Introduction:
The immense potential of the 3D printing technology in the realm of scale modeling was demonstrated through the creation of figures, vehicles and various accessories. Pushing the innovation even further, the latest advancement introduces 3D printed greenery with RT Diorama leading the way with their “swift vegetation” series. This collection features finely crafted botanical elements including sunflowers, ferns, and even tiny daffodils.
Most recently, RT Diorama expanded the company catalogue by launching their first 3D printed trees as single-piece 1/35 scale models that offer both convenience and exceptional detail. This review covers the Date Palm (No1) (35475).
Review:
The set comes in a sturdy cardboard box (13 x 10 x 10 cm).
Opening the box reveals a single-piece 3D printed product and a small paper instruction leaflet. The notice on the lid immediately pops out, informing the modeler how to get the tree out of the box. The first line is extremely important: DO NOT TRY TO PULL THE TREE OUT.
Instead, the box needs to be carefully opened from the bottom or even cut open on the sides. Why? The base of the tree is glued to the bottom of the box, fixing the tree to the center of the box thus preventing damage to the delicately printed palm leaves during transport.
I ended up tearing the bottom of the box and carefully getting the tree out. For all those who need a visual presentation of the procedure, RT Diorama made a short video that can help: link.
After getting the tree out of the box, there are a couple of printing supports to clean. The leaflet included in the set informs the modeler how to deal with 3D printed products. Using a sharp hobby blade and pointed side cutters should be enough to carefully remove the supports.
The tree depicts a young date palm tree. I did a quick search to find images of the real thing and, as far as I can tell, the RT Diorama miniature palm looks the part.
The tree is 110 mm tall and printed really well. The details on the large leaves and the trunk are impressively defined and nicely delivered. The leaves are not stiff and can be manipulated with care, slightly bending them to the preferred position. The instructions suggest gently heating the part with a hairdryer or in hot water to soften the resin and make it less brittle.
The images show a couple of topmost leaflets on one of the central leaves are missing and I’m not sure if these were broken during the process of getting the tree out of the box or if it was a printing issue?
Finally, I added one of my 1/35 scale figures next to the tree to showcase its size.
As for painting the piece… some parts of the tree could be tricky to reach with the brush, but I’m sure it is manageable. Hopefully we’ll see some painted examples of RT Diorama trees soon.
Conclusion:
Date Palm (No1) (35475) from RT Diorama delivers an entire date palm tree as a single 3D printed piece. The tree looks fantastic and should be very useful in various vignettes and dioramas.
Highly recommended.
A big thank you to RT Diorama for this review sample.
