I ordered a couple of Mel's designs, out of curiosity and a desire for something a little bit different.

Ordered last week, they arrived today. A pair of Planetary Fighters in FUD. I'm quite pleased with them.

Smooth finish, the print lines are barely visible. A wash down, undercoat and base coat later, and we have this:

I'll shade them tomorrow, then it's time for the dreaded detailing...

Very nice!

Those look pretty good; certainly better than many things that I've seen pictured on Shapeways.

How did you get what looks like the fairly smooth exterior, which seems to be lacking in so many of what I've seen?

I think most of the models shown on Shapeways must have been printed in the White, Strong & Flexible material. These are Fine Ultra Detail, more expensive but you can definitely notice the difference. I was cautious, but after seeing Gosric's Gunboat and Preybirds in FUD, I thought it was worth checking out first hand.

There's none of the graininess that you can see on some of the pics. The print lines ARE visible on the unpainted model, but only barely - they seen to be more prominent on curved areas as well.

I've given them a shading wash now. I'll let them dry overnight them post some more pics tomorrow!

edit: I've been using GW paints on these - base coat of Black thinned with Nuln Oil, and I've used the old Foundation paints for the base coat. First a watered down mix of Adeptus Battlegrey, then a layer of watered down Dheneb Stone. I liked the Foundation paints as you could get a nice even coverage with a thin coat.

There's none of the graininess that you can see on some of the pics. The print lines ARE visible on the unpainted model, but only barely - they seen to be more prominent on curved areas as well.

Yes, it's the graininess that's keeping me at bay.

Because I want to engage in more home-brew mission play, I'm really interested in not-off-the-shelf stuff, but not being able to see it for real is deterring me. That, and the graininess that does seem to be on all/most of the pictures I've seen other than the ones you just posted.

If the lines are simply something that goes away after paints, then I'm quite happy. It's been a while, but I'm a fair hand at painting minis.

It does NOT go away on the cheaper variety of plastic after a coat of paint. You have to get the much more expensive Fine Ultra Detail stuff for that, which is around twice the amount that the model costs with White Strong and Flexible plastic.

It does NOT go away on the cheaper variety of plastic after a coat of paint. You have to get the much more expensive Fine Ultra Detail stuff for that, which is around twice the amount that the model costs with White Strong and Flexible plastic.

By 'it' do you mean the lines or the graininess? I take it that you mean the lines.

I really want to get the Fury-Class Intercepter from Mel, but I'm not too keen on dropping $130 for the finest detail. The paint job looks great!

It does NOT go away on the cheaper variety of plastic after a coat of paint. You have to get the much more expensive Fine Ultra Detail stuff for that, which is around twice the amount that the model costs with White Strong and Flexible plastic.

By 'it' do you mean the lines or the graininess? I take it that you mean the lines.

Both, I'd imagine. Some of the WSF models look almost sandy in consistency, and the print lines look quite prominent. I think a good example of this is probably Mel's WSF R-41 Starchaser.

Having seen the quality of FUD however, I'd have no problem ordering them in the higher quality material.

*sigh* it would be so easy to get carried away with Shapeways, I think - there's a LOT of designs on there I'd love to pick up from both Gosric and Mel's shops. I do think though I'm going to limit myself to buying things that FFG are unlikely to ever produce themselves. For example, I'd love Gosric's Gunboat and Blastboat, but I still have (vain?) hopes that FFG will bring them out. I may well pick up some of his Preybirds, however!

I remember really liking the design of the Planetary Fighters in X-Wing Alliance, so I was happy to pick them up and give them a go, and maybe use them as a civilian escort for an objective in a scenario game. Now I just need to decide what that objective will be... Sorosuub Personal Yacht 3000, anyone?

Your toes probably hurt now. That resin gets pretty hot.

So, I've Dipped My Toes Into The 3D Printing Pool.

"Sounds painful"

So, I've Dipped My Toes Into The 3D Printing Pool.

"Sounds painful"

Only for my wallet!

I picked up some of Gosric's stuff in FUD a few weeks ago, but they haven't moved from workbench yet.

What method do you use to wash the residue off the models? Is there a secret or is it just hot water and dish soap?

I have a few from each. I did go with the basic plastic and wish I hadn't. They actually look ok but some models really are more sand looking at the "worst" end.

If I order again I'm certainly going with detail at least. But the way FCC has been going I need to save all my money for thier stuff. But I'll probably bite on a T-14 sky hopper and some of those Made up ones.

I have bought a few of Gosrics models and as long as you get them in Detail or fine ultra detail they turn out pretty nice. I just washed them in soap and water. Then I painted them as usual and they turned out good.

I never suggest getting any fighter or smaller ship sized model in anything else. Occasionally a fighter will come out nicely in WSF but it is a fluke. Bigger ships, especially the flat planed Imperial ones can work fine in WSF though which helps with the cost but even they will benefit from detail material.

Those look really nice by the way. Mel did a good job as did you

Thanks for the comments everyone! A couple of updates:

This pic shows the print lines on the Fine Ultra Detail material - or more precisely, exaggerates them. That image is approximately 15 times the size of the model, and the print lines only show up due to the use of flash on my camera. They are almost completely unnoticeable with the model in hand. The part of the model shown is a rounded surface as well - flat planes look even smoother.

Update on both models after shading and panel highlighting. I used a very slightly lighter color on the front panels of the wings and around the cockpit. One thing I did notice when comparing these to me X-Wings is that the FFG models have quite a bit more detail and the colours used have a slightly greenish tint to them. So, despite the fact I went for an off-white, yellowish grey, it still looks a lot "cleaner" than the Rebel starfighters.

One on an X-Wing base, prior to clean up. The fighter looks considerably bigger than an X-Wing, but it is a 2-man heavy starfighter, so it should be a beast.

Squad markings next - this is where I probably ruin all my work so far! The source pics all have red squad markings, but I'm thinking of using blue to match my Z-95's. I'll try and take some better pictures in natural light next time.

What method do you use to wash the residue off the models? Is there a secret or is it just hot water and dish soap?

I just used warm water and washing up liquid. Soaked them for a bit, then wiped them down. Seemed to do the trick!

Latest update, with a bit of detail work.

I could (and probably will) tinker with this for a few more days, trying to straighten out, smooth and generally clean up the panel lines and squad markings, but I think it's just about there now.

I tried masking off areas to paint the squad markings, unfortunately the masking tape removed some paint! PDF-2 is therefore in the shop for a respray.

And for anyone who's interested, here's the stats and dial I'm planning to use for this little fella:

The wiki for the ship says it's fast but not particularly manueverable, tough but weak shields, one to two crew members.

It's basically going to be used as target practice.

There are so many awesome looking models on there, but yeah, WSF is TOUGH to make look good. I got a Lambda from back before they were even announced, and really, I have no idea how to make it look good, so it's just sitting there, unused, while I use my FFG one, if at all, exclusively. I also picked up a couple blastboats in WSF, but at least had the presence of mind to order my two itty bitty Eta-2 Actis star fighters in FUD. The catch, now is to SOMEHOW come up with the painting skills to make them look anywhere near as good as some of these others I've seen. Wow.

Maybe if I use a couple micron pens or something, I dunno.