Introduction: Toy Soldier Ornament

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The following information is a single lesson in a larger Tinkercad project. Check out this and more projects on Tinkercad.

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Lesson Overview:

Now we're going to make a toy soldier!

Step 1: Background

This project will create a toy soldier ornament. Feel free to customize in any way that you wish.

Step 2: Creating the Legs and Base

This step will create the legs and base of the toy soldier.

Instructions

  1. Drag a cylinder to the workplane and resize it to be 15 mm in diameter and 5 mm high. This will be the very bottom section of the base.
  2. Drag a cone to the workplane and resize the bottom to be 10 mm in diameter and 60 mm high.
  3. Drag a block to the workplane and resize it to be 50 mm tall.
  4. Raise the block 17 mm over the workplane.
  5. Use the Align function to align the block and the cone on both horizontal axes.
  6. Turn the box into a hole and group with the cone to cut off the top of the cone. You should be left with a cone 17 mm high.
  7. Rotate the cone 180° around the x-axis so that the smaller end is facing down.
  8. Use the Align function to align the cone with the first cylinder.
  9. Raise the cone 5 mm above the workplane. This will be the base.

Step 3: Creating the Body

This step will create the main body, neck and head for the soldier.

Instructions

  1. Move a cylinder to the workplane and resize it to be 10 mm in diameter and 13 mm tall.
  2. Raise the cylinder 22 mm above the workplane.
  3. Use the Align function to align the cylinder with the legs on both horizontal axes.
  4. Move a cone to the workplane and resize it to be 10 mm in diameter and 5 mm tall. Raise it to the top of the body and use the Align function to align on both horizontal axes. Note that when you select two objects and then use the Align function, you can click on the object to which you would like to align. If you don’t click on an object, the align function moves both objects to the midpoint. If you do click on an object, the second object moves to the first object.
  5. Move a cylinder to the workplane and resize it to be 8 mm in diameter and 2 mm high.
  6. Move the cylinder to the top of the body 2 mm over the cone. The cylinder should overhang the cone slightly.
  7. Move the workplane to the top of the last cylinder.
  8. Move a sphere to the workplane and resize it to be 10 mm in diameter.
  9. Center the sphere on the cylinder using the Align function and push the sphere 1 mm down into the cylinder.
  10. Group everything that you have created so far.

Step 4: Creating the Hat

Now add a hat

Instructions

  1. Reset the workplane to its original position. You can do this by dragging a new workplane to any open space. As long as it is not on a face of a shape it will reset.
  2. Drag a cone to the workplane and resize it to be 13 mm deep, 13 mm wide and 33 mm high. We are going to chop off the top of the cone and use the remainder to make the bottom part of the hat for the soldier.
  3. Drag a block to the workplane and resize it to be 20 mm wide, 20 mm deep and 30 mm high.
  4. Turn the block into a hole and raise it 10 mm over the workplane.
  5. Use the Align function to align the blocks and the cone on both horizontal axes and then group them. This will cut off the top of the cone.
  6. Rotate the cone so that the wide part is on top.
  7. Drag a sphere to the workplane and resize it to be 13 mm wide, 30 mm deep and 7 mm high.
  8. Use the Align function to center the sphere and the cone on both horizontal axes.
  9. Raise the sphere so that is just resting on top of the cone.
  10. Group these two shapes and then move them to the top of the head of the soldier.
  11. Group the hat with the rest of the soldier.

Step 5: Creating the Arms

This step will create both arms for the soldier.

Instructions

  1. Drag a cylinder to the workplane and resize it to be 2 mm diameter and 8 mm tall.
  2. Rotate the cylinder so that the flat ends are vertical. If necessary, move it down to the workplane.
  3. Duplicate the cylinder and slide the duplicate lengthwise to one end. Rotate to duplicate 12.5° and then slide it sideways so that there is a band between them. These will be the two sections of the arm.
  4. Slide a sphere to the workplane and resize it to be 2 mm in diameter.
  5. Move the sphere to one end of the arm so that half of the sphere is embedded in the arm and the other half makes arm round at the end.
  6. Duplicate the sphere and slide it to the elbow joint. This will make the elbow joint round.
  7. Duplicate the sphere again and slide it to the other end of the arm. Embed the sphere halfway into the other end.
  8. Select all parts of the arm and group them.
  9. Rotate the arm 90° so that the first cylinder is vertical.
  10. Reposition the arm so that it is just to the left side of the body.
  11. Duplicate the arm and slide the duplicate to the right side of the body.
  12. When you’re happy with the position, group the arms with the body.

Step 6: Creating the Rifle

This step will create the rifle held in the soldier's right hand.

Instructions

  1. Drag a block to the workplane and resize it to be one millimeter high, 2 mm wide and 11 mm long. This will be the body for the rifle.
  2. Drag a green roof to the workplane and rotate it so that one of the short edges is parallel to the long edge of the rectangle and the other short edge is parallel to the shorter edge of the rectangle. This will be the stock of the rifle.
  3. Resize the roof to be 1 mm high, 6 mm wide and 10 mm long. Align the roof according to the picture below.
  4. Drag a cylinder to the workplane and rotate so that the flat sides are vertical.
  5. Resize the cylinder to 1 mm in diameter and 20 mm long. Place the cylinder on top of the rifle body.
  6. Group the three parts of the rifle and position the rifle inside the right arm of the soldier. When you’re done with this, you have finished your soldier. Now print and paint it.

Step 7: Printing Your Soldier

This model is slightly more difficult to print because of the arms and rifle. Both of these have overhangs that are not supported. It can be printed from the bottom if you select support structures for the arms. Alternatively, it could be printed from the top (hat down on the print tray) with support for the rifle. Try both and see what works best.

In the next lesson you will learn to make a menorah!

Next Lesson:Menorah