"Irrational Designs starships" Topic

I broke down and ordered a couple of the neat ships(salvage cruiser and bulk freighter)from Irrational Designs Shapeways store. They arrived via UPS with good communication and free shipping($25 minimum order).

My first impression is amazement at what the new sculpting technology can do. It could be the end of mold lines which is the number one thing I dislike about miniatures. Unfortunately the material I chose, which was the default material called white, strong,& flexible, has a rough stone like texture to it. Would be cool for stone work pieces, but not so much for starships. I did some investigating and found on SCN that the "detail" materials are recommended. This unfortunately increases the cost by 63% for an already pricey model. The bulk freighter goes from 15.11 to 23.43. Ouch. The white, strong,& flexible price was borderline for what I'm willing to pay, but the detail material price pushes it way out of reasonable range for me.

While the designs are neat and the technology used to make them is impressive, the price point for an acceptable material for starship models is much too high.

Now, any ideas how I can smooth out the surfaces of these ships so they don't look like they're made of stone once painted? Sanding isn't feasible by the way. :P

Irrational Designs Shapeways: link

SCN = Starship Combat News: star-ranger.com/Home.htm

Once painted up they were fine, the slightly rough surfaces did not detract from mine at all and were mostly covered by the paint!

I have ordered 7 ships from the line so far with no issues using the white strong and flexible.

Very interesting. I'd never seen these models before and am suitably impressed with the detail (though the price is high).

I had previously presumed that the main reason for creating a 3D printed model was to enable a master mold to be made for either resin or white metal casting. It seems these models are the 3d prints themselves.

I'm not a starship games player, although models like this would tempt me more. I quite like the tank model, but i'd want it in 28mm scale.

One nit-picking issue … why show the models in size comparison to a US coin? those of us not in the US this doesn't make a lot of sense. What we need is some kind of international measuring units to enable a global comparison to be made. I dunno we could call them millimetres or even inches!

As to your issue of surface detail deeman – i've not had experience of these specific modes but have some experience filling rough surface detail on somewhat larger resin models. I cover the surface with suqadron green putty and then lightly sand it. This may be possible for some of the surfaces on your figures, but it can get fiddly.

If its just a 'sandy like' texture on the model i'd be inclined to just use a car primer paint as an undercoat. Sometimes called "high build" primer. its designed to fill surface imperfections. Now its supposed to be sanded afterwards but i've had some success in getting it to fill rough areas of models previously. Don't over do it, its unlikely to obscure details, but you will notice that it'll put radii into the tight internal square corners if its put on too thick.

If neither of these are practical then I'd go with Only Warlock's suggestion.

Oh i've just noticed i might be being fooled here… the pictures on the website are high resolution computer renderings of the models. NOT the models themselves.

I'm pretty sure that's not even legal in the UK as its not the product being sold.

How do the models measure up to the promise of the pictures?

I dunno we could call them millimetres or even inches!

The size of the model in mm is given on the right-hand information frame, right above where you select the material.

-Will

ah well serves me right for not reading the screen properly.

I like some of the designs, especially the refinery… price would prohibit me from getting them though.

I'm curious if the technology they're using would allow them to offer the minis in a variety of sizes as well… some of them, like the refinery, would appeal more if they were a bit larger.

If you look at it in terms of Taxes and shipping you won't be paying (With a minimum $25 USD order), they aren't that far off.

Heck, i just got my Ad Astra "Squadron Strike" Russian ships and you pay $59.99 USD for 5 ships, all of which are pretty small (Their Battleship masses about what an AOG Babylon 5 Hyperion Cruiser mini does. The rest are MUCH smaller.)

Counting Shipping, I am out roughly $70 USD for a small fleet (They are nice figures, just WAY overpriced IMO).

With Irrational stuff I can get, for the same price, 1x Europa Command Carrier ($24) 2x Lanze Class Strike Carriers ($18) 4x Garon Escorts ($19)and 1x Pangolin Light Carrier ($9.50).

The figures are awesome, plus I actually get more ships.

if anyone wants to see the Irrational stuff in person, i will have them at Millennium Con XII tomorrow in Round Rock TX!

You can even play with them if you sign up for my morning game.

Hay guys, what's going on in this thread? :)

I agree, the larger models get to be pretty expensive in the detail materials. The smaller ships are more reasonable, and due to a pricing quirk on Shapeways' part, the smallest ones can be even cheaper when made in the detail materials.

I'm afraid that tank model at 28mm would end up hugely expensive…

The quarters in the sample renders is because I'm US-born so it seemed like a natural comparison to me, and quarters are an inch wide.

Rather than get extradited to face UK justice, I'll see what I can do about getting photographs of the printed models up :) At least those that I've got prints of.

Detail-wise, the WS&F ends up a little fuzzy on the tiny details (panel lines and such), but a little work with a needle or similar tiny scraping tool can fix that. The white, black and transparent (translucent anyway) detail materials both come out smoother, and retain the details from the Lightwave models much better. With the black detail, you can just scrub it down with a toothbrush to remove any clinging support material and start in on dry brushing if that's your style.

On the downside, the detail materials cost more in bulk, and due to their lower melting points probably won't survive being left in a hot car in the summer, so I'm not as sold on them.

Here's a picture of the Ryuushi Dominator mini in white strong & flexible next to one in black detail:
picture

This is the link you want.

link

I'm especially interested in what we can do with the transparent material.

I like some of those a lot.
I'm wondering where my Ad Astra order is.
If it's not coming, I'll pick up some of these.