People wonder why we went the 3D printing route rather than traditional casting. let me shed some light on that.
At Rosa we are a very forward looking company. We see 3D printing as a technology that is now ready to be used to make figures on a production scale. We have watched this technology mature over the last decade to a point where it now has both tremendous current capability and a future that is going to dwarf what it can do now. Traditional casting in either metal or resin is a proven technology that has thousands of years of history. Its limitations are well known and it appears that although some incremental improvements are still possible those limitations will basically remain. We have faith that 3D printing will be able to move past both the limitations of traditional casting as well as the ones unique to its own operations and offer a series of products that gamers have only dreamed of before, and at completive prices.
The limitations on traditional casting include a variety of issues: The time consuming process of producing a master, and placing that master into a production mold. There is no guarantee that the figure will cast correctly until the molds are made. At times those masters must be remade or the production molds redone. Even when the mold is complete and proven it will wear out over time. If several scales are to be made masters and production molds for each scale must be made. Casting has physical limitations in terms of undercuts and other shapes which cannot be cast in two piece production molds. Casting seems like an easy operation, but is messy and both energy and labor intensive. Any casting space will be very, very dirty.
3D printing can move beyond these limitations with the currently available machines, and in the future will offer greater and greater improvements.
There are very few shapes that 3D printing cannot produce. Heavy undercuts are well within the capabilities of the machines.
Producing the same miniatures in various scales is a key benefit of 3D printing. The ability of Arun Rodrigues' Objects May Appear Shapeways store to produce a huge number of ships and other vehicles in scales from 15mm to 1/4800 scale has proven this.
Instead of weeks to bring a miniature out it will take us days. It will also cost us far less to bring out a new figure. The cost will be the design of the 3D file, not the cost of master sculpt AND the production molds. We can be far more experimental than a traditional company.
3D printing is far more agile than traditional casting. We can build a 3D model, print it, make changes, reprint and so on until the object meets the desired ends. This is a quick and clean process.
We are pioneers, we want to force technology forward to bring the modeling and gaming communities things they have never seen before. We will be pushing the envelope here, we understand that and are excited to be part of proving that this will work on a production scale. We know there are pitfalls that we can't foresee and we can't wait to find them and find solutions that make this technology better.
We ask for your help. The bugs and steampunk tanks are just the beginning. We are looking at this as a proof of concept. If we can make it work with these figures there will be very little we can't develop and print. With this project we hope to launch Rosa Miniatures and Games as a company that can be extremely agile. We are gamers and model builders that hope to enhance the hobby we love. You can be part of all of this. Please spread the word. Let anyone you think might be interested in our products, or our goals, know we are out here. The internet is a big place and its easy to get lost. Bring like minded folks to us, if you can.
Thank you very much for your interest!
