The Ship Model Forum

I recently purchased some 1/700 scale Satcom Radomes.

I've purchased several MV-22 prints from Shapeways and theve come out great as well as some UAV's. I revently placed an order for some radomes in 1/700 scale and pretty excited for them to show up, By the way all of these prints are 1/700 scale.

I�ve used ShapeWays for several years now and even started designing with them. Their print quality is good - especially the Ultra FUD. They have very inconsistent quality control, however. I�ve had 1/350 biplanes in my shop that printed fine for my personal order, fine for 2 customers, and then get rejected on the fourth try. It�s exceedingly frustrating. I had found the �print it anyway� feature (available to designers only) gets around the QC issue, and gets the hard-to-print stuff printed. I used them for some 1/350 sailors for my Saratoga and was very impressed with how they turned out!

I have used several SHAPEWAYS products , and they so far have been excellent - I also was very impressed with the packing and above all , the professionalism
I have used a CAD designer ( that specialises in Naval Subjects ) to create bespoke Royal Navy Binoculars at 1/350 scale -
the difference is very impressive ...
I HIGHLY recommend this guy called Micro Master , he has done some excellent work and the parts have been lovely ...
I admit I go for the best quality available ( Ultra Frosted Detail )

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/micro-master



and he has also created wonderful items for the HMAS Vendetta 1/350 Kit by Showcase Models of Australia -
namely correct 9 Foot Rangefinder and Director Control , and a Refit ( extended front ) Ships Bridge and the twin gun pom-pom platform -
I recommend a Modeller to examine the stuff on sale - the range is growing for your aftermarket items
( I forgot to add , I also have bought the SHAPEWAYS Ships Boats for the Tribal Class )
I also think this is an important tool for any modeller that wishes to improve a model or make it different and not spend a huge time
scratch-building ( note Model by Steve Bowe )

I ordered some of MicroMaster's excellent Royal Navy sculpts in 1/350 to improve my HMS Zulu.

Overall the prints came out nicely. The sculpts themselves are great and very detailed and a huge improvement over the parts in the original Trumpeter kit.

Since the translucent plastic photographs poorly, I've given the parts a light dusting of white primer, to bring out the details better. No further cleanup was done to make the review as accurate as possible.


This was my first attempt to print anything in Frosted Extreme Detail (having previously used Frosted Ultra Detail for some wargaming related miniatures), so I was very interested to see if there was a noticable improvement over FUD-prints.

All details on the models have printed well - and some of these are very fine indeed. The gun loading mechanism is extremely impressive! I did notice some roughness to the prints on some curved parts, that I haven't experienced with FUD. This probably has something to do with the orientation of the model in the printer and a bunch of other technical issues, and some roughness is always to be expected on curved surfaces due to the way a 3d printer works.

The most noticable areas are the front of the turrets and the boats' hulls, but these are easily fixed by scraping with a sharp hoppy knife.

I haven't quite decided if I want to go with the printed barrels (which are more correct) or turned brass (which is smoother).

As always make sure to clean your models properly. At first I thought the side windows on the motorboat hadn't printed properly and it was only after scraping with a needle that I discovered that they were still covered in waxy residue from the printing process that Shapeways hadn't caught in their cleanup process.

One minor criticism though, is that the very fine rivets on the armor plating - while probably correctly scaled - could benefit from being exaggerated slightly, as they are barely noticable among the general roughness and will almost certainly dissapear completely after a coat of paint. Shapeways simply don't offer a sufficiently high resolution printing technology to solve this issue. Compared to the NorthStar models 4" gun visible on the finished model I wouldn't mind a bit more exaggeration of those kind of details.

I wouldn't say that there's a big difference between Frosted Ultra Detail and Frosted Extreme Detail. You can print finer detail, but ythe slight roughness on curved surfaces persists. Still, the price difference is minor, so there's not really much reason to go with the cheaper option and overall I am very pleased with the results!

looks nice.

one day, I will backdate an Enterprise to Nam era.

still nothing concerning the possibility of separately sold Gallery (in fact typically trumpeter design) F-8/A-4/seasprites/etc...?

mister me wrote:

did you got it as "white strong", "white acryl" or "frosted ultra" ?

That one is white strong ,I bought white acryl and is this one I really like it ,but IMHO frosted is the best

gtbred wrote: The island came out great. I like the solid windows. Easier to paint. Great job Chris!

did you got it as "white strong", "white acryl" or "frosted ultra" ?

Here are two 1/72 Whale Boats. The white is plastic or "budget" to other is frosted or "ultra detail." There is another level called "extreme detail." Every boat came broken in some way. The frosted had the rudder and a prop broken off, the harder plastic had the rudder arm broken and was missing the mounting loops. The white plastic was hard to sand rubbing the abrasive off Tamiya 400 sand paper. The frosted will mildly sand blasted with an air eraser.


Frosted front and more durable much cheaper plastic behind.


Close up of prop on plastic (budget).


Close up of prop on the frosted "ultra".

In some cases the "extreme detail" is just a little more than the ultra and offers an even better surface though I don't have an example of an "extreme" as the whale boat was only offered up to "ultra" (which is fine).

The island came out great. I like the solid windows. Easier to paint. Great job Chris!

I'm in contact with Model_Monkey regarding some of the items he now offers for sale in his Shapeways store and have to say that I can't find any fault with his products. He is currently working on a couple items that will soon be in his store which we feel certain will be a great addition to the ship model community.

Shipping is to my home and as such, comes directly to my house since I have a written agreement with the local USPS to deliver all pkgs to my house w/o exception or a req'd signature. Others may want to look into this if there is a delivery delay or problem.

I have not had an issue with finishing the parts as I learned the hard way to NOT try enamels and use acrylics instead. Very little cleanup, very little sanding, if any - and I haven't as yet needed to prime anything (maybe because of the size of these small parts). I can see where larger items (stacks, bridge assemblies, turrets, etc) will need primer and then paint.

I think it's a great time for our modeling community to have 3D designers on board with the ability to make things we individually can't and thus enable us to build some models that may never have seen the light of day.

Hank

I can't wait to see what is produced as this technology matures. Due to a 30+ year hiatus from ship modeling I missed the advent of PE and resin super detailing, but being present at the dawn of this new 3-D printing technology must be much the same.

Bob M.

Has anyone tried using Mr. Surfacer primer, or using enamels over an acrylic primer?

(My choice in paints for any given project has less to do with paint type and more to do with what colors are available in each line - though when given a choice I prefer enamels. If a good primer coat can form a barrier that then allows all paint types over it, all would be well.)

- Sean F.

I've read much earlier comments (on another site) about Shapeways products being difficult to clean up, and difficult to paint. But I've recently bought several Model Monkey designed products from Shapeways and found this NOT to be the case. Some pieces do, however, have some printing texture to sand off (if possible), and the printing material is somewhat brittle to work with tools. They will hold acrylic paints very well.

Just order the 1/350 beehive island. Post photos when it gets here.

I have purchased 2 products from Shapeways and would have this to say regarding both:

Items were 1/200 scale parts for my NEW JERSEY build (Trumpeter 1945 MISSOURI kit) - Mk. 56 Fire Control Director and Mk. 37 Fire Control Director. Both were ordered Ultra Frosted Finish. These parts were both designed by Model Monkey and sold thru Shapeways.

The ordering from Shapeways was simple enough and I used PayPal for payment. The delivery is based on who is assigned to print/ship the parts so can't really be determined at the time of purchase. In both cases this was not an issue for me. I will agree with an earlier reviewer in that the box that the parts are shipped in is unnecessarily large (for what reason I can't explain) and could have been put in a bubble envelope with the parts in a small cardboard box inside the envelope, thus saving on shipping costs.

The parts were better than expected in detail (ultra frosted is the highest printing level for high detail) and only took a minimum amount of dry brush cleaning prior to painting. The plastic used in 3D printing does NOT accept enamel paint - this was stated in an earlier post elsewhere on this forum by Model Monkey so I had no illusions as to what paints to use. Since I purchased a few spares of the Mk. 56 item, I did try enamels and they do NOT work very well at all. So, acrylics work fine and that's how I finished those F.C. Directors. Since I was partially responsible for these (Mk. 56) being designed by MM in the first place, I provided the drawings and details for these parts and I was completely pleased with the results. MM did an extremely nice job from the design standpoint, even correcting a small problem with the radar dish when the printer informed him it was too thin to print. He redid the design thus enabling the printing to be accomplished on the entire unit. The Mk. 37 F.C. Directors I have not yet worked on other than a slight modification to one of the units for my particular needs. One facet of working with these products is the opaque tone of the plastic - it is a bit difficult to see all the details until you have painted it (or primed it). This is not a criticism, but an observation to enable others to understand the parts that they will be working with.

My reviews of these products is extremely positive - I think this IS the future for many ship model parts that are not part of kits, but may be designed by someone with the right information, 3D CAD experience, and ability to see the needs of modelers in general. Here at SMF we are lucky to have as a member, a gentleman who is a modeler and now has moved into 3D parts design to produce parts many of us can't find elsewhere and would be hard pressed to produce these ourselves.

At this point of 3D design/printing I would say we are in the 1st generation of this small, but growing industry. Who knows what this will ultimately develop into - perhaps entire kits of 3D produced parts in addition to the included PE sheets to augment a standard model kit.

I have a question regarding the quality of this products,I'm looking in buying the Anzac Class Frigate in 1/350
http://www.shapeways.com/product/N5PP8F ... 41&li=cart
,I know,those kits are to scratch build and complement with many fittings(Veteran parts,Photoetch,etc,etc),but has anyone got a kit from them? so can comment in accuracy, quality and building tips/suggestions
Thanks in advance

I've picked up a half dozen parts so far from Shapeways companies ( Eel River models, and Sputnixx). All in 1/96 . The parts I've gotten so far have been fantastic. Far exceeding other parts I have in hand . One piece SPS-10 and SPS-40 from Eel River have been incredible compared to multi-part pieces of the past.

Here are some 1:700 scale US submarine GUPPY conversion sales available at Shapeways:



Left to right: USS Torsk, Tench Class, GUPPY conversion sail; USS Cubera, Balao Class, GUPPY conversion sail (Electric Board sail); USS Cutlass, Tench Class, GUPPY conversion sail (Portsmouth sail).

These have not been cleaned of printing residue.





$10 per sail.

Scopes and masts are smaller dimensionally than I expected from graphics available at Shapeways. Have not yet checked scale accuracy for height, length, or width.

Vlad wrote:I've order a few things here and there, including the aforementioned Lexington class BC funnels as well as parts for another what-if and a whole ship (in 1/2400).

I would agree that the printing quality is excellent, the detail is very good and the delivery is speedy.

I would not agree that the delivery is convenient. They pack small non-fragile parts (that could easily fit in a small padded envelope) into a standard box that is far, far too big, pushing up postage costs and forcing you be at home to accept the delivery. In addition, they only offer UPS as a courier which is a company I am on the verge of boycotting due to exceedingly poor service. I am likely to avoid buying from Shapeway's again until they start offering different postage companies. I've had packages left outside the house with no note, faked deliveries, found by neighbours etc. Note this is a complaint against UPS NOT Shapeway's, but they do use them exclusively so the point stands.

From a parts quality point of view, I have found them to be borderline un-paintable using enamels. They don't seem to accept enamel paint or it takes weeks/months to fully cure and still peels off easily.

Basically the same comment here, UPS have just dumped my parcels by the front door without even ringing the bell. I know as I saw the truck arrive. By the time I got to the door, the parcel was outside and the driver pulling away.

Items tend to rattle around the big box they use breaking parts off. One thing I/we do is get together an order for several people as you can get about 20 1/72 guns for the same freight cost of USD10 as one gun. Keeps the cost each down.

The quality is good and I have found the people helpful e.g. asking someone who does a 1/96 item if I can get it in 1/72. No problems there, I know they just print it 1.33 times bigger but they don't have to.

I spray with a car undercoat/primer which seems to let enamels dry better but I still leave them for a few days before putting a topcoat on.