Shinmaru Godzillas

Very interesting, a new Japanese Godzilla brand, but the toys aren’t sofubi, they are flexible 3D printed resin.
They still carry the made in Japan stamp, which is interesting to think if it carries any importance when the manufacturing process is a 3D printer.
I would like to check one of these out in person and see what the flexible resin feels like. Is this the beginning of the end of sofubi manufacturing for many artists?
https://twitter.com/shinmaru44d/status/1538160467079598080

 

The sculpts look pretty fun. I'm getting a little bit of a Buta vibe from them.

 

What’s interesting about this manufacturing idea, is it allows details and engineering that wouldn’t be able to be done in sofubi. Also an exact reproduction of the sculpture at the exact desired scale without any shrinkage, smoothing in wax, or warpage of parts, resulting in an uncompromised figure meeting the original artistic vision.

 

I've been following that guy on Twitter for a while. Dudes good at what he does for sure and seems like a cool lower cost way for someone to make sofubi without actually making sofubi! He's also very open about all of it and is genuinely very nice!

 

Nick Sydes had photos and a video of the jaw articulation in the Collect All Monsters’ Monster Collector Facebook group (posted October 7th). Here’s a screenshot from his video:

 

It’s like a pacchi izu monster goji. I like the proportions and can’t wait to see one in person.

the paint app in those samples is also super nice

 

This is fascinating, and presents many possibilities, most obviously negating the undercut limitations of sculpting for the traditional sofubi process. Would very much like to see in person/handle a toy made this way. I wonder about both the long-term stability/aging of this material and how well vinyl paints bond to it, compared to sofubi.

 

I was unfamiliar with the tiki brain stuff until you brought it to my attention. But yes it seems to be the same manufacturing process.

 

When I hear "3D printing" I think of filament lines. Are these toys actually smooth surfaced or does it have striations? Honestly that's why I never was impressed by 3D printing, everything printed tends to look shitty and ridged.

 

Filament printers are bottom of the barrel nowadays. New resin printers are almost flawless if you dial them in right, even then you can smooth them after if there's any print lines

 

The sculpts for these are great!

I’m far from an expert on 3D printing resins, but those I have worked with and the finished products I’ve handled aren’t the most durable. Even the ones that feel like they have some give can easily crack, chip, or shatter with a light fall. Perhaps the specific material they’re using is one of the more “flexible” compounds I’ve seen on the market, but I still wouldn’t put faith in its longevity. I’d say we still have a ways to go to before 3D printing can effectively replace or become an alternative to injection molding or rotocasting.

My biggest concern with SLA 3D printing technology and materials is the environmental impact. The hardware has become extremely affordable and very accessible making it easy for anyone to get up and running, however, there’s not enough knowledge and education as to how people should properly handle these materials (use and disposal), and the longterm effects of exposure. With virtually no regulation it’s hard to know how much and how many people are mishandling the waste, polluting their immediate environment and water systems, or potentially hurting themselves and life around them.

 

As much as I think this is cool using the old school hollow jointing technique with semi rigid printing resin…I don’t believe there has been enough testing on these direct to market printing resins.
It’s whe Wild West of crossing fingers that something you buy isn’t going to be gassing VCOs, and BPA for years to come.
If any maker runs a cost benefit analysis it’s easy to see the benefits of limiting reliance on factories and foreign pipelines for sure.

 

My first reaction to the photo of the unpainted parts is, they look very similar to a lot of Gundam bootlegs I have. Cheap and cheerful, but in no way a serious competitor for traditional Sofubi. The paint hides this well, but I'm curious about how much these are sold for? I would hope the price reflects the lower manufacturing cost, much like my Gundam KO's. I trust this is the case?

 

I worry my vinyl is doing this too. Sometimes I pick up a toy from the 00s or early 10s and it’s all tacky and sometimes has what looks like grime on it. You give it the dawn bath and pretend it’s all good. But who even knows with vinyl.

 

Haha earlier in the year I had a conversation with someone who has a friend who's career is in some sort of vinyl manufacturing. They visited their house and saw their sofubi collection and just said something along the lines of "I wouldn't have all this in my home" or something like that.

We're gonna do it anyways but that perked up my curiosity.

 

I’ve been spraying toxic vinyl paints for 15 years already, I’m sure one day when I’m old I’ll get cancer and it will be the cause. But in this world, everything is killing us slowly.

 

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Just keeping up w/ PPE hoping to negate as much damage for as long as I can… Can’t buy Xylene, MEK, and many other VOC here in Colorado anymore.

 

I answered my own question. Does anyone else think this is very expensive for some 3D printed toys? They're certainly about five times the price of original figures they sell in a 3D print shop down the road from me! Are the materials for 3D printing particularly expensive? Does it take a long time?

£110 / $133
£130 / $157

 

Also, i was wondering how much a toy maker has to pay for the one day license they need to sell at festivals? I suppose that factors into the price ...

 

How tall are they? I got the impression they were smaller (15-20cm). The material cost for a hollow model that size wouldn't be much. Assuming they're using something like this a 1kg bottle would probably be enough to print at least 3-4 figures depending on how much is wasted on supports (so let's say $10-15 USD per unit). I estimate the process of starting up the machine, cleaning up the print and work station, curing, etc. for a model this size should be approx. 1-2 hours worth of labor. Yes, it can take many hours for the machine to actually print the model—9-18 hours depending on a number of factors and settings—but that's an automated process that requires no human interaction. Depending on how refined the print comes out of their machine or what techniques they're using to further smooth the surface (e.g. sanding or applying multiple layers of surfacer), there could be a lot of additional work that needs to be performed to get the model prepped. After that, the effort that goes into painting/assembling a piece of sofubi should be virtually the same.

Personally, I think they're overpriced. A lot more goes into the production of sofubi, and it can take many runs before a maker breaks even. With 3D printing you can make back the initial cost of your machine, supplies, and materials very quickly and see a hefty profit almost immediately, especially if you're charging prices like that.

Again, I think these sculpts are great, but I just don't believe 3D printed resin parts can stand the test of time. I would never feel good about selling something like that to a consumer as a substitute for Japanese soft vinyl, equivalent products made in China or elsewhere. I'd rather buy a heavily refined FDM (extruded plastic; PLA or ABS) print than anything produced using photopolymer resin.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, very interesting!

And yeah, I've seen and handled various 3D prints and I've not been very impressed with the quality.

 

I like this a lot. Can someone send me a link?

 

this guy is also doing 3d vinyl style prints, certainly relevant to this interesting thread