SHIPWAYS ? NOT AT THESE PRICES!

3D printing is here to stay and is making increasing inroads on the sculpture and modelling world. If you can master RHINO or SKETCHUP or another 3D CAD package then the world may be your 3D printed oyster.....

D3 printing solve your modelling problems can it do not

Issues of quality have now been largely solved. Some beautiful things can be produced with 3D printers in various materials.I have used SHAPEWAYS to make some 'safe' flexible plastic javelin heads and they are great.

Available HERE - you get two heads

SHAPEWAYS is one way to overcome the outlay on a 3D printer. They are still not cheap if you want a good one. Another argument against buying your own is the time, noise and temperature required.


Printing things takes time when using a fine strand of medium to build up the model. Hours are needed for even small things. The machines are not silent by any means and trying to sleep with a 3D printer chugging in the next room is difficult! A friend had to move his to the garage at his wife's insistence! (her or machine, he chose to move the machine ..new bed for her in the garage was too expensive).  Another factor is that the medium must be kept at a specific temperature range and this may involve insulating the printing pad or the room...

etc. etc.

SHAPEWAYS idea is that you send the file, they print it , you get the thing. Great !  They offer a great range of different materials from ceramic to plastics to steel !!!!! Once you set up your page there you can also sell to th epublic if they want a copy of what you have modelled.

There are galley models available on SHAPEWAYS. They look very nice. They are not so accurate representations of any ancient prototype but they prove it could be done. Relatively simple models should be easy and look very nice at various scales. Search for galleys or modern warships and you can find some nice looking stuff.

See at shapeways HERE

The big downside with SHAPEWAYS is the price. Economies of scale have not kicked-in yet. My javelin heads were so expensive I could not sell them. The model above is 26 Euro for a 6cm long model. Ancient galley battles require a lot of models...

The best function for SHAPEWAYS just now is for prototyping. Make your original and cast it in resin or lead.

The future is beckoning, though. Many times we can see CAD images used in advertising for miniature figurines rather than real figures. Look at Zvezda who use a lot of tech versus Streltsi who do not.

What the actual model looks like is another question...

 Soon the quality of 3D printing may approach a true copy of the CAD images.  The skills of the physical sculptor will vanish like the galleys we love.

Can the next one be a warship, please ?

Another well-preserved wreck from the Black Sea. At 2000m depth !

A small freighter of the size of the replica 'Argo or so. Cargo intact, wood preserved.


Read the whole story at BBC (pic from there too)