Sometimes I feel conflicted about resin printing. It’s great being able to self-manufacture almost anything you want rapidly. I needed piles of skulls to add to a 3d rendition of the Hall of Death from the Catacombs of Terror. I just cranked them out. I still have a whole bag of skulls for more projects
The convenience has a cost; it’s kind of a hassle. It’s smelly, it’s sticky, if you want truly custom models you have to spend lots of time on the computer.
But there’s so much to print. Practically infinite amounts of really decent models and fun terrain/accessories.
As nice as downloadable models are, they lack some of the magic of a physical product. Especially one bought from a real store. It’s fun to browse, talk to a real person, and look at packaging. Though, some of that magic is fading.
And as much as I love really nice store bought models, after clipping, scraping, and gluing a big box of miniatures I’m about ready to get back on the resin train. There’s almost no cleanup necessary on well designed resin models, besides the standard hazmat processing.
Also, with the way prices have been going, printing at home is a good way to fight back against inflation.
That’s my back-and-forth. The good news is that just because you do one, doesn’t mean you can’t do the other. I’ll keep mainly printing and picking up the occasionally store-bought model. I’m a sucker for Warhammer Quest characters, I’m loath to proxy those.
