3D Prints, Collectible or Just for Fun?

We recently picked up a new Elegoo Saturn 3D printer, thinking of all the fun props, statues, and minis that we could print out ourselves! That and we get to paint them however we want! I mean who wouldn’t love neon pink Terror Dogs and Slimmer!

What we soon came to find out was that it wasn’t as easy as looking up the latest Hot Toys statues and going through the checkout process, and it gave us anew found respect for the cost of those collectibles. While they have been doing it a lot longer, they have perfected the process and can make a good profit too.

For us, even a medium sized DnD mini can easily take a half a day to get ready and print. There are hundreds of free models out there that you can download and print, but there are good and bad models. Finding the right one can be fun, and you will spend a few hours running down a few rabbit holes when you discover some other figures that you would also enjoy owning.

After you have found the files that you would like to print, that is just the beginning. Then you must get it ready for the printing, depending on the type of printer you are using this can mean a couple different things. For us, it’s a choice to spend an hour working on the 3D files or use the default printer settings and spending hours afterwards sanding and finishing the final product. That is before we even think about painting them!

Painting is a whole other thing; you can have a basic $10 paint job or a $100 glass case show piece paint job. Suffice it to say, that when I see a statuette for a few hundred dollars, I am not so critical anymore. The real question that I have, from a buyer’s perspective, is buying 3D printed models something you would do as a collector?

My next attempts will be a Dark Saber, and maybe some other Sabers as well. I am a Star Wars fan and props like these are the reason I wanted to get a 3D printer.