"2mm, 3d printed Napoleonic French Line Battalion" Topic

The buttons are the wrong color : (

You called it before I did.

Maybe, but even I can see the flank companies correctly placed. Grenadiers right of the line, light co left. Folk get that wrong in 28mm, let's face it.

These look brilliant and I could almost be persuaded to throw dice, in this scale

Boot gaiter buttons are clearly wrong ….

I am not so sure. The flag suggests post Bardin reforms. Much depends on gaiters above or below the knee. Hard to tell here

those are great, would you care to talk a bit more about the figures and how you painted them?

I tend to use Krylon for the base coat because it dries so fast. For these, I sprayed the bottoms a solid colour just to be sure that any underhanging edges were covered. Didn't bother doing any speckling on the bottom since those underhanging edges won't show at all on these.

Once the bottoms were dried enough to handle, about an hour is plenty, I flip them over and paint the top. I give it a fairly solid coat with one colour, but don't need to cover everything completely since any small bits of plastic will add to the speckling.

I have some old cans of paint that the nozzles are partially clogged and they splatter. I take those cans and mark a big 'S' on them with a sharpie and save them just for jobs like this. The darkest blue speckles on the oerall light blue minis came from such a Splatter can.

Sometimes the various paints will blend together a bit more than I would like. If that happens, I'll give them another colour after the initial work has dried. For this, I'll choose a colour that will stand out more against the blend, and give them a light spritzing from about 12" to 16" away. I did that with both Green Forces. The lighter coloured blend, I gave a later light spray of Desert Sand, and the darker blend a later light spray of Bright Medium Green.

I'll double check the Blue and Red Forces sometime and see if I want to add a highlight spray to any of them.

I also use this technique for painting stone and brick work!

n.b. Do not use Army Painter sprays with any paints that are still wet. While their mix provides a lovely thin primer base, it will turn everything into blended soup if trying to simultaneously spray multiple colours. It can be spritzed onto dry paints and vice-versa.

I got bugged! I'll update later, but here's more info:

forwardmarchstudios.com

How does one form square? I would have printed two half blocks.

Trust me, there are plenty of options for different sized-pieces in the Forward March Studios library:

This actually needs to be updated with over 60new models, but here is the initial list of models that you get:

The Infantry
Each infantry model is available in 2, 3 and 4 rank variants and two sprue configurations, one with 10 models, and one with 14 models.
20mm Infantry Strips, no flags
20mm Infantry Strips, one flag
20mm Infantry Strips, two flags
30mm Infantry Strips, no flags
30mm Infantry Strips, one flag
30mm Infantry Strips, two flags
40mm Infantry Strips, no flags
40mm Infantry Strips, one flag
40mm Infantry Strips, two flags
60mm Infantry Strips, no flags
60mm Infantry Strips, one flag
60mm Infantry Strips, two flags

There is also a special FDM infantry model without bayonets, which is available currently only in 40mm strips, with three ranks. The lack of bayonets means that this can be easily printed on a low-end FDM printer.

The Cavalry
The cavalry are currently available only in 2 ranks but a three rank variant is planned.
52 Horse Squadrons on a 40mm Frontage
112 Horse Squadrons on an 80mm Frontage (Two company groups)
104 Horse Squadrons on an 80mm Frontage (Four company groups, bigger gap between ranks, possibly easier to paint)

The Artillery and Train
Artillery Come in Both Bicorne and Shako/Kepi Versions.
4 gun batteries, 40 guns total
6 gun batteries, 60 guns total
8 gun batteries, 80 guns total
Limbers and six horse team, Shako, Kepi, 18 limbers per model
Caissons and six horse team, Shako, Kepi, 18 caissons per model
Supply Wagons, 2 horse team, 18 wagons per model

The Generals
All generals' bases come in both bicornes or shako/kepi versions. Titles are only suggestions, any sized base is appropriate for any level of command at the customer's preference:
15mm Round "Regimental commanders"
20mm Round "Brigade Commanders"
30mm Round "Division Commanders"
40mm Round "Corps Commanders" (coming soon!)
50mm Round "Army General" (coming soon!"

The Skirmishers
The skirmish model comes with shako/kepi headgear, and contains (4) 80mm strips. These can easily be cut into 40mm or 20mm strips as needed.

The buildings
German barn / workshop
Large wooden bridge
Church and tower
2 story houses
Large stone bridge, four towers
Large stone bridge, no towers
L-Shaped, one-story cottages
Windmills 1
Windmills 2
German House, FDM
Individual German townhouses, FDM
Single House Collection (Town houses)
2-Story German Houses
German Street Section 1
German Street Section 2
German Street Section 3
German Street Section 4
German Street Section 5
German Street Section 6
Small wooden bridges
Small stone bridges, no towers
Small stone bridges, four towers
Short wooden bridge
Large wooden bridge with buildings on it

Did you design these? Or where did the file come from?

I designed them all, and test printed and painted over 90% of them. There are no bum files in there!

You can check them out at forwardmarchstudios.com

This is a new range of 2mm miniatures, which is using an entirely new business model compared to traditional model soldier lines. Essentially you buy a license from me for the files. Afterwards you can print off or cause to be printed offf as many copies of the models as you want for the rest of your life. You may sell the models you print at a profit to any other license holder of the Forward March Studios Library, and any other derivative product. You may not sell them in open commerce, but good faith second hand sales to non-licensees are allowed.

I'm planning on adding new files to the library as I develop and test them. I've already added 60+ files to the original Library and have plans for many more un the works. When I update my existing customers get an email that lets them know that new models are available for download. There is no additional fee for the new models; one purchase entitles you to all the files in the current Forward March Studios Library.

This business model allows me to sell my range to a global audience without having to deal with shipping and handling issues. Anyone with access to either a 3d printer, or a 3d printing hub, can purchase my range of figures and start printing them immediately from anywhere in the world. 3dhubs.com is a popular hub for people without their own printer, as is Shapeways (my website has info about the 3d printing process in a format friendly to those who have zero knowledge about it).

Beyond all that, I take requests from customers for future models, if the request is feasible. This has already led to a few new models being added to the library. As you can see in the above list, I'm making available a complete range of figures from the get-go. You can use my models to create a 1:1 2mmscale model of almost ever conflict in the Horse and Musket era, including lots of different buildings, bridges, and windmills, with more on the way.

That is awesome, I'm going to spend some time checking that out tomorrow!

Andrew Walters- check it out! Its growing much more quickly than I expected, which is encouraging me to keep pumping out new models.

Since painting the pictures above I've knocked out another four similar French battalions, and two Russians. I'm very tempted to do a "Borodino Fleches" army set with high detail, as a separate entity from my Wagram/Leipzig whole battle project, which are much (much much) more impressionistic in nature.