Winter 2026 Historical 3D Printing Roundup

It's a new year, which means a new crop of exciting historical 3D printing projects. Some of our favorite sculptors have been busy bees over the holidays and a plethora of new Kickstarter projects are beginning to arrive on the scene. As always, wherever possible I'm completing my own test prints, using presupports (if available).

Our focus today is going to be on a massive project that is already off and running, by one of the most talented historical sculptors in the market, Colonel Muller. Colonel Muller quickly made a name for himself with his excellent early-war WW2 French models, which he then followed up with equally impressive US Airborne and Fallschirmjager armies. His current Kickstarter offers an incredible variety of early-war WW2 Germans, and is already off to a gangbusters start, unlocking 22 stretch goals in the first week alone.

From Meuse to Volga (1940-1942)

I must admit, this period of history is near and dear to my heart, having written both the Stalingrad and Case Blue supplements for Bolt Action. As much as I enjoy a good camo smock, the early war German uniforms still remain my favorite to paint. Then, when it comes to Stalingrad you have the interesting juxtaposition of the Hugo Boss uniforms coated in brick dust and festooned with grenades, satchels, and other urban warfare accoutrements.

The base pledge for this Kickstarter comes with 40 miniatures, and over a hundred more from stretch goal unlocks - the majority of which have already been reached. The base models contain the expected infantry squads, armed with K98's, MP40's, and MG34's.

Meanwhile stretch goals include practically everything you would need to field an early-war German army: snipers, mortars, officers, AT guns, and light artillery options.

In particular, I'm excited about checking out the models armed with more exotic weaponry like rifle grenade launchers and AT mines/demolition charges.

Aside from the base pledge there are also several add-ons available such as pioniers, a set of mounted and dismounted tank crew, half tracks and early armor (sculpted by Counlane Models), and a modular Stalingrad factory terrain set.

Test Prints

I was kindly provided with a couple test models from the sculptor to try print and paint up for review. All models are printed on a Mars 5 using Siraya resin.

Unlike many 3D printable offerings, the presupports here are excellent. I think the temptation is to over-support models to avoid misprints, but the end result is that you often end up with models entombed in a wall of supports that you have to carefully extract them from. Here, the supports are nice and light, and pop right off with a tiny amount of pressure. Love it.

I printed up a two-man LMG team, an NCO, a forward observer, and a pionier. As you can see, the detail is great. One thing I love about Colonel Muller's miniatures is that they have a ton of personality. Look at this guy, he's seen some stuff.

As you can see, the test prints are excellent. The cloth have nice deep folds in them - handy for washes and catching highlights. Uniform details are crisp, and the troops have an appropriate amount of kit, including grenades, sidearms, and even a luger stashed in machine-gunners boot (for close encounters).

To paint these, I used the standard German WW2 paint colors: feldgrau for the uniform, dark green for the helmet and so on - then picked out the waffenfarbe in the appropriate colors (white for infantry, black for pioniers). For basing I went with my standard Stalingrad mix - regular dirt, accentuated with brick dust/rubble. I experimented with a variety of store-bought brick basing materials until finally settling on just grinding up an actual brick in a mortar and pestle. Works great and lasts forever! I've based hundreds of miniatures this way and have used less than 10% of my brick.

The Kickstarter also comes with a variety of terrain pieces. Here I've printed a bit of wall and twisted support beams. The print took 6 hours at .20mm quality on my Prusa Mini. I appreciate that it didn't require any supports, and the only clean-up needed was to hit it with my heat gun to get rid of the normal stringing my printer normally produces.

Overall, a very impressive Kickstarter that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in the period! Now, let's look at some other historical 3D printing projects in the pipeline.

Other Upcoming Kickstarters

Cavalry of the Polish People's Army 1945

Propylene Foliescu continues his excellent work pumping out obscure eastern front sets, this time with a mini-Kickstarter for Polish People's Army cavalry. His previous cavalry offering were excellent, so I'm sure this one will be as well. Launch date is January 30th.

Mexican American War - Mexican Army Part I

Launching on MyMiniFactory's crowdfunding platform "Frontiers", this set from BattleCat Historicals includes Mexican Line Infantry, Light Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, and officers. BattleCat is a prolific sculptor, pumping out multiple historical sets every month. I've very excited to see a niche historical topic like this get some figures. Something to watch closely!

Over There - Part 2

Matthew Webb returns for his 4th Kickstarter, this time serving up some Afrika Korps. A test model printed up nicely, although quite heroic in scale.

Scale comparison: Bolt Action (Left), Over There (Right)

The project is set to include a Schutzen platoon, heavy weapons, and kradschutzen motorcyclists (hell yeah). Launch date is February 19th.

Salt & Shot: Blood on the Main

Age of Sail extraordinaire Henry Turner comes to us with another Kickstarter, this time focusing on a variety of pirates and ships. Normally Henry focuses on small-scale miniatures, however this Kickstarter is for 28mm models. The pre-launch page contains an extremely generous offer of an entire free crew of models and a full sloop!

Rise of the Eagles - Prussian Guards

Somehow Styriwar Miniatures has flown below my radar, but they have been steadily pumping out high quality medieval miniatures for some time now. In this Kickstarter, they've moved into the German Wars of Unification with Prussian Guard, Guard-Landwehr, and Guard Artillery. The Kickstarter page promises more than 80 models in all. The sculpts look lovely, in particular the insanely detailed helmets. A test model is available with modular heads, letting you either model him as a Prussian Guard or Landwehr. I printed the test fellow (although I forgot to print his gun and right hand, oops!) and he came out quite nicely. No official launch date yet, although it is expected in either February or March 2026.

Berlin 1919 - Spartacist Uprising

Des Tranchees aux Barricades have carved a niche for themselves by offering obscure historical units available nowhere else. This time, they're going for the inter-war German and Eastern European conflicts. I admit, this isn't a period I know much about, but I am definitely fascinated. Even if you aren't interested in the period, I suspect many of these models could be useful for either modeling WW1 infantry, or last-ditch Battle of Berlin defenders.

A test model is available with a mustachioed gentlemen preparing to toss a bundle grenade. I was pleased with how the test model came out, although my mind has been poisoned by years of increasingly model head sizes that the true-scale heads on Des Trancees models sometimes look strange to me.

The Kickstarter promises over 100 models including: infantry, vehicles, tanks, and artillery. Some teaser images show some inter-war monstrosities, which are my favorite type of armored vehicle. The Kickstarter is set to launch March 2026.

Well, that's all for now! Happy printing!

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Tags: historicals | STL | 3dprinting | 3dp