3-D Printed Models - Boon or Damnation ?

Hello!

TB - I just don't get why the 3D printed models should be considered damnation. We get one more useful, sometimes extremely useful tool to use. That's always a good thing, IMO.

Stay healthy and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi TB,

I always seem to be splitting hairs.  So my vote is
"3D models?"-No way! 
"3D parts?"-Oh my heavens Yes!

The 3D models I've seen, all ships in 1/700, are very vey expensive, and they show ridges (called striations) that indicate the direction of the printing process, and just don't want to be cleaned up.

3D parts, as Model Monkey shows above, are generally smaller parts, and can be oriented to minimize the striations.  Depending on whether the parts are printed at Shapeways or not, 3D parts can be surprisingly expensive, or not, if printed by the designers themselves.  I have found that 3D printed accessory parts for 1/700 ships are frequently better than resin accessories, although there are exceptions both ways.

--My proverbial two cents worth.
Rick

Newer 3D printing tech greatly reduces visible striations. All 3D printers are not created equal.  There are different kinds of 3D printing technology that work differently and different kinds of materials. Some tech creates very visible striations, others do not.

Some printers make models by extruding nylon through a nozzle.  This kind of tech is notoriously striation heavy, especially on curved or inclined surfaces (think "pixelated") because layers are thick.  Other printers make models by aiming a laser into a tank of resin.  That technology, called stereolithography ("SLA"), does a much better job at eliminating visible striations.  Other printers can print in castable wax (a tech popular with jewelry manufacturers), porcelain, sandstone and real metal.

Here are some models of various sizes printed in gray resin acrylate plastic using an SLA printer: a 1/96 scale USS Arizona turret, a couple of 1/24 scale World War Two/Korean War-era US 500 lb. bombs, a 1/35 scale Maybach HL 230 P30 motor for Tiger I, Tiger II and Panther tanks, and a 1/700 scale island for USS Hornet CV-8 as the ship at appeared at the Battle of Midway. 

The gray resin shown here is chemically similar to Plexiglas.

Notice that there are no visible striations in any of the models, even on inclined and curved surfaces. They are there, but are so fine they are difficult to see and disappear under a coat of paint.  This is how the models look right out of the SLA printer.  No surface smoothing efforts are required of the modeler.  Cut away the supports and the model is ready for paint.  

The models below, and those shown in the photos in the post above, were all printed with a Formlabs Form 2 SLA printer in standard gray resin. 

Both the printer and the gray resin are expensive.  As of this writing, the printer with the necessary, associated accessories (mechanical bath, UV light booth for post-curing, tools, etc.) cost nearly $5000 USD.  A 1-liter cartridge of gray resin with tax and shipping costs about $174.

Model pricing usually takes into account the cost of the 3D printer(s) as well as time required to print the model (time = money) and the cost to research and design the model, not just the cost of the resin.  Printing time may be lengthy.  For example, the 1/96 scale USS Arizona BB-39 turret below takes about 16 hours to print.  Two turrets can be printed simultaneously in one printer.  Comparatively, a set of much smaller  1/350 scale Arizona turrets takes only about 4 hours to print.

Because 3D printing is normally a slow process, vendors typically own more than one printer in order to keep up with orders.  Since the real USS Arizona had four turrets, if a vendor only had one printer, it would take a whopping 32 hours to print the set.  As technology continues to mature, printing speeds are getting faster.

You do some outstanding work Steve and I've ordered from you on several occasions. You've never disapointed 

The products are impressive, pure and simple. The amount of products out there are simply amazing. I just do hope that the prices come down a bit as these manufacturers make their initial money outlay back thru sales of their products. 

IMHO 3–D printing to modeling is like seat belts and back up cameras in cars.  They were new at one time, and derided by some, but now they are ubiquitous.

The printing process allows details to be made that would prove impossible to make by any other method (all you old school scratchbuilders settle down now).  Also, it has provided an opportunity for the average (CAD conversant) person to design their own parts.  Things like wheels are now possible to make, something that most of us could not do with traditional methods.

So it’s a good thing, and it’s here to stay.  As Pawel mentioned, hi-res printed parts are better off left to the guys with the heavy duty machines, and maintaining a desktop version may prove to be a headache.  The resolution of the prints are getting better by leaps and bounds, and the cost of the printers is going down, so hopefully lower machine costs and more competition will lead to acceptable consumer cost for print jobs.

I suppose the next level will be hi-res color printed parts.  Imagine a one piece Eduard printed cockpit in full color with all the switches and dials with legible print?  I think it would be awesome, assuming they get their colors sorted.  I mean, how convenient is a purple Fw-190 cockpit if it needs to be RLM-66?

And the ultimate would be printed canopies with fully realized “omega” cross sections AND color printed det cords.  Sounds like fantasy now, but just wait a few years.

Real G

And the ultimate would be printed canopies with fully realized “omega” cross sections AND color printed det cords.  Sounds like fantasy now, but just wait a few years.

 

Good points G. And about that canopy, if Bandai can do such things now with injection molded multicolored plastic single sprues on their Gundam kits, I can easily see 3-D having such capabilities in the future.