3D Printing Miniatures and Tabletop Terrain: Resin Workflow, Supports, and Painting Prep

This site's resin printing guides cover MSLA setup, washing, curing, and general SLA workflow — the foundation that applies to any resin print. Tabletop miniatures and terrain are a specific, extremely popular application of that foundation with their own rules: support placement that has to survive contact with fine detail like weapon tips and cloaks, orientation choices that trade print time against visible seam lines, and a post-processing pipeline (priming, painting prep) that general resin guides don't get into. This guide picks up where the general resin content leaves off, focused specifically on 28-32mm scale miniatures and the larger-format terrain pieces that go alongside them on a tabletop.

Resin vs FDM for This Application

Resin (MSLA/LCD) printing dominates for individual miniatures because the detail achievable at typical 0.02-0.05mm layer heights resolves fine facial features, chainmail texture, and thin weapon details that FDM's layer lines and nozzle diameter simply can't match at this scale. FDM remains a completely reasonable choice for larger terrain pieces (buildings, rock formations, bulk scatter terrain) where fine facial detail isn't the point and print volume/speed matter more than ultra-fine resolution — many tabletop hobbyists run both machines side by side, resin for figures and FDM for terrain.

Support Strategy for Miniatures

Miniature support generation is its own skill separate from general resin part supporting, because the parts being supported are often thinner than the supports themselves:

• Use the thinnest support tip size your slicer allows (typically 0.3-0.4mm contact points) on visible faces — a heavier support tip leaves a more visible witness mark after removal, right where it's most likely to show on a painted model.
• Place supports on the model's back, base, or areas that will be hidden when possible (inside robes, underneath a cloak, on the side facing away from typical viewing angle) rather than distributing them evenly by pure engineering logic.
• Support thin protruding details individually — sword tips, spear points, feathers, and outstretched fingers each usually need their own light support rather than relying on supports elsewhere on the model to hold them through printing and the following wash/cure steps.
• Increase support density on any large flat or heavy area (a cloak, a broad base, a shield) since these have more surface area for suction/peel forces to act on during each layer's separation from the FEP film.

Orientation

The widely used rule of thumb for miniatures is angling the model roughly 30-45° off vertical rather than printing straight up or laid flat. Angled orientation reduces the cross-sectional area exposed at any single layer (lowering peel force and the risk of a failed layer), distributes supports more naturally across the model's underside and back rather than concentrating them on a flat bottom, and tends to produce a better surface finish on the model's visible faces since layer lines run more obliquely across them rather than stacking straight up a prominent front-facing surface.

Hollowing Terrain and Larger Pieces

Terrain pieces and larger models benefit from hollowing (shelling the interior to a wall thickness of roughly 2-3mm, similar to any hollow resin part) for two practical reasons: it uses dramatically less resin on a large piece, and it reduces the total volume of resin that needs to fully cure through the part's cross-section. Add drainage holes (small, unobtrusive holes placed at low points in the hollowed cavity, ideally hidden in a base or recessed area) so uncured resin trapped inside during printing can actually drain out during the wash stage — a hollowed piece without drainage holes traps liquid resin that never washes out and can leak or continue slowly curing inside the part for weeks.

Slicing Settings Reference

Print goalLayer heightNotes High-detail single miniatures (heroes, showpiece models)0.02-0.03mmSlowest print speed, best surface resolution for faces and fine texture Standard tabletop miniatures (army/squad builds, bulk units)0.03-0.05mmGood balance of detail and print time when producing many identical or similar models Terrain and larger scenery pieces0.05-0.1mmDetail at this scale is far less critical than on a miniature; faster layers meaningfully reduce total print time on tall pieces

Exposure times vary significantly by specific resin and printer (light engine strength differs across MSLA machines), so treat any single number as a starting point to validate with your printer's own exposure calibration test rather than a universal setting — this site's general resin beginner guide covers running that calibration test in detail.

Washing and Curing Small, Delicate Parts

• Handle miniatures gently during the IPA wash stage — thin swords, spears, and outstretched details are at their most fragile while still slightly soft from residual uncured resin on the surface, and rough handling here is a common cause of snapped weapon tips.
• A wash station with agitation (ultrasonic or a gentle rocking/dunking motion) reaches into recessed detail (armor folds, chainmail texture) more thoroughly than a static soak, without needing to physically scrub fine detail with a brush.
• UV cure with the model oriented so thin protruding details aren't resting under their own weight against the curing surface, which can slightly deform them before the resin fully hardens.
• Rotate the model partway through curing (or use a curing station with rotation built in) so all faces receive even UV exposure, since a model with detail on multiple sides can under-cure on the side facing away from a single fixed light source.

Support Removal on Small Parts

Use flush-cut side cutters rather than standard diagonal cutters for removing supports close to fine detail — flush cutters leave a much smaller stub since one face of the cutting edge sits flat against the model's surface. Cut supports in stages (leave a small stub, trim it closer with a hobby knife, then sand) rather than trying to flush-cut in one pass right at the model's surface, which is a common way to gouge the model itself when a cutter slips.

Priming and Painting Prep

• Primer choice — a filling/high-build primer helps hide minor layer lines and support scars but risks obscuring genuinely fine detail (facial features, small text, fine etching) if applied too heavily; a thinner primer preserves detail better but shows more surface imperfection.
• Zenithal priming — priming with a dark base coat (black or dark gray) followed by a lighter color sprayed from directly above (simulating overhead light) creates a built-in highlight/shadow map on the model before a single coat of actual paint goes on, and is the standard technique among miniature painters for models that will be painted by hand or with a limited palette.
• Spray can vs airbrush — a rattle-can primer is perfectly adequate for occasional painting and much lower setup effort; an airbrush gives finer control over coat thickness (critical for not losing fine resin-printed detail under a heavy primer coat) and is worth the investment for anyone painting resin miniatures regularly.
• Wash and fully dry printed and cured parts before priming — any residual uncured resin film left on the surface (from an incomplete wash) interferes with primer adhesion and can show up as a tacky or uneven finish under paint.

Safety

The safety practices from this site's general resin printing content apply in full here and are worth repeating specifically for miniature work, since small parts and repetitive handling can make it easy to get casual about them: uncured resin is a skin sensitizer with repeated contact, so wear nitrile gloves throughout handling, washing, and support removal; work in a ventilated area, since both uncured resin and IPA vapors are best not breathed in concentrated, enclosed spaces over long painting/hobby sessions; and cure or properly dispose of resin waste (used IPA, paper towels with resin residue, failed prints) rather than treating it as ordinary household waste.

Miniatures and terrain reward a slightly different mindset than general resin printing: supports are placed for hidden-ness as much as engineering soundness, orientation favors surface finish and support access over raw print speed, and the real payoff happens after the printer stops — in careful washing, gentle support removal, and priming that respects the fine detail the printer worked to resolve in the first place. Once that workflow is dialed in, a resin printer turns out gaming-table-ready miniatures at a pace and detail level that would have needed a sculptor and a mold shop not long ago.