{"id":4777,"date":"2016-09-17T18:37:38","date_gmt":"2016-09-17T22:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=4777"},"modified":"2022-07-01T17:20:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T21:20:15","slug":"3d-printing-tutorial-modeling-making-a-gr-75-cargo-pod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2016\/09\/3d-printing-tutorial-modeling-making-a-gr-75-cargo-pod\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing Tutorial: Modeling & Making a GR-75 Cargo Pod"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jedi, Sith, starfighters, walkers,\u00a0whatever. No one could argue that the true hero of the Star Wars universe is the homely GR-75 medium transport<\/a>. Cheap, poorly built, cargo\u00a0literally simply floating\u00a0in the void, well past due for retirement, clean lines marred by all manner of greeblies<\/a>,\u00a0hull panels invariably burned through… I love it.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A GR-75 evacuating Rebels from Hoth, escorted by X-Wings.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"container-token\"<\/a>Not unrelated, wargaming is all about supply containers and cargo bits. “Buck up, soldier, we’re shipping you across the galaxy to fight horrible monsters over… some oil drums… and maybe a weapons crate.” So in crafting\u00a0missions for our Molokh Gambit<\/a> X-Wing Miniatures<\/em>\u00a0narrative campaign event, of course there’s going to be a\u00a0Supply Depot scenario.<\/p>\n

Just like the shuttle mission<\/a>, that means we need cool tokens for the mission. A couple good\u00a03D printable options already exist. There’s a\u00a0great\u00a03D rendition<\/a> of the art on the Den of Thieves<\/a><\/em> scenario tokens that come with the Millenium Falcon (remixed here<\/a> to be printable w\/ no supports). At a larger size is the Class A container<\/a> from the X-Wing<\/em> and TIE Fighter<\/em> video games, which has also been made\u00a0into a BFF-1 Bulk Freighter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neither of those worked for me though.\u00a0I wanted something that could be printed without needing to cut supports or glue halves, was small like the container token to minimize\u00a0impact on the basic game dynamics, and ideally had fewer Imperial associations. So I modeled the cargo pods on the underside of FFG’s GR-75 model.<\/p>\n

This tutorial is a walkthrough of that, in hopes that newcomers to 3D\u00a0modeling and printing might\u00a0learn from seeing the process\u00a0of constructing this simple artifact. These designs\u00a0have also been uploaded to Thingiverse<\/a> as a free download. In addition,\u00a0I have a previous article up more generally introducing\u00a03D printing for miniatures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"It's<\/a>

It’s a hunk of falling-apart junk, so of course the Rebels would decide the transport could do double duty as an assault ship…<\/p><\/div>\n

Shape<\/h2>\n

Fantasy Flight’s GR-75 model<\/a> is really fun. There’s a ton of detail<\/a>, and just enough color to really draw the eye<\/a> onto them. Most captivating is the underside, with a whole mess\u00a0of\u00a0tiny cargo pods sprinkled with bright colors. It’s exquisite.<\/p>\n

\"Fantasy<\/a>

Fantasy Flight’s GR75 model.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Pods<\/a>

Pods filling the underside cargo bay of the medium transport.<\/p><\/div>\n

Fortunately for my task here, these pods have a distinctive\u00a0but really simple design:<\/p>\n