I got a Reddit Boise State Bronco Ball

"Huh?" A few of you are probably asking yourselves. "What is that?" Well, my friends, are you in for a TREAT!

For those OBNUG readers that are also Redditors, you probably are aware of CFB Ball.

In a nutshell CFB Ball is a humorous college football-based style of comics with lovable "ball" renditions of all the FBS teams and conferences. If you are not familiar with them, you should check out the subreddit.

Last bowl season they pumped out some comics for every bowl game.

They have some really good renditions for each team. And some pointed humor.

Course, I am not sure how much I like this Utah State / Akron one.

One of the Reddit users, A-Stu-Ute, is a creator of CFB Ball comics, a moderator of the subreddit, and a Utah Ute.

The guy is also pretty handy with a 3D printer and craftsman.

I had sent him a message with an interest in one of the famous balls. What was interesting about the whole 3D printing fad is there are a lot of materials to work with.

Per Johnsen, “There [are] a lot of printing materials, which is why I ask what people want. Some other exotics I could print with are bamboo, brass, conductive plastic, carbon fiber, and even coffee aromatics! If I wanted to mod my printer as well for it, I could print in chocolate.”

Chocolate 3D printed stuff? Sign me up!

He is even printing 4” diameter platinum/steel mix. That would be a very intense model.

Mr. Johnsen can even imprint initials, or other writing, into the print. Johnsen, “I'd just model them in and print with the initials as part of the piece. You could add pretty much whatever you wanted.” Birthdays, anniversaries, important games? For the most part, a lot is fair game.

I had chosen a pretty basic material. I wasn’t quite sure of all the materials, plus I didn't really know the costs.

My ball, per Johnsen: “It's ABS plastic. Decent for working with, but a high temperature resistance, and can be smoothed, repaired, etc. with acetone prior to painting and sealing. The other main material is PLA, plant based, strong, biodegradable, but has low heat resistance and can be brittle if not printed well.”

For a bit of perspective on just how big of a model he can do, take a look at how big these things can get.

Care to see a bit of his printing in (kind of) action?

Of course, Utah Utes balls aren’t the only ones he does.

Take a wild guess as to this one.

Johnsen is able to put a 3D rendering of the ball in advance so people can get an idea of what the thing is going to look like. My Boise State Bronco:

There are plenty of stages that these things must go through. Though he is quite busy with these creations, Mr. Johnsen was able to let me know his progress.

Johnsen painstakingly hand paints his crafts.

Then once it is all painted, he seals it with a polyurethane.

And then on to me.

And it is pretty great in real life.