"1/4800 scale ships" Topic

Hello,

I want to collect and play in this scale for two games. Fleet action and a Mega Axis&Allies (the Board Game, not the collectible toys).

My Questions are:

1.The Range is not so good. Shapeways Shops has not the Range like Figurehead.

2. The Durability of Shapeways. For a Axis&Allies play they must strongh enough. Lead is tougher.

I know that DD are better in this scale and Figurehead has based the little ships.

The best argument I've seen in favor of 1/4800 ships is Mike Hammet's photo collection of his WWII fleets. Unfortunately, the permissions on his photobucket account seem to have changed and we can't see the pictures in that thread anymore, but you can still see the zoomed-out thumbnails here and here, at least temporarily. His work hits miniatures gamers directly in the toy-lust center of the brain. Breathtaking.

The original C-in-C 1/4800 miniatures are made of lead, but I would not consider the casting material of either scale to be a gating issue.

I think the fragility of the Shapeways miniatures is a non-issue, because miniatures this small really need to be based anyway. The small ships (esp. DDs and smaller) are too small to handle with human fingers, and even a light breeze from something as innocuous as turning pages in a rulebook can scatter the lightweight plastic ones if they aren't glued to a counterweight. A far bigger concern of 3D-printed plastic and cast resin is warping; many of my Panzerschiffe resin DDs and literally all of my WTJ 1/2400 printed plastic ships have a tendency to warp (even the 4" WTJ plastic battlecruisers). I think only basing on stiff material will prevent this.

Once the miniatures are based, the only danger is crushing. I used pre-cut steel under my 1/6000 scale fleets (mostly so they would be magnetically receptive for storage purposes), but even softer materials like stryrene, wood, resin, etc. are stronger than the Shapeways plastic and would protect the miniatures from bending, breaking and knocking together.

The real debate between 1/4800 and 1/6000 comes down to:

• Availability. Nearly everything larger than a rowboat launched since 1890 is available in 1/6000. The 1/4800 selection is immense and growing, but still spotty.
  
• Size. Consider storage, movement and shooting distances on your available tables, and whether either scale is easier for you personally to paint or otherwise decorate.
  
• Cost. Difficult to figure out, but I'm sure there is a "cheapest way".
  

- Ix

Hi Mictator,

If you do go the Shapeways route, I recommend contacting the designers to see if they will combine the models you want into a single custom shop item for you. Every item you print means paying about $5 USD to Shapeways; obviously if you combine models to make one big item instead of buying several small items, you will save a lot of $$.

Okay. Basing is a must have. 1/6000 have all ships plus Z-Plan. 1/4800 Range is growing, but far away from all ships.

Is 1/4800 are Coming more Designs?

You can't touch the Shapeways Ships? Inly with Bases?

For me is only a play for a Risk (Axis&Allies) game with that miniatures.

Fleet Rules are the second choice, but give it good Rules? I have only Battlestations!

If you're looking at larger scale actions Battlestations! Battlestations! are a very good set of rules. I've used them for Mediterranean battles and the handle a couple of dozen ships a side pretty well