This Detective Pikachu Fanart based on the 2019 movie, is an easy and fun print for fans of all ages. Printing requires supports on an FDM printer. Be sure to remove the supports gently. The design captures the look of movie version of Pikachu very well. The base's pegs allow for the top heavy figure to be glued in place. Although I chose to make a custom base, the included one does look nice. Overall, this a fun and easy figure to print and eventually paint. Be sure to print extra's as all the Pokémon fans you know will probably want their own.
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Detective Pikachu Fanart Found and Chose Your Printer
Detective Pikachu Fanart is from Zsculptors.com. He is modelled after the character from the 2019 Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie which features Ryan Reynolds’s voice. Although the film does not follow the famous animated cartoon adventures of Ash, it is a fun movie for all ages. The 3D model captures this version of the Pokémon, which includes his hat and magnifying glass.
If you love Pokémon or know someone who does, grab this easy to print figure today. Even if you already have a shelf or room full of Pikachu, you’ve Gotta Catch ‘Em All.
Detective Pikachu Fanart Figure
This fanart was designed as a small 100 mm tall assembly, including the base. Pikachu himself is about 87 mm tall. If you were not aware, this figure could be resized however you like inside your slicer software. The Detective model consists of just two pieces. Here’s a list of the parts as provided by the artist.
- Base – Round with some curves for style – Underside depression will require supports or bridging
- Figure – Includes the full body and two small holes in the feet – Feet are not flat for simple printing
NOTE: In addition, I created a custom base, because this print was going to be a gift for a young fan. However, I had to tweak the pin location and sizes after some printing issues.
Detective Pikachu Fanart Goals
I will admit to having watched a few episodes of Pokémon. However, I do not consider myself a fan. That being said, I did watch the 2019 film while the figure printed. I am a fan of Ryan Reynolds, and I like to research my figures for my articles. Regardless of my deadlines or the reason for printing a particular model, I always have personal goals for a project. Here are this model’s goals:
- Complete prints – Success!
- Print model at the provided scale – Success!
- Create parts that need minimal post-printing processing – Mixed results since I had trouble with Pikachu’s feet
- Create a custom base that required no additional painting – Sucess!
- Share my insights and printer settings – Hopefully, someone enjoys my articles 😉
Since this was a two-piece model, it should have been a straightforward project. Unfortunately, I had some trouble removing Pikachu’s feet from the raft and extra supports I added inside Cura. As mentioned above, the Detective’s feet are not perfectly flat for easy printing and are VERY small. While removing the excess material, I ended up breaking both ankles and was unable to remove all of the support from the feet’s holes. I was able to fix the figure with some super glue. The holes in the feet required drilling. As a result, the necessary repair and drilling additional customization to the base I designed.
Hardware, Software and Modifications
This Detective Pikachu Fanart assembly was printed on two different machines. Firstly, I used an Anycubic Kossel Linear Plus and secondly my Longer LK4 Pro. The individual pieces were sliced using Cura. The figure was printed on my Kossel, and the custom base pieces were printed on my LK4 Pro.
AutoCAD’s TinkerCAD was used to make a custom three-colour base. It was not particularly challenging to design. I had to edit and print the bottom piece twice to fit Pikachu’s damaged and repaired feet perfectly. Let me know if I should share this base in the comments section below.
Filaments
For this Detective Pikachu Fanart project, I used four different filament rolls.
- Yellow PLA: CCTree 3D @ 200° C – Pikachu Figure
- Black PLA+: SunLu @ 215° C – The black portion of custom base
- Red PLA Max: CC3D: @ 215° C – Red part of custom base
- White PLA: SunLu @ 200° C – White parts of custom base
I have used SunLu PLA and PLA+ for other projects and have had excellent results every time. The yellow CCTree filament was purchased for a diorama I haven’t started yet, and it printed very nicely. Above all, my red PLA Max continues to impress me every time I use it for a coloured print or printer parts that require additional strength.
Slicing, Printing and Scaling
This project was sliced using Cura for both of my printers. The Detective figure was printed using Cura’s tree supports. As mentioned above, I printed Pikachu at the as-provided full 100 mm scale. This was not a challenging project, yet the non-flat feet required some special attention when slicing. Hopefully, my time and experiments will help you print this and other figures successfully.
Detective Pikachu Fanart Printing Details
Custom Base
- The four-piece custom base was print using 0.20 layer heights. Each colour was achieved by changing the filament three times to avoid painting the base. However, my prototype base required some post-printing modification to ensure a proper fit. If I choose to share the custom files, all of those issues will be fixed.
Figure
- Pikachu was printed using a raft, tree supports and some custom support blocks using a Cura addon. The custom blocks were placed around the feet and under the Detective’s behind to ensure he didn’t fall over during printing. Also, extra care is required to remove the supports around the feet, tail and magnifying glass to avoid breaking the model.
Slicer Settings
Here are some quick slicing settings used while printing the Pokémon figure:
- 0.1 Layer Height for Figure & 0.2 Layer Height for the base pieces;
- 3-4 Walls; 5-6 Top & Bottom Layers;
- 5-25% ZigZag Infill;
- 30 mm/s overall speed for figure and 60.0 mm/s overall speed for the base parts;Â
- Supports everywhere; 65° Overhang; 0.20 Z Distance & 0.8 XY Distance; Tree Supports with 60° Branch Angle and 1 Wall; Custom support blocks as noted above.
Pikachu 3D Printed Eye Candy
Here are a few pictures of my printed part Detective Pikachu. I did not take as many pictures as usual. Since I gave away the figure to a coworker’s son, I can’t take any more. My coworker intends to dust off his airbrush equipment and paint the figure. Perhaps I’ll get some updated pictures eventually. Enjoy my photographs and hopefully your printed figure.
Thanks for coming. Check back and look for more model reviews with printing tips and techniques.
Why not check out the Nexa3D NXE400 – Resin printing in seconds! or how about the Skribe – The story of a whiteboard scanning eraser
