Earlier this year I thought about 3d printing and got myself a resin printer.  A friend has had a plastic printer for a while and I saw and painted a sample for him.

I investigated 3D printing and eventually bought an Elegoo Mars. Here it is in action. 

I blundered about a lot, and I'm still learning.  I'll offer some cautionary notes later, but for now, here are some early test prints. These figures were free and are 10mm fantasy 'Warmaster' types. 

Here are some figures given a basic undercoat and wash. Just to see what they look like. 

And with a touch more paint. The chaps on the left are 15mm prints boosted/upscaled on the computer file from the 10mm originals. The chaps on the right are the originals. 

Some American Civil War 10mm upscales, 6mm originals, and at the back is a British 28mm seven years war chap.

Here is the British 28mm seven years war chap alongside a Perry Miniatures 28m AWI figure. 

I've done a lot more prints since and I'll post examples later. But for now, here are my initial lessons.

Cost and initial outlay on materials. 

The printer cost about £170. 

In addition, resin is needed at around £16 plus for 500g or £25 for a 1 kg bottle. A model may only weigh about 2-4 or more grams, so you get a lot of models from one bottle, but I wasted a lot of resin on failed prints and learning. Many models will need supports to build, though that is a topic for another day. 

Isopropyl 99% alcohol for cleaning the resin models after printing. I started buying a litre, but later bought 5 litres for less than £20 if I recall. I had used isopropyl before as it's great for using as a paint thinner and brush cleaner.

Suitable containers for cleaning models. I got additional containers to use for soapy water to wash the models after being washed in the alcohol. 

Kitchen roll for general cleaning and mopping up resin spills. The thing with photo-cure resin is that it only cures fully in exposure to UV light, so I spend time cleaning the vat that contains the resin and the build plate and general cleaning. It can get messy. 

And just as important, face mask and latex gloves. The resin smells a bit and the liquid resin may cause skin irritation, so care is needed. 

And finally the cost of the models, or rather the cost of the computer files. For example, the seven years war pack cost me $15 for all ranks, marching, advancing, firing plus officer, standard and drummer.  

And, and ... almost forgot. Do have a decent computer with a good graphics card and capability. I initially put the free Chitubox software that came with the printer, on to an older computer and I couldn't see some files because the graphics card was older. I switched to a more powerful laptop and everything has been fine since. 

I'll write more on my experiences later.