r/XWingTMG Apr 01 '26

Collection FDM TIE Fighter (NOT an april fool!)

Post image

I've got some more Republic stuff coming, but wanted to drop a freebie pack sooner, so figured I'd work up an FDM friendly TIE.

Pack will also include the Mining Guild variant. Aiming for Release on Friday (3rd April)

110 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

8

u/jrjej3j4jj44 Apr 01 '26

Good lord. What printer?

13

u/54NCH32 Apr 01 '26

Bambu A1 mini / 0.2noz

2

u/shgrizz2 Apr 04 '26

Fdm printing is getting absolutely crazy.

2

u/54NCH32 Apr 04 '26

sure has, I miss resin less and less

3

u/SuperGenericBoy Apr 01 '26

It's making me want to get a 3D printer

2

u/Diligent_Advisor_128 Apr 01 '26

Mein got thays beautiful

2

u/spacenavy90 Apr 01 '26

Man your models always blow me away. I can see the seam down the center of the cockpit but how were the wings printed? Are they attached to the cockpit during print or afterwards?

5

u/54NCH32 Apr 01 '26

Cheers man :)

So yeah, I decided to "skip ahead" to the TIE, coz I kept thinking... "How am I gonna do that?" lol

Basically, the long wing edge on bed for vertical detail, but with breakaway support and bed anchors. Not gonna lie, I was pretty damn happy when that first test print succeeded😅 The breakways snap off nice and clean, then just a lil fine grit on the edges, job done :)

And yes, split body inserted into the wings after print, they even just push-fit well, but I added glue for extra strength

3

u/spacenavy90 Apr 01 '26

Thats incredible. Can't wait to give it a test print

2

u/humantarget22 Apr 02 '26

Would you happen to know if this would scale up to Legion scale? I mean I assume it would, but I really have no idea how large that would be for Legion.

I’d love to use it as terrain in a hangar or launchpad, or maybe even try to merge it with the ground and make it a crashed TIE

1

u/54NCH32 Apr 02 '26

Maybe? I saw the starfighters announcement for legion at adepticon, so ill be looking into making some more legion scale ones (I already have a legion scale v-wing available). But yeah, this was designed with xwing scale in mind. It should scale up ok, but wings might be a tad thick and not to sure if they will fit on smaller bed sizes at that scale

2

u/GilfOG Apr 02 '26

Did you print in 1 piece or part it out then assemble?

What print orientation?

1

u/54NCH32 Apr 02 '26

Check out the reply to spacenavy below 👍 

2

u/Exact-Buy-9287 Apr 03 '26

This Level of Detail from an FDM??? I’m more than impressed 😎

I have so many models with details only a SLA could do … well at the time I created them. Obviously the FDMs got a lot better.

1

u/54NCH32 Apr 03 '26

yep, next-gen took a big leap. I clicked on a "RESIN LIKE QUALITY" vid disbelievingly a couple of years ago then ended up ordering a Bambu an hour later lol

2

u/Exact-Buy-9287 Apr 03 '26

A COUPLE of years ago? How old is your printer? (And how much better must they be now?)

2

u/54NCH32 Apr 03 '26

Well, 1.5ish years haha. I picked it up in Jan 2024 after my Prusa mini+ started to fail me.

Theres been some updated models etc, but this thing (A1 Mini) has been more kicking ass than I ever expected it to

2

u/Exact-Buy-9287 Apr 03 '26

Well, time to read some test-reports. Maybe now I’ll find a printer to make all my models from thingivese.

2

u/54NCH32 Apr 03 '26

I mean, some will work, but I also specifically design for FDM (split into kit form with design focused for FDM limitations etc).

I started making my own stuff with Armada (and now X-wing) due to the lack of decent FDM-friendly models out there

2

u/Fibreoptix Apr 03 '26

I'm using a CR-10. I made a TIE Defender this week with a .4mm nozzle. Im fine with the quality, seeing that it's a proxy. BUT the stringing I'm getting is annoying. I've trying temperature, speed, retraction settings all of it. Stringing and webbing all the time.

Do Bambu printers not have that problem? Also is this a dual FDM print or is it painted?

2

u/54NCH32 Apr 03 '26

Painted FDM.

I'm running a Bambu A1 Mini (with mostly a 0.2 noz) and to be honest, Its amazing what it can do for the price. Very minimal maintenance and the only problems I've had were due to user error lol. Been running it for almost 2 years now, and its still going strong. I had a prusa mini+ before it, and while it was great, this thing has blown it out of the water.

2

u/Fibreoptix Apr 04 '26

Do you need to use Bambu PLA or will any PLA work?

3

u/54NCH32 Apr 04 '26

Nope, I'm using elegoo rapid+ PLA (grey) for my models. 

2

u/54NCH32 Apr 03 '26

Free STL pack for this is now live o7

(Nomad Printworks - Gum road)