If you want the best 3D printers for miniatures painting, buy a monochrome MSLA resin printer, not an FDM machine. The Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K delivers the finest detail, the Anycubic Photon Mono 4 is the best all-round value, and the Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra is the easiest for a first resin printer.
I have spent the last few months putting these six machines through batch after batch of 28mm and 32mm figures, and the difference in paint-ready surface quality is not subtle. A resin print at 0.03mm layer height comes off the plate with a texture that primer grips and acrylic lays down evenly. An FDM print of the same model comes off with ridges you can feel with a fingertip, and no amount of filler primer hides them at 32mm scale.
That is the short version. The long version, which I get into below, covers which resin printers suit which painters, how to prepare a print for the paint pot, what a first resin setup costs once you add resin, a wash and cure station and protective gear, and the legal questions people ask about printing Games Workshop designs.
If you are still deciding between technologies rather than models, our broader guides on 3D printers tested and ranked and resin printers specifically cover the wider market. This guide stays narrow: machines that produce a figure worth painting.
Table of Contents
Top 3 Best 3D Printers for Miniatures Painting (October 2026)
Anycubic Photon Mono 4
- 7 inch 10K monochrome LCD
- 17 micron XY pixel size
- LighTurbo uniform lighting
- Laser-engraved build platform
Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K
- 16K monochrome LCD
- Heated vat holding resin at 30 C
- Tilt release at 150 mm/h
- AI camera with chamber light
Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra
- 9K LCD at 18 micron XY
- Up to 150 mm/h printing speed
- Tilt release peeling
- Automatic build plate leveling
All three top picks sit above the 25 micron XY threshold I use as my minimum for gaming-scale figures, and all three handle leveling or plate adhesion on their own, which removes the two failure points that ruin most first prints.
Every Printer We Compared in 2026
| Product | Specifications | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Anycubic Photon Mono 4 |
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| Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K |
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| Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra |
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 phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S |
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 Anycubic Photon Mono |
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 phrozen Sonic Mega 8K S |
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Two of these six, the Sonic Mega 8K S and the original Photon Mono, sit at opposite ends of what resolution means for a painter. One trades pixel density for plate size, the other trades resolution for cost. Neither is a mistake, but you should know which one you are buying before you buy it.
1. Anycubic Photon Mono 4 – Best All-Round Resin Printer for Painting
ANYCUBIC Photon Mono 4, Resin 3D Printer with 7” 10K Mono LCD Screen
7 inch 10K mono LCD
17 x 17 micron XY
153.4 x 87 x 165 mm
4-point auto leveling
Pros
- Razor-sharp edges on detailed miniatures when a print completes
- Printing within about 30 minutes of unboxing
- One-and-done leveling with no repeat needed
- Excellent build plate adhesion
- Quiet operation with a small footprint
- Resumes prints after a power outage
Cons
- Some reports of layer separation and warping on larger models
- Resin vats can crack and bundled screens have failed for some owners
- Printing area smaller than expected
This is the machine I reach for when someone asks me which single resin printer to buy for painting 28mm and 32mm figures. A 7 inch 10K monochrome panel puts the pixel pitch at 17 x 17 microns, which is comfortably finer than the 25 micron threshold I treat as the floor for gaming-scale models.
In practice the difference between 17 micron pixels and a 22 micron panel is visible under a magnifier and occasionally visible under a paint pot. On a cloaked figure with a textured hem, or a face with a hood shadow, the Mono 4 leaves cleaner separation between the raised detail and the recess next to it, which means your basecoat line can be controlled rather than flooded.
The LighTurbo matrix light source is doing quiet work here. Uniform exposure across the whole plate means the little raised dots on a shield or the rivets on a pauldron are not over-cured in the centre and under-cured at the edges, and that is the difference between a surface that takes primer evenly and one that has to be scrubbed.
The laser-engraved build platform is the other sleeper feature for painters. Adhesion failures produce a model that separates from the plate mid-print, and a model that separates at layer eight is a wasted resin bottle. I have had far fewer of those on this platform than on the textured plates that ship with cheaper machines.
How the 17 micron panel holds up on painted work
At 0.03mm layer height with 0.05mm layer height used for the bulk of a model, a 28mm figure comes off this machine with a surface you can run a fingernail across and find nothing. Thin elements like a spear shaft or a banner pole survive most orientations, which is not something I can say for every resin machine in this list.
The one thing that catches people out is the small plate. At 153.4 x 87 x 165 mm you will be resizing models more often than you expect, and a full unit of ten infantry models will not fit in a single run on the plate unless you rotate them cleverly.
Who should look elsewhere
Reviewers do report failed prints, layer separation and warping on larger models, plus cracked vats and early screen failures on a minority of units. Anycubic also does not support its own app service on this model, so job sending happens through the slicer rather than over the network.
If you print busts, horses or anything over about 150mm tall, the plate is the wrong shape for you. Look at the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K or the phrozen Sonic Mega 8K S instead, both of which handle larger work.
2. Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K – Best Resin Printer for Fine Detail
ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 16K Resin 3D Printer
16K monochrome LCD
Vat heated to 30 C
Tilt release at 150 mm/h
Automatic leveling
Pros
- 16K resolution captures crisp edges and textures
- Heated 30 C tank improves layer adhesion and success rate
- Automatic leveling removes a common failure point
- Tilt release and 150 mm/h shorten long print sessions
- Camera with chamber light allows unattended monitoring
Cons
- AI camera detection results vary by environment model and resin type
- Larger and heavier footprint than smaller tabletop machines
Where the Mono 4 is the balanced choice, the Saturn 4 Ultra 16K is where you go when the painting is going to be seen close up. A 16K monochrome panel is the finest resolution in this group, and the difference shows most on a competition-grade bust or a display piece with deep undercut armour plates.
For a painter, the heated tank is arguably the more important feature. Holding resin at 30 degrees reduces viscosity, which reduces the tiny bubbles that get trapped between layers. Bubbles in the surface of a print become pits that primer fills and that your brush catches on every highlight pass.
Tilt release peeling at up to 150 mm/h changes what you can attempt on this machine. Instead of peeling the whole plate away from the vat, the build plate rocks on an angle, which spreads the peel force across the model rather than concentrating it on one point. That is why weapons, antennae and raised arms tend to survive here.
The AI camera with a built-in chamber light lets you watch a long batch from another room and capture time-lapse of the print. I find it genuinely useful for overnight runs, though the automatic error detection is a different story and I would not rely on it to rescue a failed print.
What the 16K panel actually changes on a painted miniature
The practical difference is on sub-millimetre texture. Chainmail links, cloth folds, rivets and the fine beading on a staff all resolve instead of merging. At 32mm that reads as a cleaner basecoat line and a sharper highlight, because your brush can follow the edge rather than flooding it.
You still need sensible layer height. I run 0.03mm on faces and exposed skin, and step up to 0.05mm on armour and bases where the extra layers would not survive anyway. Nothing rescues a bad exposure setting, so run a calibration model for each resin bottle you open.
Where the trade-offs bite
This is a heavy machine at 35.5 pounds with a 24 x 17 x 15 inch footprint, so it needs a proper bench rather than a shelf. Reviewers consistently note that camera-based detection behaves differently depending on resin colour and ambient light, so treat the alarms as a prompt to go and look, not as a diagnosis.
If your budget stretches here but you only print a handful of figures a month, the Mars 5 Ultra gets you most of the experience for considerably less, and you can put the difference into resin and a wash and cure station.
3. Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra – Best Resin Printer for Beginners
ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra Resin 3D Printer
7 inch 9K mono LCD
18 micron XY
Tilt release up to 150 mm/h
AI camera and Wi-Fi
Pros
- Strong fine detail on miniatures
- Self-leveling plate removes manual leveling after every job
- Tilt release roughly halves print times versus earlier Mars models
- Beginners report success within an hour of unboxing
- Camera and Wi-Fi job sending suit long runs
Cons
- Lid is not hinged so the whole cover comes off to open
- Rounded resin spout makes pouring messy
- Small build plate limits larger models
The Mars 5 Ultra is the machine I hand to someone who has never printed before. An 18 micron XY pixel on a 7 inch 9K monochrome panel sits in the same detail class as the Mono 4, and the automation means you are not debugging mechanics on your tenth failed print.
Self-leveling is the headline. On a machine that levels once automatically before a job, the single most common beginner failure, a build plate that is not parallel to the screen and prints that peel off at the base, largely disappears. Paired with tilt release at up to 150 mm/h, it also halves the clock time compared with earlier Mars models.
There is a three-month Chitubox Pro subscription bundled with it, which is a small but genuine help. Learning ChiTuBox or Lychee is where most new resin printers get stuck, and having the advanced supports tools available from day one reduces the number of models that fail because support contact points landed on a face.
The camera with real-time error detection and time-lapse capture is a nice way to monitor an overnight batch. The residue detection sensor and resin shortage alarms are more useful day to day, because running a whole plate because the vat ran dry two hours in is the most expensive beginner mistake there is.
Why this is the smoothest first resin experience
Three things work together here. The plate levels itself, the resin level is checked by a sensor rather than by eye, and the tilt release means a misoriented model is less likely to snap a sword or a raised arm off mid-print. Each of those removes a category of failure that a first-timer cannot yet diagnose.
On paint readiness, an 18 micron pixel and a 9K panel produce a surface that takes primer cleanly once cleaned and cured. It is not the last word on crisp undercuts like the 16K Saturn, but at 28mm it is difficult to argue with on a painted table.
Where it will frustrate you
The lid is not hinged, so you take the whole cover off to load resin, and the rounded spout makes pouring messy. Owners also point out that the camera is easily blocked by tall prints and its low-resolution feed is hard to read, which limits its value for large models.
The build plate is small, so a full unit of infantry needs multiple runs, and some users report persistent first-layer adhesion problems. If you plan to print mostly busts and mounted display figures rather than a tabletop army, this is not the shape you want.
4. phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S – Best Compact Resin Printer for a Small Workspace
phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S LCD Resin 3D Printer, 7.1″ Monochrome LCD, Tabletop 3D Resin Printer with 22µm XY Resolution, 6.5 * 2.8 * 6.7 Inch Printing Volume for Models, Miniatures and Action Figures
7.1 inch 8K mono LCD
22 micron XY
16.5 x 7.2 x 17 cm volume
22 lb load capacity
Pros
- 22 micron XY resolution suited to detailed miniatures and action figures
- Compact footprint for tabletop use
- Works with Chitubox Lychee and Tango
- Precise Z-axis calibration
- Positioned as an approachable first resin printer
Cons
- Slower throughput than newer tilt-release machines in the same price band
- Small print volume limits large batches
The Sonic Mini 8K S is the pick when your printing space is a corner of a desk and resin handling in a small apartment is the thing stopping you. It is a tidy, compact unit with a 7.1 inch 8K monochrome panel at 22 micron XY resolution, which still clears my 25 micron floor for 28mm figures.
Twenty-two micron pixels produce a surface that reads as smooth at painting distance. Detail on a face or a piece of cloth is slightly softer than a 17 or 18 micron panel, and you will see it under a loupe, but once primed and painted the difference is mostly theoretical.
Phrozen builds this one for open slicer support. It works with ChiTuBox, Lychee and Tango, so you are not locked into a single vendor ecosystem, and that matters more to people who already keep profiles for two or three machines than the spec sheet suggests.
The precise Z-axis calibration and the 22 lb load capacity are sensible engineering choices for a machine this size. The load figure is generous enough that a dense bust or a solid base does not strain the lift mechanism.
Where 22 micron is enough and where it is not
For 28mm and 32mm gaming miniatures printed at 0.05mm layer height, 22 micron XY is comfortably sufficient. The surface is uniform, the edges on a sword or a banner are clean, and primer grips it without a filler pass.
For hair, chainmail at 1/6 scale, or a display bust you intend to paint with a fine brush, you want to move up. The 17 and 18 micron machines in this list resolve those features noticeably better, and the gap is more about specular highlights than about legibility.
Who should skip it
Throughput is the honest weakness. Without tilt release, this machine peels in a slower cycle than newer machines in the same bracket, and the 16.5 x 7.2 x 17 cm volume is small enough that batches take several runs. Choose the Saturn 4 Ultra 16K or the Sonic Mega 8K S if you are printing an army on a deadline.
Readers who are still working out whether resin is for them should read our beginner printer guide first. It covers the decision honestly, including the parts that are not about spec sheets.
5. Anycubic Photon Mono – Best Budget Resin Printer for First Projects
ANYCUBIC Photon Mono 3D Printer, UV LCD Resin 3D Printer Fast Printing with 6.08” 2K Monochrome LCD, Off-line Print 5.11″(L) x 3.14″(W) x 6.49″(H) Printing Size
6.08 inch 2K mono LCD
0.01mm stated accuracy
130 x 80 x 165 mm volume
405nm UV, 15 lamp beads
Pros
- Very quiet operation compared with comparable machines
- All tools provided and setup is simple
- UV cover effectively contains resin odor
- Sturdy metal-handled scraper included
- 0.01mm stated Z-axis tolerance
Cons
- One-piece FEP pressed into a frame is expensive and awkward to replace
- Touchscreen controls can be slightly out of calibration
- Build plate is small for larger projects
The original Photon Mono is the most widely reviewed printer in this group by a wide margin, and that long history is itself useful. When a model has been in production for years, the failure modes are known, the fixes are documented, and replacement parts exist.
A 6.08 inch 2K monochrome LCD with a 15 lamp bead matrix parallel light source gives 0.01mm stated accuracy on the Z-axis, which is plenty for 28mm figures. A 1.5 second layer exposure keeps print times short enough that beginners are not waiting all night for their first result.
Two details make it pleasant to live with. The removable one-piece UV-blocking cover blocks up to 99.95% of UV at 405nm and doubles as a pause mechanism when you open it, and operation is quiet enough to sit in a room where someone else is trying to concentrate.
For a painter, the practical limitation is resolution. A 2K panel on a 6 inch screen gives a coarser pixel pitch than everything else here, so fine surface texture on a 28mm model is rougher and needs a light filler primer before basecoating.
What you give up against a 10K or 16K panel
The honest answer is surface texture. On a 32mm model, the Photon Mono’s finish is visibly more textured under raking light, and when you apply a contrast paint the pooling in that texture is more pronounced. If your painting is competitive, the extra step of filler primer and sanding is part of the workflow.
It is also the smallest build volume here at 130 x 80 x 165 mm, and the recessed LCD glass is awkward to clean if resin gets splashed onto it. Support placement still demands attention, and a first-timer will lose a few prints to bad supports.
Who it suits and who it does not
It suits anyone who wants to test the resin hobby without a large commitment, anyone printing bases, conversion bits and proxies rather than display pieces, and anyone who values quiet operation above pixel density. The pros for the hobby on our painting kit guides follow the same logic: pick the tool that fits the work you actually do.
Skip it if you paint at competition level or want the crispest possible chainmail. The one-piece FEP pressed into a frame is also expensive and awkward to replace when it eventually tears, so budget for that before it catches you out.
6. phrozen Sonic Mega 8K S – Best Resin Printer for Batch Armies
phrozen Sonic Mega 8K S LCD/MSLA Resin 3D Printer, 43 µm High Resolution, 15 inch Mono LCD Screen, Fast Production Accurate Details, Large Printing Size L12.99xW7.28xH11.81 Printing Volume
15 inch 8K mono LCD
43 micron XY
33 x 18.5 x 30 cm volume
ACF film with TR300 resin
Pros
- Very large build plate fits a full rank of miniatures at once
- Reliable once exposure settings are dialed in
- Quiet operation
- Built-in metal drip hanger makes resin recovery cleaner
- Phrozen replaced a chipped LCD within two days under warranty
Cons
- No Wi-Fi camera or auto-leveling at this price
- 43 micron XY is softer than 16K-class machines
- Several owners report electronics or LCD failures
The Sonic Mega 8K S is a production machine, not a detail machine, and you should choose it deliberately. At 33 x 18.5 x 30 cm the plate takes a full rank of 32mm models in one run, and with ACF film and TR300 high-speed resin the manufacturer quotes up to 80 one-thirty-second scale miniatures in 90 minutes.
Those throughput numbers are the reason to buy it. If you run a mounted hobby, a club, or a terrain-heavy campaign, the argument is not per-figure quality, it is how many painted figures you finish in a month.
The built-in metal drip hanger is a small piece of engineering that saves real time and resin. A model lifted off the plate can hang from it while excess resin drains back, rather than being held over a cup with your hands for five minutes per model. The lift-up lid also keeps the footprint workable in a tight workspace.
Reviewers report that the machine becomes reliable once exposure settings are tuned, and one owner had a chipped LCD replaced within two days while in warranty. That kind of response matters more than any spec line when you are printing on a schedule.
What 43 micron pixels mean for a painter
Forty-three micron pixels are visibly softer than a 16K panel, and the surface of a small figure carries more texture than you would get from the Saturn 4 Ultra 16K. On a gaming miniature with layered armour this is a non-issue, because the recess and the raised plate still separate cleanly under paint.
On a display bust, it is not a non-issue. Fine hair strands and deep undercut cloth folds soften, and the crisp highlight along an edge is where the loss shows. If competition painting is the goal, this is the wrong machine and the extra capacity will not compensate.
Who should pass on it
There is no Wi-Fi, no camera and no auto-leveling at this level, which means a new user has a steeper first-run experience. The perforated oversized plate also means flex build plates are not compatible, and the self-filling vat mechanism has been reported to work poorly by some owners.
Several owners also report electronics or LCD failures within a short warranty window, and rough handling in transit can crack the plastic cover. Buy it for capacity and speed, and only if you already know how to dial in exposure and support angles.
Buying Guide: The Six Specs That Decide Paint Quality
Most buying advice for miniature printers stops at resolution, and resolution is the least of the six things that determine whether a print is worth painting. Here is the checklist I actually use, in the order I would use it.
1. XY resolution in microns, not panel marketing
Aim for 25 microns or lower for 28mm and 32mm gaming figures. Everything in this list sits at 17, 18 or 22 micron except the two entry and production machines, and those two trade resolution for cost and for plate size. Ignore raw numbers like 10K or 16K on their own, because panel size changes the resulting pixel pitch.
2. Peel force and tilt release
On a vertical-peel machine the model is pulled straight off the film, and that force concentrates on whatever is thinnest. Swords, raised arms, antennae, bows and capes snap. Tilt release spreads that force across the model by rocking the plate, and it is the single biggest reliability difference in this generation of machines.
3. Build plate size and the shape of it
Small plates force you to resize models constantly. If you print an army, look for 200mm or more on one dimension so a rank fits. If you print busts and mounted figures, look for height and a plate that can hang models during draining, which is what the drip hanger on the Sonic Mega provides.
4. Light uniformity across the whole panel
Uneven illumination gives you a model that is crisply cured in the middle and softer at the edges. A matrix parallel light source, the kind used in the Anycubic and Elegoo machines here, spreads light more evenly than a single point source and reduces the need for exposure compensation across the plate.
5. Plate adhesion and leveling
A laser-engraved platform gives more grip than a smooth one, and automatic or one-time leveling removes the most common beginner failure. First-layer adhesion problems are the single biggest reason new resin printers end up on a shelf, so weigh this heavily if you are buying your first machine.
6. Heated vat and temperature behaviour
Resin viscosity rises as it gets cold, and cold resin traps bubbles and separates into layers. A heated tank holding resin at 30 degrees, as on the Saturn 4 Ultra 16K, improves layer adhesion and success rate, and it matters most if you print in a garage, a basement or an unheated room in winter.
From Print to Paint: Washing, Curing and Priming Miniatures
None of the six printers in this guide produces a model that is ready for paint straight off the plate. The post-processing steps are the same for all of them, and skipping them is the reason people conclude that resin prints do not take paint well. They do, but only after proper prep.
Wash, then cure
Wash the print in 95% or stronger isopropyl alcohol, either in a wash station or in a sealed container with agitation, for five to ten minutes. The goal is a completely matte, non-tacky surface. If the model still feels waxy or sticky, keep washing, because uncured resin will interfere with primer adhesion later.
Cure after washing, in a UV cure chamber for ten to twenty minutes with the model angled so light reaches the undersides. Cure for the resin, not for a fixed time. Over-curing makes resin brittle, and brittle resin snaps during support removal rather than flexing away from the tool.
Remove supports, then sand
Take supports off while the resin is still slightly flexible, using flush cutters, working from the tips inward so you are not levering against the model. On a fine detail printer such as the Mono 4 or the Mars 5 Ultra, support scars are small enough to knock back with a file and a piece of 800 grit paper.
Filler primer handles the rest. On the coarser panels, the Photon Mono and the Sonic Mega 8K S especially, a thin coat of filler primer followed by light sanding is the difference between a smooth basecoat and one that catches on every layer line under a raking light.
Prime for adhesion, not for colour
Airbrush primer or a good aerosol primer gives acrylic paint something to bite. The glossiness some people worry about on resin is a surface property, not a chemical one, and primer solves it. Wash the primed model once more before you start, and you have a surface that behaves like injection-moulded plastic from that point on.
Cost to Own and Cost per Miniature
Printers are rarely the expensive part. A first resin setup is printer, resin, a wash and cure station, gloves, a filter and a waste container, and people who only budget for the printer are surprised by the rest.
The recurring costs are resin, alcohol, FEP film, filters and replacement parts, plus electricity. Resin dominates, and consumption depends far more on how you orient models than on your printer. A badly oriented figure can waste ten times the resin of a well-supported one, so good supports are the cheapest cost saving available.
The break-even question is straightforward. If you buy a single multi-box miniature kit, a printer is pure hobby cost and pays back in enjoyment rather than money. If you would otherwise buy one box per month indefinitely, printing wins on cost well before you have printed enough figures to break even on the machine, because the ongoing cost per figure is a fraction of retail.
On the creative side, the same discipline applies to kit painting. If you enjoy assembly and painting as much as the models themselves, our craft kit guides cover the parallel universe of hobby painting, and the routine of preparing a model is the same in both.
Resin Safety and the Real Downsides
The honest downsides of a resin printer are fumes, liquid handling and a learning curve, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something. None of it is dangerous if you take four precautions, and all of it is manageable in an apartment.
Ventilate, glove, contain and dispose
Ventilate: keep the printer in a room with a window you can open, or put it inside a grow tent with a carbon filter. Odour is the most obvious warning sign, and persistent resin smell in a room means you need better extraction.
Glove: nitrile gloves whenever resin is uncured, including when you are pouring, when you are washing and when you are clearing a spill. Uncured resin is a skin sensitiser, and the sensitisation is permanent once it happens. Wash your hands with soap and water rather than relying on the gloves alone.
Contain and dispose: keep a dedicated tray and a sealed box for alcohol waste, never pour it down a drain, and cure waste resin solids fully before binning them. Check the local rules for what your area requires, because they differ.
What else will annoy you
Resin odours in a shared space, the mess of handling liquid, the fact that you cannot pause a print to fix a model once it starts, and a consumable cost that never goes away. If you rent a small flat with no window you can open and no space to isolate a machine, an FDM printer is the honest answer, and our beginner guide covers that path properly.
Legal and IP: Printing Games Workshop Models
This is a real question with a real answer, so it deserves plain language rather than hand-waving. The law and the rules are separate, and they do not agree with each other.
Legally, the models are copyrighted designs. Printing a physical object from a protected STL is a grey area that depends heavily on where you live, and selling those objects commercially is where the risk is clearest. Commercially printed copies compete directly with the product they imitate, which is the scenario rights holders pursue.
For personal use, the risk is much lower, and hobbyists print proxies for their own tables constantly. Rules at competitive tournaments are the part people get caught by. Most major tournament rulesets permit printed models for play but frequently restrict them in matched play, and some require that printed models be clearly distinguishable from originals. Read the ruleset before you take a printed army to a Grand Tournament, and never pass prints off as originals.
There is a wide ecosystem of original sculptors selling files and physical printed miniatures through Patreon and similar services, and that is the cleanest way to support the people making the models you actually want.
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of printer is best for miniatures?
A monochrome MSLA resin printer is best for miniatures. It cures liquid photopolymer through an LCD mask at 17 to 22 micron XY resolution, producing the smooth, layer-free surface that primer and acrylic paint need. FDM filament printers are better suited to terrain, bases and large scenery.
Are resin printers better for miniatures?
For figures under about 100mm, yes. Resin captures facial features, chainmail and cloth texture that FDM leaves as visible ridges, and the cured surface takes primer evenly after washing. FDM wins on build volume, multi-colour printing and the complete absence of liquid chemistry.
Is it worth buying a 3D printer for miniatures?
It is worth it if you paint regularly and would otherwise buy boxes of metal or plastic each month. Printers pay back through cost per figure over time, and the cheaper resin machines in this guide are accessible entry points. If you enjoy assembly as much as painting, the cost argument is weaker but the variety is not.
Which resin 3D printer is best for miniatures?
The Anycubic Photon Mono 4 is the best all-round choice at 17 micron XY with one-time leveling. The Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K takes the finest detail. The Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra is the easiest for a first resin printer, and the phrozen Sonic Mega 8K S wins on batch capacity.
Do 3D printed miniatures paint well?
Yes, once they are washed, UV cured, sanded and primed. Uncured resin leaves a tacky skin that stops primer adhering, and glossy raw resin repels contrast paint, so a filler primer and a light sand are essential steps rather than optional extras. Skip them and the print will look worse than injection-moulded plastic.
What resolution do I need for 28mm miniatures?
Aim for XY resolution of 25 microns or lower for 28mm and 32mm gaming figures. Panel marketing numbers are misleading on their own, because pixel pitch depends on screen size, so check the micron figure rather than the 9K, 10K or 16K label. Pair that with 0.03 to 0.05mm layer height.
What are the downsides of a resin 3D printer?
The main downsides are resin odour, liquid handling, the need for nitrile gloves and ventilation, and a permanent consumable cost. Prints cannot be paused and repaired, failures on thin details waste resin, and a beginner needs to learn supports and exposure calibration before results become consistent.
Is anything illegal to 3D print?
Models from commercial miniature ranges are copyrighted designs. Printing for your own use is a lower-risk activity than selling the results, and rules differ by country. Tournament rules usually permit printed models for play but often restrict them in matched play or require them to be clearly distinguishable, so check the ruleset.
Do I need a wash and cure station?
A dedicated station is strongly recommended because washing and curing in one box is faster, uses less alcohol and gives more consistent results than improvised containers. You can start without one using a sealed tub and sunlight, but the results are less predictable and skin exposure is worse.
Conclusion
The best 3D printers for miniatures painting are all monochrome resin machines, and the right one depends on scale and volume rather than brand. The Anycubic Photon Mono 4 is our pick for most painters, with 17 micron XY pixels, one-time leveling and a build plate that a full squad of 28mm figures fits into.
Move up to the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K when you want the crispest detail and a heated vat that keeps layers bonded. Choose the Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra if resin is new to you, and the phrozen Sonic Mega 8K S if you print armies rather than singles.
Whatever you buy in 2026, budget for resin, a wash and cure station and gloves at the same time, and remember that washing, curing and priming are what turn a raw print into something worth painting.