSlicer, this is a slicer software. Simply import the model, press the big button at the top labelled ‘Scale’, you can change the size either using percentages or by the size of an axis, you can see which axis is which direction on the model by looking at the bottom left, they’re colour coded. Once the size is changed export it back out as a copy to save it at that size, it’s always best to keep a copy of the original file.
As is stated in the description my helmet/armour models are sized to a 3D scan of a real body by default. For helmets the way I size them is to be put on in one piece, which means the bottom opening needs to be large enough to fit the head through which can often make it seem a little large once it’s on as the bottom is typically the smallest area. This does provide ample room for padding inside however. Alternatively while you are splitting the model into parts for printing if you do it in such as a way that there is a front half and a back half you can size it a lot tighter to your head, and put it on in two parts using magnets or velcro to hold together, that way the bottom opening isn’t an issue.
Helmets etc must always be sized to yourself, do not rely on the included size think that you’ve average so it should be fine, a small difference can easily make it look too big or be too small to put on. For sizing you can use the ‘measure’ tool in Orca/Bambu/Prusa Slicers to measure the side to side and back to front dimensions of the opening, and using the scale tool adjust those dimensions of the model to match those measured from you body IRL, do this before splitting into parts. If doing the two halves method you can measure the middle widest part of the inside instead. One way to get a perfect sizing from there is to cut off just a thin slice of the relevant part of the part, print it and see if that fits you, to avoid having to print the whole thing.
My helmet kits have small dowel holes along the seams for alignment during assembly, this is for toothpicks cut to size, otherwise I would recommend the same process as for props, insert dowels, glue the seams (you can use masking tape to temporarily hold everything together while drying) and use a temp controlled soldering iron at 220C to ‘weld’ the seams permanently.
As it states in the descriptions these files are prepared for miniature use. They absolutely can be scaled up to statue sizes (try it with the free one!) and will look great with a nice paint job. In general I consider them suitable up to around 200mm and have printed plenty at 1:10 scale. One thing which can be done if you prefer when printing larger, is to subdivide the model, it multiplies the polygons and smooths out the surface, at the cost of some sharpness in detail. The shortcut for that in Blender is Ctrl+1, but it uses a massive amount of RAM. The models are the size they are for a reason, they look the same when printed as miniatures, there’s no point to a huge file size, a direct comparison of the unoptimized vs optimized model can be seen here.
All models are sold under a personal use only non-commercial license. The purpose of the models is being 3D printed therefore the license obviously and specifically encompasses their resulting 3D prints. You can not sell any form of the model whether modified, printed or otherwise manufactured without having an official signed license in place with myself, to do so is stealing and a breach of the sale license. Such agreements are subject to my approval and standards, and the fee for the agreement is a percentage of the price of each sale on an ongoing basis. Please contact me if you’re interested in further details.
If you see any prints etc being sold which you believe to be my model and the seller is not listed below please report it to me.
To explain licenses further here is an excerpt directly from the .stl specific site Cults3D:
“WHAT LICENSES CAN I APPLY TO THE 3D MODELS I UPLOADED?
The 3D models available on Cults are subject to licenses and are not all free of copyright. These licenses define what you can and cannot do with a 3D model. You can check out the full documentation about licencing to have a better understanding on how they work.
By default, the Cults – Private Use license is applied. This means that the 3D models under this licence are reserved exclusively for private use:
You can print them at home for your personal use;
You may not modify or adapt the digital files of the 3D models and share them;
You may not sell the digital files of the 3D models;
You may not sell the 3D prints of the designs or any 3D prints derived from the designs for economic or financial gain.
Only 3D models licensed for commercial use may be licensed for sale. For free designs, you can refer to the free licenses for commercial use. For paid designs, you can refer to the Cults licenses for commercial use.
If you are not sure on what you are allowed to do, the best thing is to ask your questions directly to the designer(s). You can use the comment section under each design or click on “Message” when you are on a Cults profile to communicate with them.”
My recent prop models at any given time I have made specifically for my own printed kits and are initially private/exclusive to me, currently there are over 100 of them only available as kits. That being said I do intend to eventually have all digital models available as well, I just do not have a timeline for when any specific series will transition to a public release it is not dependent on any one factor. I completely understand that someone with a printer wouldn’t want to pay for a print when they can do it themselves or use more exotic materials (something I will eventually offer too when I have an enclosed printer) or want to edit in some lighting or mechanical features, but my new models aren’t made for that person initially so please be patient. Of course I can also be commissioned to make models there aren’t already kits for too!
As you can see all of my prints are raw kits only, I currently cannot offer painting even as a commission as I haven’t learned that side of things yet! I absolutely aim to for my own projects etc when I can dedicate some time to it and gather the equipment, and maybe then it can be an option. I definitely get jealous seeing some of the awesome paint jobs people have done on my models!
My miniature files are intended for use with resin printers, as is by far most common for miniatures, however that doesn’t mean they can’t be printed with FDM. I have seen multiple examples of customers printing my models with FDM machines at larger scales and often with impressive results, I also print them myself at 1:10 scale. They will not be easy to print this way so it’s best if you have plenty of experience doing it, particularly with using supports. Printing them at actual miniature size with FDM is not something I have experience with and can’t offer any helpful information about that.
You will notice that most series of miniatures have a separate listing for one or more ‘sets’, these sets are half price compared to buying the models individually so this is a great option if you need all of them. However if you don’t need absolutely all of them but still a sizable amount you can contact me about a custom bulk set at the same discount, however know that this requires a minimum of 20 miniature models to qualify. It is not automatic there is currently no system for that, it must be done directly with myself. There is no bulk discount available for life size models.
Please show me! I love to see them, and will add them to the Gallery page. You can tag me on insta @thestlsmith, or send them via direct email cu***********@*********th.com rather than using the contact form which doesn’t have attachments.
Almost all of my digital models both miniature and life size are also available on Cults3D, there’s actually a really cool feature there where a 360 preview of the model is automatically generated. I also sometimes post on insta. That’s it!
Please contact me and let me know! As you can see I have a large body of work and I work fast, it is entirely possible at any point of the process for something to slip through the cracks, unexpected issues or issues which have escaped my notice are entirely possible despite my best efforts, the software can be unpredictable and things like that are just a part of life. Notify me and I will check the model and if I find something wrong I will fix it and make sure you get the fixed model. Most will do this calmly and helpfully, and I appreciate it! However if you feel like you need to send a message attacking me and my work then don’t expect any help at all, I’m not some unfortunate teen retail worker you can take out your insecurities on, I don’t have a boss with an illogical ‘customer is always right’ corporate agenda I’m forced to answer to so I don’t have to take it and I won’t. Ask me, a consumer-level printing expert and experienced 3D print prepared digital sculptor using professional industry standard software, about it first, because no offense but chances are you are neither of those things. Yes, believe it, there are people who read one glossed over lazy beginner’s guide after a google search when they first get their printer and assume they know better than me, it is as infuriating and ridiculous as it sounds. If your perceived issue is auto-analysis related please read below, an explainer as to why I do not accept auto-analysis results as an issue and neither should you.
The Failings of Auto-Analysis
It is rare because most people have a decent amount of experience before deciding to spend money on .stl files, but sometimes I will get reviews or messages citing auto-analysis results as there being something wrong with the file, or even describing it as unusable as a result. Let me be clear, in my professional opinion analysis tools are useless and full of false positives, I don’t believe they should ever be used even by beginners, they’re typically recommended in lesser beginner’s guides but often that just turns into a bad habit of blindly relying on the results rather than ever understanding anything. One with experience would look at the .stl in the slicer with their own eyes and take 15 seconds to scroll through the layers to know if there are any actual issues. Every file I sell has been tediously checked in expensive professional software by a highly experienced expert in consumer-level printing, the exported files from that software showing false positives due to the unique way it processes geometry is a known factor, it does not mean there is anything actually wrong with it and certainly nothing which would affect an actual print. I just can’t wrap my head around someone seeing some minor errors in an auto analysis and thinking ‘welp guess it’s completely unusable and will explode my printer if I try printing it’ despite being able to see the model right there in the same window, that is not how any of this works.
I intend to eventually personally print every single one of my miniature models and include a photo in each of their listings everywhere they are available. This will remove any confusion regarding the printability of the file or the quality of the results before it is ever purchased. Plus I’ll get an awesome collection out of it! 😀
I try to keep things consistent, however the biggest reason for this is simply my own skills improving over time and with experience. It’s been 6 years since I started this, and my skill level has been different every year! My newest models will tend to be better than my oldest both in a technical sense and a detail one. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t proud of what I achieved at the time, but I have come a long way during the hundreds of models I have created. The second reason is source reference, if what I’m looking it is from an old game then the final model is going to reflect that time period, I’m not completely re-imagining these models, my goal is to capture them how they were and how we remember them. While I would love to go back and remake some models which aren’t up to my current standard, the difference would be too negligible to justify doing that rather than working on something new.
I’m self-taught with a non-traditional style so definitely no expert and in no position to be teaching others lol but I have been asked this multiple times. Alas most people would start with Blender because it’s free and good but I skipped that so I don’t know how to use it. What I can share is this, the core idea of all sculpting: make a basic shape then add detail to it. Here’s a visual example using a Vong Miid Roik ship I made (click for image). More complexity in design = more shapes, when you’re speed sculpting like me you don’t bother with actual shapes for a lot of it though you simply use brushes to approximate them. I highly recommend FlippedNormal’s youtube channel for tutorial videos.
People starting out often seek a general tutorial to sculpt minis specifically from start to finish, but that isn’t how it works. Everything sculpted is the same core idea of shapes and detail so all tutorials for the tools used are relevant. Search for what action you’re specifically trying to do, not what your goal is to create. Want to create a greathammer? A cuboid for the head, a cylinder for the handle, edit those shapes how you like and then add details to them, bam you have a greathammer.
For 3D printing specifically exaggerate the hell out of the detail, anything too subtle simply won’t show when printed, and ensure you make the final model boolean as is proper preparation for printing.
I think it’s most plain to see in my life size models, but what I do is self-taught speed sculpting, this has resulted in a non-traditional unique organic and ‘gritty’ style which is far from perfect but high on textural detail or ‘grit’. In short, it looks very natural, worn and organic, and lends very well to painting techniques like drybrushing and washes. If you’re after that traditional perfect style most people/teams do, you won’t find it from me, I can’t but even if I could I’d rather get half a dozen models done in the same amount of time as a traditional one! This is why my output is high compared to others too.
Recently and unfortunately I was attacked by a troll accusing my work of being models ripped from video games. I accept that your average person does not understand how video games work, I certainly didn’t when I was just a gamer, and that is why my first response to such allegations or questions about video game rips is always with information so that they can understand. The problem is that these trolls will continue to mindlessly attack rather than admit they are hilariously clueless and wrong, with an entire planet and multi-billion dollar industry of evidence which proves it. Provide to them the resources to learn about these things and they will refuse, there is nothing to do about it, they are not worth my or anyone else’s time. So when it becomes clear they are this person I will ignore them. It is not my job to teach a college degree worth of information to some random person, let alone one that is trolling me and would refuse all of it anyway. I trust in the intelligence of people who are not trolls to understand and learn what they do not already know via the incredible amount of resources at our fingertips. The models look like what is in the game because that is the entire point of fan art! These people are basically accusing them of looking too good and complimenting me by doing so.
If you are interested in understanding then read on. First thing out of the way, look at this image (https://i.imgur.com/GlIkOgg). The subject is the Burnt Ivory King from Dark Souls II, on the left is the fan model a client commissioned me to make, on the right is the model ripped from the game, you can download it yourself here (https://www.models-resource.com/pc_computer/darksoulsii/model/46956/) where I got it for this example, a site which specifically shares ripped video game models. Notice a difference? Well that is explained in the game rip section of this popular resin printing guide (https://adonaelresinprinting.weebly.com/)*, which goes into some detail about how video games work and why what you’re seeing is not at all what’s in the files. There is no such thing as a high detail model sitting there in the game waiting to be plucked out and thrown on a printer, if that were the case then there would be no fan art like my models and such ripped models would be everywhere. Anyone who has worked in video game development, or knows about video game development or real-time assets knows this, anyone who has researched it knows this, anyone who has seen someone ask about it in 3D printing communities and read the answers knows this, anyone who has ripped any models from video games knows this. My point is that it is common knowledge among those with these interests.
So no, my models are not and cannot be rips from a game, to suggest it is not only insulting to myself but also to the artists at these studios who created all the forms of art which went into the originals including the original sculpts which are far far better than mine will ever hope to be. My work is but a humble tribute, aka fan art. The years of effort, learning, improving, the thousands of hours spent working on my models, the pride, the pain in my hand when I spend too many hours doing it, the appreciation expressed to me from hundreds of customers and clients, all the times I’ve been too busy with it to do something with my spouse, at times the stress, and reaching the point where I do almost only commission work for people who genuinely desire what I can do, none of these things give a flying F*** about what some ignorant troll who refuses to educate themselves and does nothing but wastes oxygen thinks!
*full excerpt from the guide pasted below
[I Want To Print A Model Ripped From A Video Game?
Not gonna lie to you, it’s technically possible yes, but it’s tough with a lot of work involved and results nowhere near as good as what you’re probably expecting. Why is that? Because video games are essentially optical illusions and what you’re seeing is not the reality, there isn’t some amazing model of that character in there which looks like it came straight out of a collector’s edition box like some imagine. Not even close. Let’s skip over the actual ripping part because every game is different, it’s not easy and I don’t know all that much about it. Assume you already have the models or got them from someone. Those models will look like crap, like they came straight off a Playstation 1. The game engine renders them in such a way which makes them look smooth and like they have depth etc, but in reality they’re extremely simple and blocky. All the detail you see in the game are textures, which are images mapped onto the model and rendered in different ways making it look like it’s not an image mapped onto a blocky model like a projector screen. So you have this blocky model with no detail, fine you can work with that you’ll paint on the detail after it’s printed, just smooth it out a bit so it’s not so blocky and export it right? Well, not unless you want to print a T-pose or it’s an object, so now you have to pose it, which means either rigging it with a skeleton so that you can then move parts of it, or using another method to manually move and rotate parts of it until it’s posed, but then you can export it right? Not right actually, because they are nowhere near a printable state, those clothes you see, the hair/fur, anything which hangs or dangles, probably not 3D objects. 2D planes with a partially transparent image mapped to them. All that matters is how you, the player, will see the model in the game, and not see, those arms? They’re cut off just inside the sleeve of the shirt, the sleeve which may be a single sided 2D plane. So you’ve got to do everything that’s in the ‘How To Make a 3D Model Printable?’ section, everything needs to be a solid 3D model, it all needs to intersect, and then be made boolean. Great, you’ve done that, now you export right? Sure, now you can export one single very low detail basic posed model. Not saying it couldn’t be worth it to the right person, and there are some small but dedicated communities which do this for the sake of miniature tabletop games, but it sure is a lot to do for little in the way of results, might be better to just learn how to model/sculpt yourself and be able to re-create anything you like exactly how you want it.
Here is a link to an example image of how game models are made (https://imgur.com/a/GM0YYua), as you can see in the top half, that wireframe is the polygons, that’s how blocky a game model is and what it looks like (without the colour) when it is extracted because 3D printing uses only raw geometry, as you can see all the detail you see in the game is actually half a dozen layers of textures with different functions projected on top of that. That is how real-time assets work, the image on the bottom left is how the model up top looks rendered in-engine with all those layers shown on the right enabled.
Finally here is a direct comparison (https://imgur.com/nUO37sm) on the left is a Locust Drone in Gears of War 3 as it appears in the game, and the right is the raw model of it I found ripped from the game. Yeah.]