I have thought for a long time that the only way to manufacture these miniatures for the X-Wing game is with a 3D printer, and I wonder if that is not why there are delays in shipments from release dates. I have been looking at the Tantive with a magnifying glass and there is no way these things are injection molded. I played several games with it over the weekend, and put pictures at the following link. With all the Star Wars news lately I wanted to capture some of that enthusiasm.

http://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/a-force-for-change-the-deep-power-of-mythology-to-unleash-human-imagination-and-potential/

The Tantive is just so well done, it is simply a marvel to look at just as a model. This kind of detail just would not have been possible at any time before now. I have worked with injection molded plastics and there just isn't any way to get flow separation like what the Rebel Transport has on the bottom any other way than with a 3D printer. Does anybody know if this is the case? Not that it makes any difference to me, but it has me curious, and amazed.

I haven't gotten my CR-90 yet, but I'm actually disappointed with the level of detail on the transport. I understand why the details is the way it is, but it still disappoints me that they didn't split the top shell into two halves and join them together with a covered seam to create better detail on the lower sections of the top hull.

I'll have to have a look. The bottom had my attention I didn't notice that on the transport.

I'll have to have a look. The bottom had my attention I didn't notice that on the transport.

Because of the curve of the hull, the detail fades out as you get lower on the sides. To do it nicely they needed to split the top shell into two halves to allow for better cuts. It's not huge, but it means I'll have to detail it up with the paintbrush and just doing a wash won't cut it.

What exactly are you seeing that makes you believe this isn't injection molded and assembled? It's assembled and painted just like a ton of Warhammer models I own.

You think the Corvette has detail? Try these:

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Treeman

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Daemons-of-Chaos-Burning-Chariot-of-Tzeentch

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Vampire-Counts-Mortis-Engine

What exactly are you seeing that makes you believe this isn't injection molded and assembled? It's assembled and painted just like a ton of Warhammer models I own.

You think the Corvette has detail? Try these:

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Treeman

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Daemons-of-Chaos-Burning-Chariot-of-Tzeentch

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Vampire-Counts-Mortis-Engine

Very. Cool.

The area around the engines for one, and the frame of the body around the dish. The angles are thin and difficult for a mold to hold a radius and still get all the scribe lines correct.

Yeah, it's not really any better detail-wise than my 40k models. And it's certainly not 3d printed. That's just not practical for high-volume production, you need the speed and low per-unit cost of injection molding to do something like this. And it doesn't have any of the grainy texture that 3d printers inevitably leave behind, to come even close to the level of smoothness the model has you'd have to do it on a high-end printer and you'd probably be paying thousands of dollars for it.

Very. Cool.

The area around the engines for one, and the frame of the body around the dish. The angles are thin and difficult for a mold to hold a radius and still get all the scribe lines correct.

Using multipart molds also allows a lot more flexibility. Three or more part molds are becoming more common.

You can spin the cannons and if you turn the sensor dish just right it will unlock to look inside. Not 3-d printed...

It's not 3D printed. It's injected resin plastic. You can see mold separation lines on all the parts, as well as sink marks and pour stubs. As has been stated, 3D printing is way too slow and would produce lines on the parts from the layers built up to create them. It's impossible for the Tantive IV to have been 3D printed past the prototyping stage.

If the Tantive was 3D printed, it would be a little more than the 90 bucks it retails for.