Star Wars 3D Printing – At the Court of Emperor Palpatine

The 3D printers have been running hot recently outputing a whole host of Star Wars miniatures. I am concentrating mainly on building an Imperial force at the moment and have turned my attention away from the troops to the top brass.

(I have, as usual, included links to where I have obtained these models, but to make things a bit clearer have also included a useful table at the end of the article summarising what came from where.)

First: the big boss man, Emperor Sheev Palpatine. This model complete with diorama base and guards is from the Patreon of Madox.

Not sure about the bare feet, but otherwise a lovely miniature to print and paint.

It is part of the welcome pack that becomes available when you sign up. The three figures were printed in resin on my AnyCubic Photon, with the base done in filament on my Creality CR-10S FDM printer.

The Royal Guard are highly stylised compared to their on screen counterparts (and the official Legion models). Not that pleased with the paint job on these, but the beauty of 3D printing is that I can just try again following a re-print.

Next up a model from Skull Forge Studios, which I actually purchased and painted a few months ago, but dug out again for this article. Sold as the ‘Authority Grand Duke’, this is my take on Grand Moff Tarkin.

Since I painted up the Grand Moff I have realised that his rank badge isn’t quite right, but hey ho, still looks the part).

Like my other Imperial officers this paint scheme was primarily based on a German Field Grey paint set I have from Andrea Color.

I’ve recently been getting my Star Wars fix, post -Mandalorian by binge watching (for the first time), the animated Rebels series on Disney+. I tried watching ‘The Clone Wars’ a few years ago and couldn’t get into it, but I absolutely loved Rebels. Two of the key Imperial villains in the last two series are Governor Pryce and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Pryce is based on a female Imperial officer figure available from the Patreon of BigMillerBro, while I found the Thrawn miniature files free to download from Thingiverse.

Thrawn’s all white uniform was made slightly easier through the use of contrast paints. (Interesting the version of this model I downloaded from Thingiverse no longer appears to be on the site; however if you search for ‘Thrawn’ it looks like there are a few alternatives available.)

Next we have two of the Emperor’s advisors who appear briefly in Return of the Jedi. Like Thrawn these were free downloads from Thingiverse (designed by McAnultyMiniatures – well worth checking out – there are even Ewoks!).

Last but not least is the only model I have completed as part of this batch that is not 3D printed. The standing version of Palpatine is the actual Star Wars Legion model (albeit with the base swapped out for a 3D printed base I also purchased from the Madox Gumroad store).

MODEL	FILE AVAILABLE FROM
Emperor Palpatine Throne Room Diorama	Madox 3D Design Patreon
Grand Moff Tarkin	Skull Forge Studios Gumroad store
Governor Pryce	BigMillerBro Patreon
Grand Admiral Thrawn	Thingiverse (free download) – no longer available.
Emperor’s Advisors	Thingiverse (free download)
Emperor Palpatine	Star Wars Legion miniature by Fantasy Flight Games – available from you friendly local games store
Scenic bases	Madox 3D Design Gumroad store

Entering the Zone with Albino Raven Miniatures

I have recently been 3D printing and painting models by Albino Raven Miniatures.

The miniatures from this range are generally themed around modern combat with a slight science fiction twist. Ideal for games like Zona Alfa, Black Ops or 7TV Apocalypse.

Some of the ‘Biohazard’ designs recently released

I have been concentrating so far on the ‘Biohazard’ figures. These printed out a treat on my AnyCubic Photon resin printer and are definitely on the ‘chunkier’ side when it comes to scale.

The miniatures are one piece and there is a mix of suit styles. Most of these guys are armed, and there are a variety of weapons from modern style automatics to more fantastical plasma guns.

A selection of miniatures fresh of the printer (post curing)

However I have to say my favourite sculpt of the lot is the guy holding the vial (probably of something very nasty).

The details on the prints are excellent

When it comes to painting I have tried out a number of colour schemes using a combination of contrast paints, washes and dry brushing. The yellow chaps in particular were inspired by the Dharma Iniative from Lost.

Albino Raven continue to produce a great range of 3D designs on a monthly basis via Patreon and some of their files are also available on MyMiniFactory.

Another recent release printed – painted primarily with constrast paints.