3d-printable terrain for all your samurai wargaming needs
The new samurai temple walls have all been test printed, so it's time for an assembly guide and some photos!
£ We'll start with the straight wall section, which prints upside down. Like EVERY piece in the temple walls set, you won't need print supports! You'll need to carefully remove the 3 built-in print supports from each window, however.
£ With the window frames empty, you can choose which window design you'll print. You have a choice of 3 types - a shuttered window (bars are on the 'inside'), a window with vertical bars, and an ornamental version with a traditional pattern. These will just slot in on the inside of the window frame.
£ You'll need to print a roof section. Again, this does not require print supports, and can be fitted to the wall with some gentle pressure..... so if you want to remove it during play, it should be possible.
£ The base section is optional, and features a 30mm wide dirt path on the outside, and a wide stone-paved pathway on the inside.
£ The doorway section is similar to the straight section. It should be printed upside-down, and does not require supports.
£ The STL file for the doors includes 2 hinge blocks, which should be inserted in the door frame as shown in the photo above. A locking bar is also included, and can be slotted in to the grooves.
£ The roof for the doorway section is the same as for the straight section, and can be push fitted if you don't want to glue it. The optional base can be printed in one piece on larger printers, but there is also a 2-part version for smaller printers. There are some narrow steps on the outside, leading up to the doorway.......
£ ... and some wider stone steps on the other side. As with each piece of this model, every surface has been realistically textured.
£ The corner section also features window frames, and you will need to carefully remove the built-in print supports again (circled in red), and then insert your choice of window designs.
£ The roof has been designed to print in two pieces, which can both be printed without print supports. There are a couple of tiny built-in print supports on the corners, howvere, which should be carefully trimmed off.
£ The base section for the corner has been provided as a one-piece print for larger printers, or sliced into 3 pieces for smaller (125mm² bed) printers.
Okay, so that's the assembly guide done. It's time for some bigger pics........
£ It's getting BIG!! Each roof section is 120mm long, but actually about 150mm wide from edge to edge - so the layout starts to get big quite quickly! Temple priests will get great protection from the wind and rain.
£ Of course the gentle curves on the roof sections will also allow ninja models to run along the tops, on their sneaky night missions!
£ You can of course use these walls without the base sections, and they'll still look great! You could even use them in castle and shrine layouts.
£ I'm looking forward to getting some great photos along those interior pathways, once the models are painted up! The roof beams and detailed supports should make for instagram-worthy backgrounds.
£ Without the roofs, these sections are completely playable too. It's got a more D&D feel to it, don't you think?
These models will be hitting the paint desk just as soon as I decide whether to paint them as wood or paint them red, and will be released shortly.
After our little detour into sci-fi terrain, it's time to get back to some more feudal Japanese terrain! Today we have some new designs to show off - a set of modular temple walls!
This eventually be part of a massive collection of temple-themed structures, so you can go mad and make an entire table styled after Sucker Punch, Kill Bill, and 47 Ronin!
£ The basic block is this 120mm section of straight temple wall. The base section is optional, and lifts everything up by 30mm. On the exterior of the walls, you've got a narrow covered dirt path about 30mm wide....
£ ... and on the other side of the wall you have a 70mm wide paved walkway, for the temple priests. The roof is gently curved (so you can stand ninja assassins on it!), and tiled with the same ornamental rooftiles as on castle buildings.
The set will contain this straight section, another straight section with a doorway and steps, and a corner section.
A large gatehouse building will be coming later, designed to fit this set.
Hot on the heels of last Monday's Fusion Reactor release comes another new Taui terrain piece - the Taui Gun Tower! This poseable building is available for download from today.
£ This 300mm-tall building was painted up in sandy desert colours, to match the rest of the Taui range, and looks pretty great on this Mars-themed battlemat!
£ In this pic of the turret you can see the access hatch right behind the huge twin rail-gun weapon.
That would probably make a great mission objective, either to seize and control or to defend, before an imminent airstrike?
£ The turret and its weapon can be rotated about 250 degrees. With two of these gun towers you could cover any approach from enemy attack.
£ The turret can also be elevated during play, by simply tilting the front up and sliding along the tower track. It will lock into place automatically - gravity's a wonderful thing, eh?!
£ Of course it can also be dropped down to ground level, for access by friendly forces.
£ The whole gun tower, base section and turret are all hollow, and you can have some fun by printing it in clear filament and lighting it up with LEDs inside.
The Taui Gun Tower is available for download from today.
It's time for some alien sci-fi goodness! Today we are releasing the new Taui Fusion Reactor for download, so come and take a look!
£ The fusion reactor is a pretty big model, measuring 303mm x 160mm (12" x 6½"), with a height of 270mm (11"). There's also plenty of space for models behind the low perimeter wall.
£ The rear of the reactor model has an entrance and the computer terminal can be located anywhere.
£ The fun really begins if you print it in clear PLA filament, and stuff some LED lights inside! I used a couple of blue string lights, with a battery pack inside each of the large towers. The central core also has holes, so you can carefully feed LEDs inside the core sphere.
The Taui Fusion Reactor is available for download from today.
Lots of pics to show you today for the new Taui Gun Tower. First of all, here's a quick assembly guide....
I plan to light up my model with LEDs, so almost all the parts were printed in clear PLA filament at 100% infill and a layer height of 0.2mm.
£ The base section is printed in two halves, both printed standing up. Only the front section requires a small amount of print supports to hold up the bottom edge of that recessed circle.
£ The body of the tower is next. I printed mine in one piece, 300mm (12") tall, but there are of course smaller cut versions included for smaller printers. This piece is hollow, and the separate top piece is simply glued into place.
£ The 3rd part of this model is the turret section. Start by printing the bottom of the turret and the connecting piece. I used print supports on the bottom piece just to make the bottom curves as smooth as possible, and a quick bit of sanding finished them off. Oh, it may not look hollow, but it is!
I printed the connecting piece at 20% infill to save filament and time, but made sure it was strong enough to hold the weight of the turret and guns.
£ The circular turret's "window" is printed as one piece, and will require a small amount of support just to print the bump of the gun mount (shown on the right of the photo). DON'T glue this window in, as it is designed to rotate!
£ The top piece for the turret benefits from some print support to help keep the curved surface as smooth as possible. The lid is printed separately and then dropped in to place. I didn't glue the top piece to the connector yet, as it will be easier to paint the turret window separately. Similarly, I don't plan to glue the lid on to the top, as I will need access to the inside for LEDs.
There is a narrow channel running around the bottom of the top piece, into which the window should slot neatly. Make sure to sand the edges of the channel so it fits and rotates easily.
NOTE: For some unknown reason (i.e. my stupidity!!) I managed to create a lid and socket that are not 100% circular. It's about 1mm shorter in one direction, so if it doesn't fit perfectly, please try rotating it slightly!
£ This is an extra fitting that is included in the model files. It is a separate magnet mount that fits on to the weapon mounting point, in case you want to magnetise different weapons from your own bits box. You can use a magnet up to 10mm diameter.
It is NOT required if you use the twin rail guns included with the model.
£ The massive twin rail guns are mirrors of each other, and should be connected as shown in the photo. The power pack bit slots to the back of the guns, and the small 2mm thick discs should be used in between the barrels to keep the guns evenly spaced.
There is also a sensor unit which can be glued on to the side using another connector disc. Please note which side will attach to the turret's window before gluing.... I didn't, and had to pull it off again! Oops!
£ I recommend not gluing the main tower to the base at all, as the fit is quite tight and should hold fine without glue. If you do choose to glue the tower to the base, however, please make sure to insert the turret into the notched channel in the tower first!
Please note that this is a tight fit, and may require a little bit of force to insert the first couple of times. After that, you should be able to tilt the turret up at the front (as shown in the picture) to slide it up and down the tower. When you return the turret to a horizontal position, it should lock in place.
£ Time for some completed model pics!!! Here's the new gun tower in all its glory - it's BIG!!
£ The gun and window can be spun around 250 degrees.
A few geometric shapes have also been included in the kit, which can be used to customise the circular panels at the top of the main tower.
£ When elevated to its full height, this turret is pretty darn high!
£ The turret can also be dropped almost to ground level. There is a small door hatch behind the weapon mount, which could give access for a great game scenario.
£ You looking at me, punk?
£ The new Gun Tower will be painted up over the next few days, and then we'll have a double Taui release for you very soon....
Taui Gun Tower 
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9 Comments :
Austin
2021-03-21 (Sun) 0:10AM
Looks awesome! You nailed it
Christian
2021-03-21 (Sun) 1:01AM
Great work as always! Are these usually a rectangular layout with only outer corners or could they have inner corners as well like you earlier castle walls set?
2021-03-21 (Sun) 9:09AM
Thanks, guys! Yes, they would normally be a simple rectangle shape of walls (without inner corners and T-junctions), with a big gate 'building' at the front. That bit will be coming soon...
Ja
2021-03-22 (Mon) 2:06AM
Great question Christian!
David, is there a plan to add an inner corner?
2021-03-22 (Mon) 10:10AM
Sorry for not answering that question directly earlier. No, there will not be an inner corner in this set. I've never seen a real-life temple layout with an inner corner.
Ja
2021-03-24 (Wed) 8:27AM
No worries! Thanks David. This has me thinking now too, and I canft think of an instance where Ifm aware of that either. I think I might pay a little closer attention to it now. Haha.
Rory
2021-04-16 (Fri) 23:53PM
Ifm currently printing the temple a d itfs looking great. Ifm relatively new to doing my own 3D printing and had a few questions/thoughts about ways to reduce print time without losing quality. Or maybe my times are normal?
These are rough printing times using:
Prusa is MK3s+ with a 0.6mm nozzle
PrusaSlicer settings:
O.3mm Quality
Infill: 10%
Brim: Yes
No Supports
Straight Floor: 5hrs 38mins
Straight Wall: 3hrs 34mins
Straight Roof: 6 hrs 57 mins
Temple Floor Corner: 12hrs 34mins
Any tips to improve print times would be much appreciated.
Also, would you consider producing a Temple Floor / Temple Roof gUnder Constructionh? That way I can immediately start using the Temple, capping both ends with with the Under Construction parts until itfs completely printed. ;D
2021-04-17 (Sat) 10:00AM
Hi Rory, thanks for your comments. Those print times look pretty good to me - I normally print models like these at 0.2mm layers, but even so, your times are probably faster than mine. I generally print at a fairly slow 40mm/s speed, which works well for me.
Rory
2021-04-18 (Sun) 2:16AM
Ifd love to have finer detailed prints, but I think the print time would drive me crazy!
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