Butler's Printed Models (Review)

I needed a couple dozen Soviet mortars for WW2 so I bought them from Butler's Printed Models in the UK. They were very cheap and arrived yesterday.

The pics of their vehicles show quite strong layers and the mortars look like stacked pancakes. I'll paint them and see how they turn out but they might be headed to the bin....

I don't know of you can tell in this photo, but the main barrel has quite noticeable ridges:



And here are the support legs, also quite heavily striated:

That's a bummer.

I would just grind those suckers with a file....

And/or spray on a crapload of varnish before painting them.

I thought about filing/sanding. But these things are tiny and frankly not worth the effort. Once they're on the base with crew no one will ever notice.

At least I'm not dealing with a 28mm Huey or 20mm Amtrak - ugh!

After a coat of Contrast Paint:

They look fine - I like the barrel hole. I have 20 mm lead mortars that look worse than that.

They look like they have ropes wrapped around them in the last photo. Maybe contrast paints are not the best thing for those. Maybe shade them with a brush where you want it.

Of course on my computer screen they are bigger than life size. I should loolk at them on my phone.

Tom

Using Contrast was intentional to show the ridges.

I'm going to give them a heavy coat of darker Russian green. On the table they'll look fine. But this thing is 1/2" tall. If this were a jeep or building it would be *very* hard to paint. The ridges pull your paint/ink using capillary action. You can't dry brush either as you'll pick up all the ridges.

Not a big deal on a mortar but on anything bigger.....

I know there are better printers out there but buying 3D prints requires a lot more self-education to be sure you know what you're getting.

I think Butler's just has a poor reputation for quality all across the board. You just proved the theory that if something THAT small is flawed, then staying away from larger models is a smart idea.

I don't think his models are flawed, it's just that he uses FDM printers. They are designed to make BIG things, like buildings. They are not designed for commercial applications, which is why there are resin printers out there. FDM prints are fast and cheap, and you get what you pay for. I've seen some of his print files, and they are excellent files and would be great if printed on an SLA machine. I know some people use filler on the models, but you have to be careful if you sand as you can literally break the model across a layer.
I would use BPM for some rare 28mm or larger model, but not for smaller things. I know some use him for their 15mm armies, like Just Jack, but not my jam.

Agreed the models look good design wise. Point of my post is in part to show you "what you get." His prices certainly reflect the printer quality.

Darby wrote:I don't think his models are flawed, it's just that he uses FDM printers.  They are designed to make BIG things, like buildings.  They are not designed for commercial applications, which is why there are resin printers out there.  FDM prints are fast and cheap, and you get what you pay for.  I've seen some of his print files, and they are excellent files and would be great if printed on an SLA machine.  I know some people use filler on the models, but you have to be careful if you sand as you can literally break the model across a layer.
I would use BPM for some rare 28mm or larger model, but not for smaller things.  I know some use him for their 15mm armies, like Just Jack, but not my jam.

Partly true I have done miniatures (28mm) on FDM and they in no way look like those prints, that is just a shitty print job really. Not nam, but just to show FDM jets a bad rap sometimes , when it is the person behind the spool



Oh and this is a small "hat" for a lego minifig (Fallout powerarmor hemlet and chest armour)

Ahhh, he's probably using a bigger nozzle then to move things along faster? Your prints look excellent!

Darby wrote:Ahhh, he's probably using a bigger nozzle then to move things along faster?  Your prints look excellent!

Yeah I thought maybe he was using a .6 nozzle, and perhaps running to hot and to fast. Thanks all my FDM prints are done with a standard .4 nozzle. I would love to reprint the minifig stuff in resin.