Tag: Elegoo Saturn

Nuremberg, German WW2 Light Cruiser, Recognition Style Model 3D printed in 1/500 Scale – Completed

July 28, 2025

Almost everything about my Nuremberg (Nürnberg) model was easy and fast, which was extremely fortunate as it was the first model I’d printed all summer! Hard to believe the last project I’d finished was the Arizona 1917 conversion just over a year ago… time flies. Nuremberg fits into my growing collection of German WW2 recognition style ships perfectly. I’ve quite the grouping now and am having fun kicking around ideas for a display box. No doubt I’ll end up going with the standard grey exterior, light blue interior, wooden box with removable shelves to mimic the original recognition sets but it’s fun to dream.

Below are pictures of the printed parts and the initial assembly.

You may notice 3 float planes were printed. This was due to the extremely fine/weak struts that attach the pontoons to the plane’s fuselage. I figured I might need more than one chance at removing the plane from its supports in one piece. The Ender 3 Pro banged out the FDM hull parts perfectly in one go. The Elegoo Saturn however had an odd print failure on the large superstructure piece. The failure happened in a similar way to the many fails I’d had with the replacement deck part for the Revell Arizona 1917 conversion project. Even more incriminating, Nuremberg’s superstructure piece was sitting at the same spot on the build plate where the Arizona’s failures happened. As nothing appeared to be stuck to the vat film, on a hunch, I just shuffled the parts around in Chitubox, avoiding about a 1″x1″ area in the middle of the plate, re-sliced and reprinted, Success! Next time I drain the vat I’ll check the LCD screen and vat film for issues but after not using my printers for over a year I feel I got off easy. I didn’t even need to re-level anything!

Elegoo Saturn Print Examples

Elegoo Saturn 3D print project USS Tigrone, bridge just off the printer

This post is long over due and the printer that created these print examples is now well past it’s sell by date. That said, I still wanted to post a collection of print examples from my Original Elegoo Saturn 3D printer as I’ve found it to be a tremendously capable and reliable printer.

I’m also hoping that seeing what a now obsolete resin 3D printer can do in the hands of an amateur, may inspire a few creative types to take the plunge! Again, that said: For the Love of God! read up on my earlier Saturn and LD-002r posts to more fully see what you might be getting into!

Once again, that said: Worth it!

Graf Zeppelin 1/500 scale German recognition model complete

My Graf Zeppelin German aircraft carrier, is complete. She fits in well with the rest of the fleet. A faux WW2 recognition model, she probably has a bit more detail than a real one would’ve but I couldn’t resist, the under deck support details were just too cool to omit. She’s a whopper too, building out to about 21 inches. She was also the most difficult of my recognition replicas to design, her casemated guns were tricky and her high degree of bow flare that blends into the near vertical hanger deck sides took me a while to get right (or at least acceptable) . I actually printed a first draft on the Ender 3 that didn’t look right in hand – huge waste of filament!

I’m thinking I’ll only recreate one each of the light cruisers and destroyers that came in the original 1/500 scale German recognition set. Then I’ll call this project complete. But they’ll have to wait till spring for completion, winter has solidly set in and my resin printing is done in a shed. The Blender work will keep me busy for a bit and I’ve been off and on with a schnellboot design for almost a year…

Update Aug. 14 2025

Graf Zeppelin is now even more complete!

Update Aug. 15, 2025

I just finished recreating the entire USN WWII German Naval Recognition Set (and then some) in 1/500 scale, check out the results.

German Admiral Scheer 1/500 scale ww2 recognition replica complete

Right on the heels of completing Scharnhorst, the design, printing, and assembly of my Admiral Scheer Pocket Battleship/Panzerschiff/Heavy Cruiser, was a piece of cake. Everything just came together and worked the first time.

My next design will be more challenging and diverges from the authentic 1/500 scale WW2 German recognition sets with a subject that I have always wanted to see included in them – the Graf Zeppelin Aircraft Carrier.

Update Aug. 15, 2025

I just finished recreating the entire USN WWII German Naval Recognition Set (and then some) in 1/500 scale, check out the results.

German battleship Scharnhorst 1/500 scale ww2 recognition replica complete

Scharnhorst is complete, I’ve been able to take advantage of a relatively warm weather window and print the resin parts for Scharnhorst, Scheer and Graf Zeppelin (GZ is actually still printing, again…). While recreating these recognition replicas has been a blast, I’m finding that without an example in hand, it’s difficult to stick to the original designs as seen from pictures on the web. I inevitably need actual pictures of the real ships to fill in the blanks and when I start designing from them, it’s painful to stop, and retain the often inaccurate design elements of the actual recognition models.

When I get all the ships completed I’ll likely make a project page to contain them all but for now this post is it for Scharnhorst.

Update Aug. 15, 2025

I just finished recreating the entire USN WWII German Naval Recognition Set in 1.500 scale check out the results.

3D printed Tirpitz 1/500 scale model

October 11, 2023

After completing the Prinz Eugen replica Comet recognition model, it was only natural to follow up with Tirpitz.
Again I used the Ender 3 Pro for the “Wooden” hull parts and my Elegoo Saturn for the parts that would have been cast lead on the Comet models.

As with Prinz Eugen, the pictures with two ships show my printed model next to an original. And again like Eugen, this Tirpitz is not a perfect replica – minor improvements were made as well as a few mistakes…
My next version should be close to perfect 🙂

This was a small, simple build, so no project page, just this post.

Update Aug. 15, 2025

I just finished recreating the entire USN WWII German Naval Recognition Set (and then some) in 1/500 scale, check out the results.

3D printed Prinz Eugen model

August 31, 2023

After completing my 1.5 year long magnum opus called Charles Martel, I wasn’t ready for another long term commitment but I did want to putter around with something…
I remembered the 1/500 scale WWII German recognition models made by Comet and thought they’d be perfect. Here is the first: Prinz Eugen.
I also wanted to fire up the Ender 3 again and thought it would be a good fit for the “Wooden” hull parts. I used my Elegoo Saturn for the parts that would have been cast lead on the Comet models.
She’s not a perfect replica – I made some minor improvements and a couple mistakes but at less then a month from design to done – close enough!

This was a small, simple build, so no project page, just this post.

Update Aug. 15, 2025

I just finished recreating the entire USN WWII German Naval Recognition Set (and then some) in 1/500 scale, check out the results.

Charles Martel French Battleship, 3D printed with an Elegoo Saturn

This post introduces the Charles Martel project page. The Charles Martel was a French pre-dreadnought battleship from the end of the 19th century. Her 1/200 scale model has been by far my most ambitious 3D build, taking over a year and a half from Blender design to display case. Her project page has a ton of Elegoo Saturn print example shots, in-progress build pictures, and comments from the assembly process, below are a few images from it.

My First Elegoo Saturn Project

Elegoo Saturn 3D print project USS Tigrone
Elegoo Saturn 3D print project USS Tigrone, partial print fail

It was a long time coming but I finally completed my first large, resin only project, using my new Elegoo Saturn 3D printer. Follow the link to USS Tigrone‘s project page for details and lots of print and build pictures.

Update: To see my most ambitious Elegoo Saturn project, check out Charles Martel