Decals & Shapeways

Flying Toaster · Post by **Flying Toaster** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:22 pm

Two questions:
Is there a good European source of Star Trek decals that work on the Federation Commander miniatures?

Second, on Shapeways there are a bunch of options for detail/material. What is the best option in terms of quality to price? I got a few minis in 'white strong & flexible', and honestly they were a bit disappointing - very grainy surface that hid most of the details. Does 'white strong & flexible polished' work better?
The frosted ultra/extreme detail ones are a bit too expensive for my tastes, sadly.

Post by **Steve Cole** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:51 pm

I can tell you that something like 45% of sales are in the strong-flexible material and about the same number in FUD. Polished strong-flexible loses detail and isn't really any better than standard strong-flexible.

It's all about what YOU want and what you think is good. Some people think anything less than Appleby's is junk-food while others are perfectly happy with Wendy's burgers. By all means, if you don't like the price get a cheaper material; if you don't like the quality get a better material. The way Shapeways works, we get the same amount either way. Don't let anyone tell you that you're wrong.

The same applies to painting. I'm a "spray paint and get playing" guy myself, but others (even inside the company) are undercoat-drybrush-detail-clearcoat people. Except for Civil War minis. I use color-coded canteens and kepis to tell the regiments apart.

Zamboni · Post by **Zamboni** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:34 pm

WFS improves with multiple coats of primer. I've heard mention of doing a light sanding of areas that are still rough after a few coats of primer. (WSF and other grainy prints often look much better after being primed. I've had a few prints that I was tempted to toss in the trash after getting them in the mail, then deciding they weren't so bad after a couple light coats of gray primer. let me actually see what I was working with.)

Their "polished" material is just basic WSF tossed into a tumbler, so details risk being polished off.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:02 pm

Tenneshington Decals ships to anywhere in the world. However, we do not offer decals for the 1/3788-scale/Starline 2400 minis at this time (our current products are for the 1/3125-scale/Starline 2500 minis). We hope to launch decals for 3788 size early in 2018.

Flying Toaster · Post by **Flying Toaster** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:09 pm

Thanks for the replies!
I'll give some primer a try, I need and excuse to get a new can of the stuff anyway.
The worry about loss of detail is why I didn't get the polished one, thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll judge each model on detail/price, as some better detail casts are cheaper. I guess it depends on the amount of printing needed?

Sadly I got the 1/3788 minis (I actually prefer spaceship models on the smaller size, gives a better sense of scale), so I'll await your 2018 launch. 2018 isn't far off now, really, which is a scary thought!

Zamboni · Post by **Zamboni** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:51 pm

Flying Toaster wrote:I guess I'll judge each model on detail/price, as some better detail casts are cheaper. I guess it depends on the amount of printing needed?

Smaller or compact ships will be slightly cheaper. The base price is a combination of the maximum height/weight/width (referred to as "the bounding box") and the mass of the plastic used. Ships like the Hydrans will have fairly compact boxes while ships like the Fed cruisers have things pointing out in all directions giving it a much bigger box even though it weighs the same.

trynda1701 · Post by **trynda1701** » Fri Jun 15, 2018 1:39 am

Any update on 1/3788 decals from Teshington Decals?

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Fri Jun 15, 2018 3:54 am

The ADB Shapeways project continues to dominate most of my (the main graphics guy for Tenneshington) time at the moment, but that will be ramping down as the major push to get all the main hulls populated reaches its conclusion. That will free me up to finish the layout work on our new 1/3788 decals (and they will be all-new) later this summer.

trynda1701 · Post by **trynda1701** » Fri Jun 15, 2018 11:16 am

Thanks for that reply, Will. Thought you would say something like that. Thumbs up for all the great work.

Mark