"Aotrs Shipyards November Release: M60A1 (144)" Topic

Aotrs Shipyards is a webstore on Shapeways.com, a 3D print house which had production and shipping facilities located in the USA and the Netherlands.

As I projected last time, between my commission and working on trying to get my starship rules ready to be published for Recon at the start of next month, I didn't have time to do anything new. So for November's release, we are dipping into the backlog queue.

This time, out of the goodie bag we have – the M60A1 in 144th!

M60A1

link

This is an early model (circa 1970), with no smoke dischargers or searchlight. Also suitable for use for the IDF.

The photo is as usual from the Replicator 2 prototype. The production model had to have a slighter thicker barrel, since Shapeways had difficulty printing this version, for whatever reason.

_______________________________________________

Next month, I will endeavour to finally get the T-62M and/or ERA T-64A. (They are top of the design queue, but commissions take priority!) I have gotten more commissions from Kallistra, so the next few months are likely to see more variants of existing vehicles, rather than new models (e.g. the Mark 3 Centurion), since they usually take less time to do.

Very nice.

Looking forward to one with the searchlight attached.

You've built up quite a collection of available vehicles there.

Would love to see some others too, as time permits, e.g.:

Marder 1, 1A1, or 1A2 – no one make this model yet

BTR-80
BTR-82
2S23 Nona – BTR-80 w/120mm Mortar turret
2S3 – no one makes this model yet
Swimming BMP-1 and BRDM-2 to go with your swimming BTR-60s
BM-21

Ukrainian Conflict Ultramodern tank variants of the T-64 and T-72.

M60A1 with searchlight

It really looks good, as w/ most things "Shapeways" my main concern is 'what' material its produced from, that determines the final look.

A lot of WSF (i believe is the designation), 'White, Strong & Flexible'? But many have "grainy" feel to them.
This looks as if it could have been produced from a stronger material.

I dont play TY, BUT if they were available and cost effective, 1/144 scale would be great for that game.

The picture is from a home printer hance the bits of string. The thing about grain seems odd to me I have lots of SWF models and it does not show up. Lots of 1/144 avaiable and its growing fast. Plus if there are a few of you you coulod join up and commision a model.

The picture is from a home printer hance the bits of string. The thing about grain seems odd to me, I have lots of SWF models and it does not show up. Lots of 1/144 avaiable and its growing fast. Plus if there are a few of you you coulod join up and commision a model.

144 – 12mm would be great if I wanted a "lot" of armor on the table.
I just got tired of the 'bent' & even barrels wraped around turrets, turned me off of micro armor.
But IF 144 really became popular, naturally the cost per vehicle would drop.

Right now, this lists at $10 USD+ ea. where one 15mm – 1/100 PSC tank Platoon depending on who you get them from is $25 USD – $30 USD for 5 tanks. .

The price of 3D printing is unlikely to change much, I'm afraid, as popularity has nothing to do with their pricing structure. (I keep my margin profit my the models low; the bulk of the cost is Shapeway's costs.)

At the moment, Shapeways is competative with metal casting at 144th (and starship) scales. I don't think it's going to get much cheaper. The period where you could buy 144th armour for next-to-nothing from China has come and gone – ironically BECAUSE it got popular, they slapped the prices up.

I think it would have to get very popular indeed before any companies that did injection moulded stuff (which would enable significantly cheaper production after the initial overhead) would take it up.

The other thing, of course, is whether the vehciles you want get made. I started out by doing principally models that were not currently being manufactured. The more obscure the vehicle (or the less of them people are likely to buy, like artillery or engineering vehicles) the less likely anyone taking it up on a level such that they can drastically cut the production costs is going to want to produce them (since the overhead is very high in that circumstance).

(So if someone did manage to undercut all the current 144 producers, I'd just focus more on that sort of thing, as 3D printing is ideally suited for low-production-run models anyway.)

3D printing also wins out on sheer volume of release, of course! I try to put out at least 2-3 models or variants each month (and sci-fi stuff on top of that), which I think is a pretty quick rate.