| mpanko | 03 Oct 2016 3:17 a.m. PST |
I am looking at some ships on shapeways and wanted to know what is the best material to get spaceship gaming miniatures printed in? The default material looks like the surface would be coarse and not take paint well. Any experiences here? |
| wminsing | 03 Oct 2016 5:42 a.m. PST |
So 'White Soft and Flexible' DOES take paint, but expect to use more than you would normally to get an even coat. The 'Detail' materials are smoother and paint up better, but they are (usually) more expensive. -Will |
| Captain Gideon | 03 Oct 2016 6:50 a.m. PST |
If you had the bucks go with Frosted Ultra Detail you get the best quality and they look great. When I could afford it I went for the better quality but mostly I go with the White Strong and Flexible. I've gotten a good number of Star Trek ships over the last year or so and I'm very pleased with what I've gotten for my money. |
| TheWhiteDog | 03 Oct 2016 6:55 a.m. PST |
I prefer FUD or FED for most things. I collect 1/7000 Star Trek, Armada-scale Star Wars, 3mm sci-fi and moderns, and 1/4800 WW2 Naval through Shapeways. It's pricey sometimes, but it's items I couldn't possibly find elsewhere, so I am very grateful to the various designers that I have dealt with. Most are very accommodating, and are happy to make custom sets, so as to lower the per-item price as much as possible. The only other material I would consider anymore would be Translucent Detail. Most of the items I buy require very fine details, and the more expensive materials are necessary to maintain the quality. |
| Allen57 | 03 Oct 2016 7:42 a.m. PST |
I buy mostly WSF though some items only come in the FUD materials. No problems with what I have. |
| wminsing | 03 Oct 2016 8:17 a.m. PST |
Oh yea, good point; the smaller the model, the more likely you'll 'need' the detail materials to make it look good. -Will |
nnascati  | 03 Oct 2016 9:51 a.m. PST |
I bought about a dozen 1/200th scale Spanish Civil War aircraft from Shapeways. Overall, I am pleased with them. I got the "white, strong, flexible" material. It does come with a rater rough surface, and I decided to prime the models with Gesso before painting. Once painted and varnished, they looked pretty good. I will be ordering more. |
| billclo | 03 Oct 2016 4:17 p.m. PST |
I've gotten mainly FUD materials after my initial horrible experiences with WSF. Bear in mind that minis with thin areas like engine struts, can be VERY fragile in FUD, and don't expect the model to survive a drop onto a hard floor – I've got an Akira that has broken twice now due to being dropped. |
| nukesnipe | 04 Oct 2016 6:05 a.m. PST |
Frosted Ultra Detail is how I've gone. It's a bit more pricey, but I'm a little OCD and the striations with the other less expensive materials bothers me…. Regards, Scott Chisholm |
| Eclipsing Binaries | 08 Oct 2016 1:25 p.m. PST |
I've went with the cheaper options on some trek ships. Slightly grainy and they seem to be slightly absorbant – the paint soaks in and takes ages to dry. I assume the print process or maybe the material is porous (my spelling ain't working on that!!). Overall, I'm very happy. The ships look great unless you're right up close, so if you're just after tabletop gaming minis then the White Strong and Flexible should be fine. |
| Aotrs Commander | 25 Oct 2016 11:20 a.m. PST |
WSF is perfectly acceptable for most purposes, it even paints up perfectly fine. I find if I spray it with acrylic primer – which I do on all my models, regardless of material (I use Hycote car primer), it has no issues with absorbing paint at all and basically paints up just like metal or plastic. I can link some photos of painted WSF ships if you don't mind me having to toot my own horn (since all the models I have are are my own!) Anecdotally, (as I use WSF exclusively) no-one at the wargames comventions we attend has ever commented on the surface finish of the models once painted, or even noticed until we pointed it out. |
| trynda1701 | 26 Oct 2016 7:42 p.m. PST |
@Aotrs Commander I've been on a little painting binge the last few weeks on Trek minis, so I'm looking towards the few Shapeways minis I got last year in WSF. So I'd like to see your photos please. I too use car spray primer. :) |
| TheBeast | 27 Oct 2016 6:08 a.m. PST |
They offer a polish service, right? How does that compare? WSF I got I thought looked hairy; after a couple-three tries, I gave up. but I'm a little [CDO]… Fixed that. Doug |
| Aotrs Commander | 28 Oct 2016 5:30 a.m. PST |
@TheBeast Polishing would be a really bad idea for this sort of model, since you'd lose the detail – the amount it takes off is about the same as the usualy level of surface detail. @trynda1701 Here's a selection (image size is quite large in some cases). The cloase-ups, it should be noted, will be much larger (about x4) on your screen (unless you're looking at it on your mobile, then they'll be about life-size!) than the real thing (pick-up-at-peer-at distances, rather than wargames table distance – I don't even paint really, to that close!), but I've also tried to show some shots with the models in situ at our convention games. Naturally, on coming to do it, I realised the majority of those pictures were taken with my older camera (which did not like lack of natural light) and the better pcitures from more recent conventions feature more Replicator 2 prints than Shapeways WSF. Still, I hope this is at least illustrative.
(These are 12mm infantry. (Sort of!))
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solve the rotation problem with magnetic flight stands?
