Community Showcase - Aztinoth and the Blood Bowl Build

Welcome to another Modi Boxi Community Showcase! Co-founder Trapper Markelz talks with Modi Boxi Community Builder Jason Snellings (aka Aztinoth) to discuss Modi Boxi, 3D printing, his Blood Bowl Build, and other creative projects!

Trapper Markelz: Hey Jason, thanks for taking the time to chat. Your journey into 3D printing is really unique, and I love hearing how people find their way into the hobby. So, let’s start from the beginning—tell us a little about yourself and how you got started with 3D printing.

Jason Snellings: My name's Jason Snellings and I grew up a video gamer, but in my current role as a dad, I don't have the time to sit down consistently enough to play a game. Paired with that, I was always trying to find a hobby that suited my mentality and would bring me joy. I went through a bunch ranging from something as simple as painting minis all the way to chainmail work. As part of my masters program in instructional design, I even made a chainmail for starters website - give it a look if you'd like at onelinkatatime.jsnellings.com.

I finished my degree and started a new job during COVID at a higher education institution. After about a year and a half there (and once campus was open more as the pandemic ebbed), I realized that we had this amazing makerspace with all sorts of tools, ranging from a fully loaded woodshop, to a textile room. The one that caught my interest almost immediately was the digital fabrication studio, equipped with 2 Ultimakers and 4 Prusas.

After a quick training, I dove right in with printing all sorts of random odds and ends. The inevitable next step was wanting to print my own things that I couldn't find a model for, so I started with and quickly outgrew TinkerCAD and moved to Onshape and finding sites like MyMiniFactory and Cults3D. CAD work and 3D printing presented the perfect blend of digital enjoyment and gratifying creating that I had been looking for and didn't realize existed!

Trapper Markelz: That’s such a great story—so many of us start out just tinkering, but it sounds like you really found something that clicked. I love that it’s a mix of digital creativity and physical creation. And discovering a fully stocked makerspace is like finding buried treasure! Once you got into 3D printing, how did you first hear about Modi Boxi, and what made you want to join the community?

Jason Snellings: My friends and I do this thing where, for your birthday, we all pitch in and buy each other one big gift from the group that the person will love but might not otherwise buy for themselves. After seeing how into 3D printing I was getting, they surprised me by purchasing the original Kickstarter as a gift for me. I was starting a Warhammer Blood Bowl setup, and had complained about finding the right carry case for all my stuff. So they figured I could make a bespoke one to do just what I needed, but they didn't know the rabbit hole of fun they had sent me down!

Trapper Markelz: Wow, that's pretty awesome to learn Modi Boxi was a gift! So once you had the tools, what inspired your build? What was your process to bring it to life, and how long did it take?

Jason Snellings: The basis for my build was that I could fit my custom turtle-themed team (thanks Heroforge!) inside one box and put a dice roller on top. But I wanted more than that, I wanted a fun way to hold the dice and make it so that I didn't have to pull the dice out from under the dice roller when it was upright. So I designed the perfect holder for two sets of dice (a two-player game essential) and made it fit the grooves of the DIY tray for a medium Boxi and then also designed a ramp that sits under the dice roller to keep the dice from getting stuck underneath.

I was going to stop there, but by then I had added two more teams, and I had just gotten a new Bambu P1S with AMS and was designing my own Blood Bowl pitch that fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle, but needed a storage solution for all of this. So I looked towards the Boxi carrier but realized it wouldn't be thick enough for the rulebook and the board once I stacked them up. So I pulled it into Onshape, added some thickness, and turned it into a suitcase-like case with its own handle.

As for the main box, I didn't want to just add two more medium Boxis—I wanted only one more box below, so I realized I could do two separate tiers for the shorter teams I had in 2/3 of the box and make a full-height container in the last 1/3 with the taller models. I attached the removable lid, created a lock on the back as an extra security piece so it can't accidentally slide off if something goes wrong with the hooks, and attached it all together!

Start to finish, it took the better part of a year. This was mainly because I went through a new printer setup, the board itself took a while, and I had a new baby on top of my toddler to work around! But it was amazing to come back and print bit by bit and see it take shape.

Trapper Markelz: Wow, that’s next-level. You didn’t just build a box—you engineered a complete system, balancing form, function, and flexibility. And all while navigating life with a toddler and a newborn! Now that you’ve completed this project, are there other Modi Boxi builds or projects you’re working on?

Jason Snellings: I'll probably be looking into organizing my modest board game collection with some better inserts or replacing a few disintegrating boxes altogether. The next big thing though is making a more permanent home for my 2,000 points of Space Wolves from Warhammer 40k. I expect it will take the shape of more large and medium Boxis, maybe with a basket handle this time.

Trapper Markelz: That’s going to be a beast of a project! I love hearing how you’re pushing the boundaries of what Modi Boxi can do. For people new to working with Modi Boxi, do you have any advice or tips?

Jason Snellings: Definitely take the time to plan out the Boxis. I have countless scrap papers where I drew out exactly what I wanted and then made a parts list to match. I started by jumping in and printing what just looked right without making those diagrams and realized I'd need some different parts for what I really wanted it to look like. So I have backup bits now, but not intentionally!

Also, make sure your printer is tuned well or that you're using the test print. I had issues with bridging the bolt gap on my Prusa MK3S before I really got the cooling working well, and I hadn't used the test print counter at all. Once I used that, it was smooth sailing.

Finally, plan your colors well if you want some fun aesthetics. I didn't want just 2 or 3 color schemes, so I was carefully planning each different piece of color. There are so many parts that you can print out in different colors to make it look fun! Take advantage of that! And if you can get some multicolor filament, it works great on the bigger Boxis to get a striking look, like with my large carrier and the rainbow filament.

Trapper Markelz: Those are fantastic tips—planning ahead is key, and I love that you’re encouraging people to embrace color and aesthetics. Before we wrap up, any social media accounts or other projects you want people to check out?

Jason Snellings: Yes! I recently watched part of Marvel What If season 3 and saw the foosball table with all the different Marvel characters on it and thought to myself, "I have moderate modeling skills now and a multicolor printer, I bet I could design and print those foosball players and make this super cool themed fictional table a reality!"

Follow me at Makerworld and potentially at YouTube.

Trapper Markelz: That sounds incredible. Can’t wait to see it! Thanks for sharing your journey, Jason!