By gracious gift from several friends, I’ve started my journey into resin printing. I’ve resisted it for years due to the general dangers of the process. Resin is toxic, the fumes are bad for your health, and you need proper safety gear to start. I’ve always been tempted, though–an Elegoo Mars 3 printer is usually under $200 and apparently pretty easy to use. It’s so cheap to get started, especially compared to buying an easy to use plastic printer.

Or so I thought. My friends gave me both a (barely used) Mars 3 and a small metal shed so I could setup an outdoor enclosure to handle the fumes without any risk to my family’s health. Super thoughtful! This was easily $300-350 in goods. I’m blessed and deeply appreciative! That said there’s an unfortunate truth here: that’s less than half of the overall cost of getting started.

You see, to properly print and keep yourself safe you need a litany of safety gear: the mask, the filters, the silicon EVERYTHING, etc. The safety gear overall set me back around $300 and that’s not including the items needed to make it work outside, which was another $100. Then there’s the wash and cure station–not technically needed as you can cobble together your own but highly recommended for ease and safety. $100. Then there’s the starting two gallons (about 8 liters) of isopropyl alcohol alongside your first batch of “proper” (read: not brittle) resin: about $80 together.

And those outdoor costs? You’re probably in for similar costs indoors because you need to vent the fumes out a window. That’s an enclosure and venting system you have to buy. If I had paid for everything EXCEPT the shed that would have been $760. My Bambu P1P plastic printer with all the bells, whistles, and ease of use was $550, plus some starting filament capping it out at about $600. That’s a no-fuss printer that takes thirty minutes TOPS to setup and get printing beautifully. My near $1,000 bill for the resin still requires that I figure out leveling, calibration, cleaning, workflow–I have literal hours of work ahead of me before I even print a miniature.

It’s remarkable to me, really. I was given the impression that resin printing is somehow cheaper, easier. It may be easier when compared to buying a $200 plastic printer but that’s complete nonsense. You should compare cost to cost. Time to time. Plastic printing on a Bambu P1P is so much easier it’s silly.

Okay, okay. I’m being slightly misleading in one particular issue: what do you want to print? Resin lets you print miniatures. Plastic really won’t handle miniatures very well. I’ve done things like my Battletech tanks just fine–I even recently printed a half decent mech. Unfortunately, that’s really the limit of things that truly look good. People show great examples online of “okay” looking miniatures printed on the P1P but those have serious layer lines which affect how you paint. Resin printing produces smooth surfaces and much better looking miniatures. It’s the only method comparable to buying proper miniatures at all.

Just know that there’s a cost here. I’m running the numbers as I go. If I want a company of 15mm US troops, that’ll run me about $80 in real world money. I’ve found reasonable files to 3D print such a company for about $40 in total. The cost of printing will be around $5. Okay, cool–I saved around $50 assuming some mistakes. That’s pretty good.

What about a Warhammer facsimile? I’ve bought into the OnePageRules Patreon and on holiday sale with their special code I bought the Saurian army pack for around $20.

The above gives me reasonable facsimiles for 7 base units and a variety of heroes. I could now print a TOTALLY-NOT-SERAPHON army for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar and it will run me around $15 in total. There’s real savings–I can see that much. Another $20 would net me the rest of their Saurians which would further flesh out my options pretty significantly. If you’re able to use 3D printed models for your local Warhammer group, there’s real savings that add up very quickly there. I’d imagine within half a year you’d see a payback.

What if you’re into common historicals? Well, assume around $50-80 in savings per army. The issue being… how many armies do you need per year? Most historical players paint maybe 3-4 armies per year. Maybe. At that rate, you’re saving around $360 per year–bump it to $400 and assume you’re printing off a few extras. It will take more than two years to make back your investment assuming you don’t break anything.

What if you’re into the weird stuff? You want Chinese armies or obscure topics. 3D printing may be your only viable route. I’ve found great files for WW2 Chinese from https://www.myminifactory.com/users/kyoushuneko#/ . If I bought my existing Chinese forces on sale here, it would be around $30 in files and $10-15 in prints. I’d have more variety, more tanks, more everything. My original army ran me around $160 because it was only available in metal. That’s a darn good deal. There’s also the added value of so much choice and variety–that’s worth something to me, too.

Now–the final note: I’m assuming you buy files. There are free files for a lot of things on the internet. These vary in quality and I am generally disinclined to use them without confirmation someone else found it usable. This obviously adds up to more savings for the historical gamer–just not enough to really make up your initial investment in a year.

All told I don’t regret diving in. Between the Age of Sigmar armies (one for myself and my son, to be played using OnePageRules), the odd historical tastes (ancient Chinese anyone?) and the desire to get my club underway with 15mm WW2 I know I’ll make my investment back within a year. It’s just important to note that this isn’t as cheap as it looks nor is it as straightforward. If you’re hesitating, continue hesitating. Run some numbers and resolve if this will really be worthwhile for you.

If it is, I have to admit I’m deeply excited. I’ve got long lists of fantastic miniatures for various historical periods. I have the ability to build a proper medieval Portuguese army with models dedicated to purpose. I can cheaply build out event sized forces for event games. I can print miniatures that I think look cooler than anything on the pre-fab market. Really, I’m very excited. It’s another world of possibility and a new sub-hobby to explore. I’m thankful for the friends that helped me get underway with gifts and advice.

Just, uh, don’t impulse buy a resin printer, I guess. It’s a lot more than it seems at first blush.