"Need Expert Opinions on Shapeways and other things." Topic

Hello All,
A couple of quick questions and some background info. Recently I was able to convince my wife to play some Wargamming (FUBAR and Company Commander) which she enjoyed. Most of what we used was on the computer (using Steams virtual table top) I have tried to get her to play with me on the table, however I lack terrain and another army. And using what I do have kind of ruins the experience for her. That being said, she has expressed interest in spaceship gaming. (Got her to play some Starmada: Fleet Ops and she really liked it but I was hoping to transition into 5150 Fighter Command).

Again this GREAT, because hey, more minis and easier to have terrain for. So here I am wringing my hands thinking of all the minis I can get. But because of some personal reasons and physical space as well as the laundry list of other minitures that I am painting or having friends help me out paint, I have some limitations on these. So ultimately my questions are these.

1) For shapeways, I know that the FUD and FED are the best quality that you can get, but how does any of the others compare? I was thinking of getting some like these: link
or these
link
Are they "easy" to paint? Do they look nice on the table? Are there any painting "tricks" that you wonderful folks recommend.

2) Besides shapeways, studiobergstrom, brigademodels, and Starfightershipyards, does anyone know any good places to look for around 1-2 inch length mini's / models? Pre-painted ones would be fantastic (mainly because I am sure my wife might try and murder me if I bring home more unpainted mini's, but again I am not too picky, verbal lashing or no)

I appreciate any assistance and comments. You all are a great community and have been super helpful in the past.

For pre-paints, Star Wars or Trek are options.

Star Wars gives you the option of XWing for fighter games or Armada for capital ships. The big Imperial ships are kinda pricey, though (and are more like 6" long in some cases).

Not sure about Trek, and apparently the ships vary greatly in scale.

A word of warning about 5150FC, I've found it gives great solo games but playing head to head leads to a lot of head scratching and second guessing the author.

Robert

Studio Bergstrom certainly have some really nice fighters in the 1" range, but I guess it depends on what style / setting 'floats your boat'.

I've recently jumped on the Star Eagles Kickstarter by Ganesha Games, which offers a bunch of very nice new designs in the size bracket you're looking for:

- the rules are very nice too!

Also, there's the plastic fighters from the early edition of Silent Death, now offered by EM4 (12 ships for £2.55 GBP!) but you can't pick from the designs – you just get one of each.

And, I suspect Leland will be along shortly, but before he gets here, here's the link to the current Silent Death site, with more space fighters than you'll ever know what to do with…

silent-death.mx

- As for Shapeways, I personally only print small / detailed stuff in FUD or FXD; it's only my opinion, but I consider anything else a waste of time, unless you want something with a sandstone-like finish.

I have printed spaceships in WSF, and, while you can see they are definitely spaceships, they look like they were sand-cast. Lots of pre-paint prep, cleaning with chemicals, spraying with sandable primer, etc.

I can see the value of the lesser materials in larger scales, but spaceships and fighters tend to be teeny things, scale-wise, and after all the trouble of sculpting something, I can't bring myself to print it at low res! :D

Thank you for the quick replies, you have all be great!

Regarding the Silent Death figs, any shown with a single stand tend to be about 1-1.5" long. The two hex figures tend to be up to 2-3" long.

Shapeways' WSF material does indeed have a slight grainy texture. It really depends on the size of the figure and the level of detail that will determine whether or not it's acceptable to you. If your paint style tends more towards "base, drybrush, highlight, seal", it's probably fine.

If you're up for detailed pro-level paint and small models, FUD/FED is probably your thing, altho some are making models available in Acrylic plastic or High-Def Acrylate, which have good sharp detail but are slightly cheaper than FUD.

Most of the models I've put in my own Shapeways store are designed to print and paint well in WSF, and to sit alongside ADB's Starline 2500 series models.

There is a webstore selling the old Babylon 5 Fleet Action ships. I think the longest one is about 3 inches.

agents-of-gaming.myshopify.com