Tiny Anime Action Figures

Considering the release today, at this point just dyeing 80A sounds like a better plan!

I am currently doing a test print of pigmented 33/66 80A/Durable so I’ll let you know how it goes.

The goal is to make Durable stretchier while retaining more rigidity than 80A allows, for the purpose of making it both easier to insert joints into the tiny torsos and to lengthen the lifespan of the joints because currently it takes quite a bit of force to insert the joints.

So I’ve done a number of prints in 33/66 80A/Durable with pigment, I really like the material a lot. It has a nice satisfying ‘pop’ to it when I set the joints, and thin parts are nicely flexible while retaining strength and stability.

I find small parts print best with a slightly larger touchpoint than pure Durable (.4 vs my normal .3), and I cure it according to Durable’s standards. It sands and paints super nice too, highly recommended!

Got some new sculpting done, having a great time printing in the blended resin!! I’ve been super productive the last few months

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And as of this week I have 4 more characters printing mostly in the Flexiflesh blend, withsome accessories and joints printing in Tough 1500

Seriously though I would die a happy man if Formlabs produced a pre-pigmented blend of Durable and Flexible.

And my typical print. I noticed I was getting some dropped parts with no overlap and smaller touch points, so for these tiny figures I use .4mm touchpoints and overlap the rafts.

Can you clarify which mix is Flexiflesh? Is that 33% Durable + 66% Flexible 80A, or is it a Durable / Elastic blend? Out of curiosity have you ever tried a Durable + Tough 2000 blend? (I’m wondering if it would give something close to Tough 1500)

Tough 1500 is firmer than Durable, so this stuff wouldn’t be suitable.

But it’s a 66/33 blend of Durable/80A. It’s kind of PVC-y with a Shore hardness of 90-90A but not as much friction as 80A on its own. I tried adding some 50A but it made it too wobbly to print and the end cured material prone to tearing.

For an example, I use Tough 1500 like a more durable Model Grey. It’s not stretchy and has almost no smoosh to it, so I use it to print accessories and weapons that need to be crisp and sharp and have almost no flex.

Thanks! Sorry I meant if you tried that mix in general (since you seem to be into resin alchemy) as opposed to for this model specifically. BTW I love the way you characterize the materials using highly technical terms like “smoosh” and “pop” - very effective. :wink:

Ah, not yet but it may happen! Durable blends are among my favorites, so I’ll likely try that at some point. Right now the question is ‘how toyetic can I get the finished product to be, and how far can I push pigmentation?’ so it’s a lot of mixing, remixing, adding cure accelerator, mixing again…

Glad to be of service! I work in toy design so those kinds of descriptors are habitual lol

Absolutely am in love with your work!

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I’m glad, because I’m having a blast with it!

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I’ve been moderately productive lately.

Seeing as the Formlabs colors are supposedly compatible with 80A I bought some to mess with. I like the magenta, black, and yellow, but I find they work better in my existing Smooth-on blends than on their own. They also seem to also require cure accelerator but it is what it is, having a UV-stable magenta on its own is worth the trouble.

For the darker fleshtone I started with Formlab’s Walnut recipe, but had difficulty getting it to print until I added Smooth-On So Strong flesh. It made it more opaque but the additional titanium dioxide seems to help prints cure?

I really like Formlabs Magenta as a stable magenta, but I like it best in addition to my existing methods of coloring batches of resin.

Very nice prints, good job!

It’s been a while! And I’ve been working away lol

I have a few more to paint, and a few more to print, then it’s back to sculpting more!

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Wow, these look great @potootatos!

Keep up the awesome work!

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These are awesome! You painting skills are great too.