Colored Prints, The Good, Bad and Ugly
Jul 22, 2022 1:34:58 GMT
nrnstraswa, ivanhoe22, and 2 more like this
Post by squint181 on Jul 22, 2022 1:34:58 GMT
After the success of the last batch of colored prints I got from Shapeways, I wanted to do a second test and bump of the color a bit. What I finally got proves that the technology for colored naval units is there. It just might not be 100% customer friendly yet. I give you the USS Princeton, Francesco Caracciolo and Saint Louis.
The Good.
As you can see, the colors are very vivid and crisp. As impertinently, they look like they should. The colors were very nearly the exact ones that I put on the models. And they didn't bleed into one another or wash out the finer colors. The dash marks on the deck were only .6mm thick on the model, and yet they showed up. And I can't say how great the St. Louis's turrets look.
The print detail is great, far better that than WSF. It may be a bit less than the Frosted Details, but it is so much more durable. You feel really comfortable handling them, not constantly worried about breaking pieces off.
The Bad.
The biggest obstacle will be the price. The minimum, or set up fee, that Shapeways charges in $25 per item. The St. Louis will cost about that. They then charge by volume after that, the Princeton coming in at over $40. Which on the surface seems really high compared to WSF and paint it yourself. But I had a guy once ask me to scale up my USS Midway to 1/700 and paid over $100 for it. So what do I know.
The other Bads
You can see that the sides of the Princeton are rough. It isn't horrible, but you will be able to see the layers on vertical surfaces.
They are a bit glossy. But there is a Matte version that I will order next time.
They did banana up a bit, but I have seen WSF do it just as badly. I have not tired the hot water trick to straighten them out yet. In the future I may fill in the bottom to strengthen it up some. But that means more volume, so more cost.
It took several weeks to print, no quick turn around on them.
Ohh, I am not an naval historian and I did my best guess on colors based on pictures and paint sets. So they might not be historically accurate.
The Ugly,
This was not the first time I ordered these. You can see the results of the first set were not good. Needless to say I was less than happy when I received them. Thankfully Shapeways admitted that the machine wasn't set up right and agreed to reprint them for me.
But I have to wonder, was it a rare mistake and normally everting prints fine? Or does it happen with more frequency? In Shapeways defense, they do all the printing for Hero Forge Miniatures. I know plenty of people who have gotten DnD characters printed with no issues. I hope it is a one time thing, but for the cost it better be.
Verdict.
I think look great, and if there are one or two ships that you just have to have, it is a great option. Not sure if anyone wants to replace their entire fleets though. Coloring them isn't too bad. The camo on the Princeton did take a few hours, but the others took less than half that long.
I will be doing a third test print here shortly and would like some suggestions on what I should color.
The Good.
As you can see, the colors are very vivid and crisp. As impertinently, they look like they should. The colors were very nearly the exact ones that I put on the models. And they didn't bleed into one another or wash out the finer colors. The dash marks on the deck were only .6mm thick on the model, and yet they showed up. And I can't say how great the St. Louis's turrets look.
The print detail is great, far better that than WSF. It may be a bit less than the Frosted Details, but it is so much more durable. You feel really comfortable handling them, not constantly worried about breaking pieces off.
The Bad.
The biggest obstacle will be the price. The minimum, or set up fee, that Shapeways charges in $25 per item. The St. Louis will cost about that. They then charge by volume after that, the Princeton coming in at over $40. Which on the surface seems really high compared to WSF and paint it yourself. But I had a guy once ask me to scale up my USS Midway to 1/700 and paid over $100 for it. So what do I know.
The other Bads
You can see that the sides of the Princeton are rough. It isn't horrible, but you will be able to see the layers on vertical surfaces.
They are a bit glossy. But there is a Matte version that I will order next time.
They did banana up a bit, but I have seen WSF do it just as badly. I have not tired the hot water trick to straighten them out yet. In the future I may fill in the bottom to strengthen it up some. But that means more volume, so more cost.
It took several weeks to print, no quick turn around on them.
Ohh, I am not an naval historian and I did my best guess on colors based on pictures and paint sets. So they might not be historically accurate.
The Ugly,
This was not the first time I ordered these. You can see the results of the first set were not good. Needless to say I was less than happy when I received them. Thankfully Shapeways admitted that the machine wasn't set up right and agreed to reprint them for me.
But I have to wonder, was it a rare mistake and normally everting prints fine? Or does it happen with more frequency? In Shapeways defense, they do all the printing for Hero Forge Miniatures. I know plenty of people who have gotten DnD characters printed with no issues. I hope it is a one time thing, but for the cost it better be.
Verdict.
I think look great, and if there are one or two ships that you just have to have, it is a great option. Not sure if anyone wants to replace their entire fleets though. Coloring them isn't too bad. The camo on the Princeton did take a few hours, but the others took less than half that long.
I will be doing a third test print here shortly and would like some suggestions on what I should color.
