Printing is fast. Painting is not. This creates a predictable geological formation known as the gray pile.

The plan is to treat printed models like real projects instead of endlessly renewable plastic weather. A unit gets a purpose, a paint plan, and a finish line before the next one earns space on the bench.

The actual problem

The printer can make another strip of soldiers before I have finished cleaning the last one. That feels productive, but eventually the output stops being a collection and starts becoming inventory.

The goal is not to print less. The goal is to finish more.

For this first test, five Revolutionary War soldiers will go through the whole process before the rest of the force gets permission to exist.

  • Clean the obvious supports and rough edges
  • Prime without burying the tiny details
  • Find a repeatable tabletop paint recipe
  • Base the strip and judge it from a normal distance

If the finished strip looks convincing beside the painted army, the process works. If it does not, at least only five tiny men need to be reconsidered.

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