Okay, so, I’ve been working on this project lately, and I thought I’d share my process with you all. It’s a Spider-Man bust, and let me tell you, it’s been quite the journey.

It all started when I saw this awesome Spider-Man bust online. I’m a huge fan, so I just had to have one. I looked around, checked out some places like Etsy, and found a bunch of options – resin ones, 3D printed ones, even some STL files if I wanted to print it myself. But I wanted to challenge myself a bit and decided to model it myself and create my own 3D print.
First thing I did was try to find a model to work off of. After some time, I found a good one. I loaded it up in my slicer, and started printing. I started with my Ender 3, you know, that trusty old printer. I had it all set up, calibrated, and ready to go. The first few attempts were…well, let’s just say they weren’t great. I had to tweak the settings quite a bit. The supports were a mess, and the details weren’t coming out right.
I messed around with the settings, switched to cubic infill as was suggested to me on a Reddit thread, and tried different layer heights. I spent hours, maybe even days, just printing test pieces, trying to get it right. The supports were still giving me trouble, and some parts were just not looking the way I wanted. I even tried adjusting the temperature of the nozzle and the bed, but nothing seemed to be working perfectly.
Then I had an idea. There’s this collectibles store I go to sometimes to check out their statues and busts. They had this cool Spider-Man bust, about 6 inches tall, with a New York City base. It was released way back in 2001, designed by some guy named Randy Bowen and sculpted by another guy, Thomas Kuntz. It looked amazing, and I thought, “Why not try to replicate this?”
So, I went back to the drawing board. I studied the bust I found in the store, took some notes, and started printing again. After many, many failed attempts, it finally started to take shape. The details were coming out better, the supports were manageable, and it was actually looking like Spider-Man!
The Final Print
After all that work, I finally had a Spider-Man bust that I was happy with. It’s not perfect, but it’s mine, and I made it. It stands about 5 inches tall, and I even made a little base for it, inspired by the one in the store. I ended up painting it to give it that classic Spidey look. The colors aren’t exactly like the animated series, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
Here’s what I learned from this whole thing:
- Printing busts is tough!
- Supports are a pain, but necessary.
- Calibration is key. Spend time getting it right.
- Don’t give up! It took a lot of tries, but I finally got there.
So, yeah, that’s my Spider-Man bust story. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. I’m really proud of how it turned out, and it’s now one of my favorite pieces in my collection. If you’re thinking about printing your own bust, I say go for it! Just be prepared to put in some time and effort. It’s totally worth it in the end.
