Well my latest batch of prints arrived and they are a mixed bunch.
First off we have the Dragons Tooth. I split this into two parts, the body which was printed in WSF givings the rough concrete like texture and a plate printed in White Detail which dropped into a recess into the top of the toof.
Next up the pallets, overall happy how they turned out.
Top panels look good, treadplate nicely shows up and the skull hole works nicely.
In general the bases turned out well except for the ID plates on the side which were completely messed up.
The ID plates...
So I cut and sanded the ends down and attacked the areas with GS.
Just (literally) given them another coat of grey:
Next up we have the stores themselves. These look to be a write off to be honest. The surface texture on all of them is very rough and on the one barrel I have a 'sunken' area. Same thing happend with the first base pieces which Shapeways replaced. An email has been sent so hopefully a replacement set will turn out better.
You can't see it in the pic below but the crates were so rough they had actually started to split in places.
Gun Turret 6
So, where does this leave me regarding 3D printing and the Gun Turret? Well frankly it means I am not going to get it printed. The quality just isn't good enough unless I spend a small fortune getting it printed at a much better resolution.
This is a shame as the 3D model was shaping up nicely:
It still isn't finished but for now it is being put on hold.
Thats a shame the quality of printing is so terrible. With the addition of fortifications the turrets could have come in handy too.
ReplyDeleteYeah the turrets were looking promising, would still like to do them but having them printed is def on hold for now, while I just don't have the time to scratchbuild a new one either.
Deletesuch a shame that the quality isn't upto scratch, whenever i've bought printed items i've always felt that i've had way too much clean-up and resculpting to do.
ReplyDeletethe pallets are looking fantastic though- really crisp and well designed.
Yeah it is a bit annoying that the pallets turned out so well while the stores turned out so abysmal. They are all the same material but the difference in quality is huge.
DeleteBarrels and crates were WSF?
ReplyDeleteYou might have been better paying a little extra for the next grade up, but it's always seemed to be a shortcoming of prototype machines to have issues with rounded surfaces.
Maybe you'd just be better off hitting a Tamiya or Academy fuel can set and going from there.
Check how much the turret emplacements would cost to run as either Detail or FUD, I may be willing to help underwrite the cost mate.
Only the Dragons Tooth is WSF, I wouldn't use that on anything except concrete styled pieces. Everything else above is in Detail.
DeleteI already have scale model drums and crates, the point of doing this was to have my own design which I could copy/sell etc freely.
I already know the cost of doing the turret in White Detail, however cost isn't the issue, the quality is not good enough. Likewise with FUD as I have had pieces printed in that previously as well. Neither is worth using.
You make me severely regretting putting in an order a couple days ago.
DeleteBoo...
ReplyDeleteOkay, what about a multi-component job. This would vastly reduce the material cost because it would be constructed out of flat plates that go together to form the shape. You can probably break it down to 7 surfaces...
Wouldn't be worth doing i'm afraid. Splitting down into component parts would not save any material as the model above is hollow - the walls are only about 2mm thick.
DeleteHave you considered trying an alternative company ? Maxmini have their own set up know and the results look very promising.
ReplyDeleteI have to say the quality of your work is great mate, shame the quality of the material is letting it down.
I hope you find an alternative manufacturer to produce these, it would be a real shame not to see these get released.
That turret is friggin awesome, better than the FW one by miles.