I'm new to the Shapeways customs and haven't ordered anything yet. However I am looking into a few things but want some experienced opinions. Looking to get the Prime wheeljack blasters, but I am wondering which material to order for the best look, and really what difference there is to them. Also what are a couple other things from there t&t have been great? I appreciate the feedback and apologize if this shouldn't be here as its essentially custom items.
The basic stuff (Strong White Flexible I think?) is pretty good, but it has a grainy texture, so it's not the best for display. I haven't bought anything else, but the higher prices are on it, the less grainy it is and the better it looks IMO. I think some of them are kinda brittle though, I think the Frosted one is brittle from what I've heard.
I highly recommend Fakebuskers blasters here: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/573895-tf-prime-wheeljack-blasters.html I've got two sets of them: Now for the material it's a trade off between strength and detail/smoothness. Mine are in Black Strong Flexible and as you can see are a little grainy. That material though is rather strong and will hold up to use. Frosted Ultra Detail is more brittle and for weapons it's not a bad choice. Since weapons don't have any moving parts its brittleness shouldn't be an issue. But FUD is the most detailed and smoothest texture. They are clear so they require painting but once painted you won't get a smoother surface on Shapeways currently. All the color Strong Flexible are basically the same. I haven't tried Aluminide yet however. Hope that helped.
Does anyone know what can be done to smooth out the grain for strong and flexible? i want to buy the articulated hands for leader op and dont really like the grainy texture....but its recommended as this item does have movable fingers.....ive seen some customs that actually use these hands but dont look grainy at all....might it be they are using the polished finished and risking breakage or are they usong the strong and flexible and somehow smoothing out the texture this finish has....any advice would help....thanks....
Oh god they are FANTASTIC. I am completely a fanboy for those minions. Strong White Flexible Polished will probably be your best option. They are smoother than unpolished but loose a little detail compared to FUD.
Thank you. I think after my vacation and couple bills I may look into investing in some shapeways items
I have 7 Thuggers (2 in WSFP & 5 WSF), and 2 Purrdators and Snitches (all colorSF... I think.). I feel WSFP is a very good default material to use. Unpolished is good too. The loss of detail doesn't bother me at that small scale. Though with my two Thuggers in WSFP, I did paint ball joints and sockets and then let them sit for a couple months. When I next tried moving them, the paint had fused and broke the leg. Now I no longer paint ball joints or sockets.
