"Building two new 3D-printable pirate ships (Kickstarter)" Topic

Printable Scenery have just launched a new Kickstarter called 'The Lost Islands', for a range of 3D-printable fantasy pirate scenery and ships.

I was lucky enough to be asked to build a couple of their new ship models to be photographed for their publicity material.

Here is my story on my blog about making the two ships: link

Here's a couple of photos – plenty more on my blog as above:

And, what's more, they actually float!

Those look pretty cool and you did a great job on them…. is there anywhere I can get info on the build area for these? they look like they need a pretty big printer.

The hulls come in sections that you then glue together. So no bigger than a couple of big buildings. But I'll see if I can find their technical data for you.

UPDATE: A comment on the project's Kickstarter forum says: 'We cut all the models into smaller parts for printing. You also have the option to print as bigger parts. The maximum size of the cut sections is 150mm x 150mm x 150mm. However, most of the models are cut in sections less than 120mm x 120mm."

What I like (though these prototypes didn't have them yet) is that the actual products will have interiors:

Those look amazing, the buildings and lost tribes terrain would be useful for many fantasy scenarios too like Ghost Archipelago. Since I have no experience in 3D printing other than knowing that it would cost around $350 USD for one, is it possible to hire someone to do the printing for you, and how much would that cost? Also once you get the files, can you print as many as you need, for example if you wanted a very long wall of the lost tribes terrain, could you print off multiples of those?

All of those ship and terrain pieces look great. Some of the best ship models I have ever seen.

TBeyer depends where you are, many public libraries have printers now, and there are plenty of companies that will print, but that can be expensive.

Those look really great.

TBeyer … yes, you can print as many as you want.

There is usually a stipulation that it be for personal use. Some take that to mean "just yourself". Others take that to mean if you were playing a pirate game with buddies, one guy could print off all the ships for everyone.

But unless you buy a commercial license (most of the terrain I have backed don't have that as an option), then you are not supposed to print these "for sale".

However, if YOU bought the files yourself, you should be able to send that file to the person with the printer, and have them print it for you, and you reimburse them for their time and filament.

I suspect at this point in the development of 3D printers, you might have a tough time finding someone who will mess around with it for you, even if you supplied the files. People have issues with parts lifting from the print bed (so you reprint), or the spool runs out (so you reprint), or things are not level (so you reprint). Takes time, and filament. When it is something for yourself, it is easier to mess with that when you are accepting a fee from somebody else, and a clock is ticking.

I have backed many terrain projects, and some of these have yet to be printed. But I bought the files now, so that later I will have them. As printers get better and more reliable, something that was very fussy before might be easier to deal with 5 years from now. And I like to encourage people to offer up terrain files. So I back.

Printable Scenery do have a list of licensed printers who'll print out their stuff for you:
link