Helldivers 3D Printing Model Guide

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  Key takeaways
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  What a game asset looks like before it is printable
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  Resin or FDM: picking a process by part size and detail
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  Wall thickness, hollowing, and drain paths
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  Orientation and support strategy that protects detail
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  From raw print to painted display piece
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  When the part should be machined instead of printed
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  Common failures and what they tell you
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  Where printing stops making sense
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  Step by step: file to finished part
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  Choosing a route by part type

Files pulled from Helldivers 2 are game assets, not printable models. They ship as triangulated meshes with zero wall thickness, open edges, and sometimes inverted normals. A helmet shell that looks solid on screen is often a single surface with the inside missing. Before any printer touches it, the mesh has to become a closed, manifold volume with a real wall.

Start in a mesh repair tool. Run an automatic repair, then check for non-manifold edges and holes manually. Most game exports contain a few hundred open edges around thin geometry such as straps, cables, and antenna tips. If you skip this step, the slicer will either refuse the file or fill the gaps with unpredictable geometry.

Decide the target size before you scale. A 1:6 figure of a Helldiver is roughly 300 mm tall; a display helmet at 1:1 is about 280 mm wide. Scale the mesh once, then rebuild anything thinner than your minimum wall. Thin game panels do not scale into thick printed walls.

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  Merge duplicate verticesGame exports often split vertices at UV seams; welding them closes most phantom holes.
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  Check normalsFlipped faces render fine and print as holes. Recalculate outward before export.
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  Cap the interiorIf the model is a shell, thicken it in CAD or add an offset surface instead of printing a paper-thin skin.

Resin printing, either SLA or DLP, holds detail down to about 0.05 mm layer height and reproduces fine panel lines, mesh texture, and helmet vents that FDM loses. It suits busts, helmets, small weapons, and any part where the surface is the product. The trade-off is brittleness and limited build volume, typically 200 × 125 × 200 mm on common desktop machines.

FDM suits large, hollow, structural pieces: a full rifle body, a backpack frame, a display base. A 0.4 mm nozzle with 0.2 mm layers gives strong walls and cheap material, but visible layer lines and rounded corners. For a 400 mm prop, FDM is often the only desktop option that fits in one piece.

A mixed build works well. Print helmets and heads in resin for detail, then print the body, stand, and large armor plates in FDM and finish them with filler primer and sanding. The joint line disappears under paint if you leave a 0.2 mm clearance and use a locating pin.

Size is the first filter, detail is the second. If the smallest feature on the part is under 0.5 mm, resin wins. If the part is longer than 250 mm and mostly flat, FDM wins on cost and warp resistance.

Solid resin parts crack. A thick section cures unevenly, traps heat, and pulls itself apart during post-curing. Hollow the model to a 1.5–2.0 mm wall and add drain holes at the lowest points of the print orientation. Two 4 mm drains per enclosed cavity is a workable starting rule.

Wall thickness also sets how much sanding the part can take. Below 1.2 mm, a resin shell flexes under finger pressure and you will sand through it at a seam. Above 3 mm, you waste resin and increase the chance of delamination. Stay in the 1.5–2.0 mm band for display pieces.

FDM walls behave differently. Three perimeters at a 0.4 mm nozzle gives a 1.2 mm shell that is stiff enough for a prop but still light. For parts that will be handled at events, go to four perimeters and 20 percent gyroid infill. Solid infill adds weight without adding much stiffness.

Drain holes must be reachable. If a hole ends up against the build plate, resin stays inside and slowly leaks onto the paint. Plan the holes in the slicer, not after the print fails.

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  Resin shell1.5–2.0 mm wall, two 4 mm drains per cavity.
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  FDM shellThree to four perimeters, 20 percent gyroid infill.
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  Avoid thick blocksSections over 6 mm solid should be hollowed or split.

Supports leave marks. Put them on flat, hidden surfaces: the underside of a helmet brim, the back of a backpack, the inside of a shoulder pad. Rotate the model so that the face, chest plate, and any engraved text point up or sideways, away from the plate.

For resin, tilt the part 15–30 degrees. A flat face parallel to the build plate creates a large suction area that can pull the part off the supports mid-print. Tilting reduces the cross-section per layer and lowers peel force.

Support tip diameter matters more than support count. Use 0.2–0.3 mm contact tips on detail areas and 0.5–0.8 mm on structural overhangs. Heavy supports on a face will tear the surface when you remove them, no matter how careful you are.

FDM orientation is about strength and surface. Layer lines run along the part, so a rifle barrel printed vertically is weak at the muzzle. Print long parts flat, accept supports underneath, and sand the underside afterward.

Resin parts need washing and full post-cure before sanding. Wash in two stages, clean solvent then clean solvent again, and cure under 405 nm light for the time your resin data sheet lists. Under-cured resin stays soft and clogs sandpaper; over-cured resin turns chalky and brittle.

Sanding sequence for a display piece: 240 grit to knock down support nubs, 400 to flatten, 800 wet to blend, then filler primer. Repeat primer and 800 grit until the layer lines disappear under raking light. Three cycles is typical for a helmet.

FDM parts need filler primer first, because layer lines are physical ridges, not surface roughness. Two coats of high-build primer, sanded back with 400 grit, removes most of the staircase. Then treat it like a resin part.

Paint adhesion on resin is good; on FDM it depends on the filament. ABS and ASA accept primer and acrylic well. PETG and PLA need a light scuff and a plastic adhesion promoter or the topcoat will lift at the edges.

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  Wash twiceDirty solvent first, clean solvent second, then air dry.
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  Cure fullySoft parts never sand flat; follow the resin data sheet.
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  Prime in thin coatsThick primer fills detail you spent hours printing.

Some Helldivers pieces are handled constantly: a keychain crest, a belt buckle, a desk plaque, a challenge coin. Printed plastic wears at the edges and loses paint within weeks of pocket carry. These parts are better machined from aluminium or stainless, then anodized or polished.

CNC machining holds ±0.005 mm and reaches Ra 0.2–0.8 μm on a polished face. That matters for a crest with fine lettering, where a printed part shows layer steps across each letter stroke. Laser engraving on a machined face gives a crisp mark with a minimum character height of 1.5 mm.

Metal also changes the feel. A 6061 aluminium badge with a bead-blasted face and clear anodize reads as a real object rather than a painted model. For a desk display, that difference is the point.

The route is not either-or. Print the large display figure, then machine the small metal accents: buckles, plaques, pins, and stand hardware. Each process does what it is good at.

Cracks along a thick section mean uneven cure. The outside cured before the inside, and the shrinkage pulled the shell apart. Hollow the part and cure in shorter, repeated cycles rather than one long exposure.

Support scars on a face mean the orientation was wrong, not the support settings. Rotating the model is faster than sanding out torn surface. Move the contact points to hidden geometry and retry.

Warped FDM bases come from a cold build plate or a draft. Enclose the printer, raise the bed temperature, and add a brim. For long parts, split the model so the longest dimension stays under 250 mm.

Paint that lifts at the edges usually means the part was handled before priming. Skin oil is the most common cause. Wipe with isopropyl alcohol, let it dry, then prime within the hour.

Printing is economical for one to a few dozen pieces. Setup is nearly free and there is no tooling. That changes when you need a hundred identical badges, plaques, or buckles. At that point, per-part print time and hand finishing dominate the cost.

For small metal-look parts at volume, CNC machining from billet or die casting becomes cheaper per unit and far more consistent. The first part costs more because of programming and fixturing, but part one hundred looks exactly like part one.

The crossover is not fixed. A simple flat plaque may cross over at a few hundred units; a complex crest with fine lettering may cross over sooner because hand finishing a printed version is slow and inconsistent.

If you are unsure, order one machined sample and compare it against your best printed version. The decision usually becomes obvious in your hand.