We’ve featured countless 3D printed comicbook characters, weapons, armour, cosplay and more in the past, but all of it has been fan creations made outside of the purview of the publishers who own those properties.

That’s not the case with this printed scale model of X-O Manowar, however, as Valiant has worked with the maker community to create an official model for the character that you can purchase and print yourself, only available on MyMiniFactory.

For the modelling side of this project a very recognisable name in the community was chosen in Fotis Mint. Few makers are as prolific and consistently as impressive, and we’ve featured many of his creations in the past.

If you’ve ever wanted to print a Porg, Lucio or The Destroyer, Fotis Mint has you covered.

For X-O Manowar the cover art of issue eight was the main source of reference, sculpting the character in ZBrush over the course of a few months as it needed to be run by Valiant to ensure it was up to their standards.

After testing that the model was fit for printing, it was passed onto another member of the community in Rob Pauza who we’ve also featured for his Fortnite Battle Bus.

Pauza’s part in this project was to print the final version of the model and give it a proper paint job.

To get the highest quality here a resin printer was used in the Formlabs Form 2. Using MeshMixer the model was hallowed out as to not waste material and then printed in Formlabs black reisn.

A layer height of 50 microns was used and this process took 12 hours to make a miniature 16 centimetres tall.

Painting started off with a few light coats of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer followed by airbrushing on some Vallejo acrylic paint as the base colour for the body, then a matte coat to seal it.

A liquid mask was used to cover this so the armour could be painted, starting with a black base and then a few coats of a metallic titanium Vallejo. A transparent blue mix followed and this was all sealed in with a clear coat.

With the liquid mask peeled off the rest of the colours were added in with thinned acrylics and a brush. Some Tamiya Panel Line Accent was also added to the recessed areas to add some contrast and finally the smaller details like the face were painted.

In total this painting took 10 hours to complete over two days to allow for drying between layers. You can see the process from raw print to final model in the gallery at the bottom of this page.

While a big company making it possible for their fans to print out miniatures isn’t the norm, it isn’t new either as MyMiniFactory – where the model is exclusively available – has facilitated this kind of deal int he past.

Back in June of 2018 three characters from Adventure Time (Lumpy Space Princess, Jake and Marceline) were all uploaded in partnership with Cartoon Network.

Salma Almasri, Chief Marketing Officer for MyMiniFactory, tells us that 25% of their total downloads in Q4 2018 came from fan art, which shows that there’s a huge community around this idea.

“3D printable content is a new space for most brands who are accustomed to traditional physical distribution. MyMiniFactory provides Valiant with a new way of sharing with their communities and a new means for fans to consume their products,” Almasri says, “Official 3D printable, licensed collectables is a new category of content, so we’re filling a need while remaining respectful of the quality, image and name of the historic brand.”

If you’re impressed with the final model created by the team up here and want to try making one yourself, the official X-O Manowar can be downloaded from Fotis Mint’s profile on MyMiniFactory for $14.99.

While you’re there be sure to check out his other designs that we have not featured yet but will soon – such as this bust of Magneto and another miniature in Wraith from Apex legends.