All the dragons!
One of the more interesting things about dragons is the fact that despite not actually ever having existed, virtually every major civilization and culture on the planet has some form of dragon-like creature playing a major role in its myths and stories. Anthropologically that means that stories about dragons are so old that they pre-date the migration of ancient man across the planet, or stories about dragons are just so awesome that everyone created myths and legends to include them. It is also possible that there were other factors involved, like dragons being the result of the discovery of dinosaur fossils, but that sounds less impressive than stories that predate civilization. Of course the real longshot theory is that dragons were real animals that existed and they were just erased from history, which would be kind of cool to discover.
Whatever it is that has made stories with dragons so prevalent in ancient societies, the coolness of them certainly hasn’t diminished their popularity. It is likely that when our civilization is dead and gone in tens of thousands of years, that one of the few things that will remain in our legends will be stories about dragons, and they will probably enthrall a whole new generation of whatever life forms evolved to take our place.
Just because I felt like putting together a fun list this week, and I was on the hunt for new models to 3D print, here are Ten 3D Printable Things – Dragons and Dragon Decor:
ADALINDA THE DRAGON
Adalinda: The Singing Serpent by loubie
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
It is likely that this amazing dragon figure was designed for the sole purpose of making your 3D printer hate you, but trust me, it is worth the extra effort to make sure that it prints correctly. Not only is it just a great looking figure, but it is going to look good in virtually any type of filament that you have handy, and as usual the more exotic the better. Adalinda was designed to be printable without needing any supports, and she can easily be sized up or down depending on how big you want the final print.
FOREST DRAGON
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
This Norse-style forest dragon is a little more realistically proportioned than Adalinda, which naturally means that it’s going to take a little more effort to print. It does come broken up into a few different parts, so you’ll have to do quite a lot of cleaning and post processing. But as you can see with the finished and painted model it is well worth the time and effort. It is ideally proportioned for role playing games, tabletop games or just as a decorative figurine.
POLY STYLE DRAGON
Polydragon by kijai
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
This cute little Polydragon is going to be a lot easier to 3D print, and it can easily be sized up or down without losing any detail, or the model being unable to properly print. While the Polydragon will look good in any material, personally I think it looks the best in transparent materials with no infill. You could even print a bunch of them, cut small holes in the bottoms and hang them from string lights.
DRAGON BEER TAP HANDLE
Dragon Climbing Tower – Beer Tap Handle by monopolowa
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
Granted, making a beer tap handle is probably not the most popular use for a 3D printer, but if you need one, this is a great looking beer tap. It was designed to look like a castle tower with a fierce dragon crawling up the sides, clutching a shield that can be painted in any style that would match your home brewery set up. It also wouldn’t be difficult to convert this model into something else, like a decorative figurine.
DRAGON HEAD CUBICLE COAT HANGER
Cubicle Coat Hanger – Dragon by WeeksB
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
If you’re the type of person who REALLY likes dragons, then chances are that you’re going to need some sort of dragon decor for your workspace. And if that’s a cubicle, then this great dragon coat hook design is right up your alley. It was designed to fit on top of standard office cubicles, with the head on one side and the tail on the other. Just make sure that you 3D print it with 80% to 100% infill so it’s strong enough to hold up coats or purses and it’s the perfect way to show all of your co-workers that spoiling the latest episode of Game of Thrones will probably result in bloodshed.
DRAGON PENDANT
Dragon Pendant by Robert Bergeron
Found on: MyMiniFactory
Cost: Free
When I select what models I’m going to include in my weekly 3D printable model lists I generally don’t share designs that were made to be printed on an SLA 3D printer because, well, most of us don’t have access to one. But this dragon pendant is just such a great design that it kind of feels like it would be worth sending it off to a 3D printing service bureau. I suppose it is probably worth giving it a shot on your FDM 3D printer, but you’re probably going to lose a lot of detail unless you bump up the scale a bit. And finding the right mix of supports isn’t going to be fun. Another option is send it off to Shapeways and have it 3D printed in a metallic material.
TEACUP DRAGON PUPPET
Teacup Dragon Puppet by Whystler
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
This little teacup-sized dragon model was designed to have several moving components, so it can be used as a small, unexpected puppet. There are a couple different parts to this model, so printing out the parts and assembling them is going to be a bit of a project. But once the model is painted up it will be worth all of the hard work. The model could probably be sized up without any problems, but there is a lot of fine detail on it, so I wouldn’t risk reducing the size too much.
Here is a brief video of the Teacup Dragon Puppet’s movable parts being, well, moved:
FOUR DRAGON HEAD CANDLESTICK
Four Dragons Candlestick by JuliaTruchsess
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
This really cool candlestick was designed to hold the thicker, plinth-style candles rather than the tall, slim style. It has four different styles of dragon heads circling the base, each one on its own a great design. This model is perfect for 3D printing in one of the new metallic filaments, but it could also easily be painted to resemble stone or weathered metal. And if you don’t want to use it to hold candles, then it could also be repurposed as a centerpiece to a table or a decorative bowl.
WALL-MOUNTED DRAGON HEAD
Forest Dragon Wall-Mount Head by JuliaTruchsess
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
Originally designed to be printed at a much larger size so it appeared to be a wall-mounted trophy, the designer printed it out at a smaller size to test her printer. The results speak for themselves, but it occurred to me that this design would be perfect as a dragon wall hook for coats or bags. Just make sure that if you want the model to support anything with any kind of weight that you print it with 80% to 100% infill to give it extra strength. It will take longer to print, but the model will last a lot longer, especially if it is used regularly. The dragon head model prints as a single piece, so there will have to be a lot of supports used to make sure that all of the details print out as they are supposed to. That obviously means a lot of post processing, but if you’re planning on painting the model you would have to do that any way. 
DRAGON BOWL
Dragon Head Bowl by Francesco Orrù
Found on: MyMiniFactory
Cost: Free
I’m not sure why you would want to stuff a bunch of food or candy in a dragon’s mouth, but if that’s your thing here is a bowl made from a dragon’s open jaws. No matter how you use it, this is just a cool model, and it could just as easily be hung on a wall or used as coat hooks. However, you will need a rather large-scale 3D printer to do the model the justice that it deserves. The dragon bowl has a ton of detail, so it is just dying to be given a nice, clean coating of paint. This is another model that would look great printed in a metallic filament and then given a nice patina or weathered painting effect.
Okay. there you go, the ten coolest Dragon things that i could find. I found a ton of amazing dragon figures and printing projects; many of them you have probably seen us write about before, so I tried to use designs that don’t get as much coverage as some of the more popular ones. But I am certain that I missed a bunch of great designs, so please feel free to send me your favorite dragon models or printing projects, because I know that I’m going to have to do a follow-up list.
You can get ahold of me in the usual ways, either send me an email, or say hi in the Tweet-o-sphere @SJGrunewald. As always, I love seeing what you guys are working on, and you may be seeing a few dragon models that I printed show up online as well.