We've been working in conjunction with our local club, Maidstone Wargames Society, on our club's game for the Salute show for quite a while now – it's a 6mm recreation of Operation Deadstick, probably better known as the assault on Pegasus and Horsa bridges on D-Day. As part of this, we've created 3D models of both bridges and had them printed out in plastic by Shapeways – and to say that we're pleased with the results is the understatement of the year. Horsa Bridge was completed very early on, but Pegasus has been a bit more of a challenge; however, the support guys at Shapeways have been very helpful at ironing out the problems, and we now have a model to hold in our hands.
You can see more about the game's development here.
The blog post on the bridge is here.
This also has a link to our Shapeways shop where you can buy your own copies of the bridges, plus lots of other useful bits we've made for the game (Benouville Church, other generic Normandy buildings, even a wooden flaktower) and various other 6mm items (we have a bit of a water tower fetish, as you will see). There are another half-a-dozen houses due to go on sale later this week, and yet another half-a-dozen in another week or so when I get the samples back. And if that wasn't enough, a 6mm scale German Verpostenboot (literally 'Forward Post Boat', a type of armed trawler) is also due, to represent one of the German ships that sailed down the Caen Canal on D-Day and ended up grounded after being attacked by the British glider troops with a PIAT!
OK, that's enough waffle – if you're coming to Salute, please have a look at the game (it's GD21 on the floorplan) or swing by the Brigade Models stand to say hello.