The Old Watchtower
The Old Watchtower
3D
Published 2021-02-03T09:19:26+00:00
A long time ago in a world far, faraway…
There stood a lonely tower on the edge of a deep and mysterious cliff. The lower part of the tower hanging dangerously over the edge. It looked like the construction was merely held together with some ancient magic… We can only guess who or what was living in this tower… What we do know is that the unique inhabitants did their job with bitter pride. They are the defenders of wisdom, the watchers in the dark, the protectors of written words. And if the old stories are true… then sometimes, in the darkest hour, you can still see some lights flickering in the small windows… and you’ll feel the watchers watching you.
I wanted something to enhance my fantasy bookshelf. A building that could come straight out of one of the stories. But I wanted to give it a meaning, a purpose. So, I came up with the idea of a tower that watches out for trouble on the horizon.
I made this watchtower on the friendly to use Townsmith website. First, I sketched out my idea on paper and then I used the Townbuilder tool and started building from the lowest floor up. I placed some pegs on the parts for easy positioning after printing. Then, with just a simple click, you’ll get the stl-files you need.
I printed the floors separately on my Prusa MK2,5 in a light gray PLA from Colorfabb. I did not need any supports which was super cool! I only had to print the lower part of the small towers separately and glued it in place.
Next up was electronics, I “borrowed” a small Christmas light cord from my girlfriend and with a little bit of tweaking I could fit it in the tower. With the staircase holes in the different floors of the building it was easy to place the lights as I wanted them.
I glued most of the hanging floors together but next time I might use some strong magnets. Then I panted the tower with a base coating and finalised it with a wash for shading and I painted some vines, moss and some grime to give it a more weathered look and feel.
I really enjoyed the process from start to finish and will definitely use Townsmith for future projects. I’m looking forward to the updates with new exciting parts to make my D&D campaigns a lot more impressive!
Big floors 0 & 1
Floor 0 and Floor 1 are split into parts. If you want the full stl you can download the files here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aujvu6sFVSrgNXWqZwWcAh1S5kC9kR_9?usp=sharing
I scales it down so that the tower would fit on my shelf. If you have a big printer then you should be able to print it in one solid piece. If your print bed is to small than you can print the pieces separately but you might have some work to make the pieces fit together. When exporting from the Townsmith website I noticed that the walls of the separate files where not trimmed correctly where they intersect. So If you want to print the big floors full scale on a smaller print bed then I suggest you cut the files yourself in your preferred slicer software.
Extra pegs
You might notice that there are a few to many pegs on top of some walls. Just snap them off with some pliers or a sharp knife. These extra nobs are the result of unorthodox stacking on my part, I think.
Minor floating artifacts
Some floors have floating parts next to them. This might also be due to the unorthodox stacking of the different levels. I added a box modifier in my slicing software so that it would not print. I did this also with the small bases of the thin towers. I now included a separate stl file of this base for easier printing.
The small details
I did not include the smaller details in the list with stl files. The hooks are made with copper wire that I had lying around. The buckets and the flame in the top of the tower are files that I hade downloaded in the past. You can find many variations of stl files online. The platform with the barrels was made with Townsmith tool (I have now included that file) but feel free to personalize your own tower, you can also turn it in some sort of prinson maybe? With a cage dangling from the crane :)
If you have questions that don't hesitate to contact me!
Happy printing and make sure to share your result! :)
Thomas
| Date published | 03/02/2021 |