Is there a way to reduce the prices by hollowing out so it needs less plastic or is that just the complexity of the print outs that causes the price? THey look really good, and I want to get some. Also, what materials do you recommend them be printed in? What size are they in length?
Looks like we have a winner here. The models look very impressive! I agree with exomega, maybe you can try hollowing out the guns so that you can still preserve the details on the outer surface. Or adding cavities on the bottom of the guns where they are not as visible. For material choices, if you're going to make them public on Shapeways, I recommend normal detail material as a compromise between cost and aesthetics. Normally I'll get weapons in strong flexible anyway and spruce them up with a nice paintjob. Do you use Solidworks? And yes the pricing structure for Shapeways is horrendous now...Everybody's taking a hit...
Having had chance to look at this away from work, the pricing for these using the strong flexible materials isn't to bad (the guns that is, the cannon is just to huge!)
but using strong flexible might not be able to capture all the details that the author made such a good job at appearing.
First of all...those weapons are sexy. Very original designs, too. I love what everyone here does with Shapeways...it's really impressive. Too bad I can't afford any of it. Actually, you may want to take a look at Sunlink's Armory. He has a series of "KaPow" weapons that work whether Warpath's fists are visible or not. EDIT: Here's a link to Sunlink's 2005 post about his KaPow weapons, complete with pretty pictures.
Thanks guys. I'm still waiting on my orders to get printed and shipped, but I should have some photos of the guns in action soon. I know the price on the cannon stinks. When I built it I had no idea it would be so costly. I'll probly make a smaller version in the near future. Dose anyone know the peg sizes (in mm) for Fansproject's not-insecticons?
Since they're Shapeways prints that the man is waiting on, does that mean when he gets some pictures up of the physical models, the thread will be moved back to where it was?
Finished Kickback's gun. Now I just need to finalize the peg sizes and all three insecticon weapons are ready.
Well, I reworked the cannon and managed to knock 7 cents off the price. Volume-wise it's virtually identical to the first model. Dang. I did add 4 peg positions and the model now prints with 2 pegs so you can position them however you like.
I've just been notified that there is a print issue with the DX Blaster model. I'm working on resolving the issue right now. I thought I corrected this issue, but I guess the error is elsewhere on the model.
I've been working on this shield for a while now. It transforms (and I used the term loosely) from a shield to a gunner turret. I've got the shapes and transformation all worked out. The blocking-model is a simple model used to work out shapes/proportions, and to work out the transformation. Now that the blocking-model is finished, it's time to start work on the detail model. This will be the finial model that gets sent to shapeways.