Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
I am seriously considering giving it a try, although I would need to make a new model.
How much would people pay?
How much would people pay?
Traveller - The Model
- Thread starter Patron Zero
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far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Before ramping up hopes, aren't there licensing issues in the air clouding the sale of any Traveller minis?
What is the model you were thinking of?
Why would anyone make a model of something you could already buy?
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
I'm not following you?
Andrew is talking about trying out shapeways with a model of the Traveller Scout, and wondering how much people would pay for it, and last I heard someone else had the rights from Marc for Traveller minis. Now maybe that license has relapsed and maybe Marc is up for trying again. And maybe not. I just see the cart racing down the street and the horse is still in the barn.
Or perhaps I misread the thread. I got the idea Andrew was talking about making a new Scout model from that being the previous bit of discussion. Maybe Andrew meant he was going to try it with a totally new, non Traveller IP model. In which case... never mind
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Considering that the Scout "shape" and dimensions are the same as certain star wars ships, Marc either sued and lost or, has doesn't have the rights to that shape for a star ship... That's how that area of I.P. works.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Well it's hardly that simple
It depends on how you market the mini. If you label it correctly, it's that simple.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
It's not gonna happen for a while, and yes, sorting out the rights with Marc is top of the list.
What's the size model you are talking? 2 inches? 4? 6? 1 foot? 1 meter to 1 inch scale (that's about a 3 foot long model
)?I'm not sure the site will let you charge extra over their printing costs, so you'd have to sell them on your own site if you were looking to make a profit. If you don't want to go through the trouble of selling them yourself, you just put your 3D render in their website and whoever comes along gets a copy if they pay - it's kinda like Lulu.com as far as I can tell.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Nope, the site has a store setup designed to make it easy. You provide the model, they set their "cost" and you add your markup and bam you're ready to sell. Or not if you set your markup too high.
As for Andrew's question, there's a lot of variables I'd need to know before deciding what I'd pay. And it's all probably hypothetical in my case as I have enough minis anyway. But...
Scale - Something like the old ship mini scale for PC size ships, BUT all to the same scale (the old ones are close but...) and accurate to actual volume and deckplans. Proper deckplans. Ones that actually fit the model. And said deckplans should be part of the package and/or available separately. Maybe even free with purchase.
Detail - I'm not sure the shapeways printer is up to it. Though a good modeler might get around that by taking into account the limitations and creating the proper level of detail to work with it. I half suspect this is Andrew's reason for wanting to remodel. One could make a beautifully detailed model, only to have printing loose it all and produce a lump of garbage. Or one could make a model with enough key details to a scale that the printer will handle and come out with a worthy product.
Price - I've spent around $10-$15 for very richly detailed (nothing the shapeways printer looks capable of) ship minis*. These were very well cast, the old fashioned way. What I see on shapeways I can't see spending more than half that. But maybe the printing is better and it's just crappy pictures. Why do people take cheap low res pictures of stuff they're trying to sell? Buy, rent, borrow a decent camera and find someone who knows how to use it
If the picture looks like crap I'm not buying. And if you want to show off a mini by painting it, spend a couple dollars and have a skilled mini painter do it, don't just splatter colours on yourself without any experience.* of course that company folded, sadly, I'd have paid a little more if it meant they made enough to stay in business, they were very good minis and well modeled, the kind of stuff I'd like to have seen for Traveller
That's a sweet deal then. All-in-one package so to speak.
Ok, I'll toss out my wish list.
1.) Miniatures for playing games like Full Thrust.
2.) A 4 or 6 inch model to paint and put on a shelf (maybe larger)
3.) A scale model to use with table-top gaming miniature characters.
2 could be scratched if 3 is affordable enough.
Optional landing gear would be sweet, too. I'm sure it would be a ton of trouble to make doors able to open and close, so I'm not even going to ask for that.
I was thinking with the Scout/Courier that you could make an upper hull, a lower hull, and an aft hull so it's not solid in the middle. That could make it a lot cheaper. How hard it would be to make it fit together, I have no idea, tho. Not sure how that would work with other ships, either.
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@SS:
I can design a model with movable doors (the doors just go in slots), however, the scale is an issue. At 1.7m=28mm, a 10cm thick wall is 1.5mm... just within tolerances. Assembly would be required.
It wouldn't be cheap. At 1m=15mm, (28mm minis scale) and minimum thickness of 0.7mm, the outer shell of a type S from Sup 7 (37.5x28.5x7.5m) is about 190.5cc... which means $286 just for the shell. At 15mm minis scale, you're looking at considerably less, but still about $100.
And that's with no markups, and no license fees to MWM, and no interiors. (You can, however, multiply costs by 22 and get it in bronze-iron alloy... while the cost is only 7x, the minimum thickness triples, and it would need a different mesh.
see http://www.shapeways.com/materials/material-options for minimums
I can design a model with movable doors (the doors just go in slots), however, the scale is an issue. At 1.7m=28mm, a 10cm thick wall is 1.5mm... just within tolerances. Assembly would be required.
It wouldn't be cheap. At 1m=15mm, (28mm minis scale) and minimum thickness of 0.7mm, the outer shell of a type S from Sup 7 (37.5x28.5x7.5m) is about 190.5cc... which means $286 just for the shell. At 15mm minis scale, you're looking at considerably less, but still about $100.
And that's with no markups, and no license fees to MWM, and no interiors. (You can, however, multiply costs by 22 and get it in bronze-iron alloy... while the cost is only 7x, the minimum thickness triples, and it would need a different mesh.
see http://www.shapeways.com/materials/material-options for minimums
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Ouch.
Ok, so I guess it's time for me to start buying Lottery tickets.
That would be very cool have, tho.
Ok, so I guess it's time for me to start buying Lottery tickets.
That would be very cool have, tho.
This is something I've had at the back of my mind for a while. I know Nick Bradbeer started a foamcore Type S in (I think) 28mm scale or thereabouts a couple of years back. I've been working on a Space 1889 Aphid gunship for over a year or so now and it's nearly complete but given how slow and intermittent that project has been, I wouldn't expect anything from me soon
It would be nice to do, though. A 28mm scale one could use foamcore for the superstructure and card or heavy paper for the interiors. A 15mm scale one could use mounting board for the superstructure. It wouldn't really be that expensive, I don't think. Certainly the most expensive thing on the Aphid so far has been the foamcore and that was an A3 sheet for about £3-ish (can't remember now) Certainly the Suleiman wedge shape lends itself to paper modelling. A Beowulf (or a Florian) would not be so simple
Of course, if I did do one, it'd probably be the one I modelled a few years back rather than the official GDW deckplans. That said, it would be better to do the interior modular so that folks could build their own layout withing the hull... hmmmm.......
Oh! I hate it when this happens. My mind is focussing on it now and I've got far too many other things to do!
Crow
PS - if anyone wants help with Pepakura - I've got a lot of experience with it.
It would be nice to do, though. A 28mm scale one could use foamcore for the superstructure and card or heavy paper for the interiors. A 15mm scale one could use mounting board for the superstructure. It wouldn't really be that expensive, I don't think. Certainly the most expensive thing on the Aphid so far has been the foamcore and that was an A3 sheet for about £3-ish (can't remember now) Certainly the Suleiman wedge shape lends itself to paper modelling. A Beowulf (or a Florian) would not be so simple
Of course, if I did do one, it'd probably be the one I modelled a few years back rather than the official GDW deckplans. That said, it would be better to do the interior modular so that folks could build their own layout withing the hull... hmmmm.......
Oh! I hate it when this happens. My mind is focussing on it now and I've got far too many other things to do!
Crow
PS - if anyone wants help with Pepakura - I've got a lot of experience with it.
There are some nice ships here
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/admiralducksauce
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/irrationaldesigns
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/admiralducksauce
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/irrationaldesigns
Patron Zero
SOC-13
..... A 28mm scale one could use foamcore for the superstructure and card or heavy paper for the interiors. A 15mm scale one could use mounting board for the superstructure. It wouldn't really be that expensive, I don't think. Certainly the most expensive thing on the Aphid so far has been the foamcore and that was an A3 sheet for about £3-ish (can't remember now) Certainly the Suleiman wedge shape lends itself to paper modelling. A Beowulf (or a Florian) would not be so simple
Of course, if I did do one, it'd probably be the one I modelled a few years back rather than the official GDW deckplans. That said, it would be better to do the interior modular so that folks could build their own layout withing the hull... hmmmm.......
I tend to agree with heavy cardstock or foamcore-artboard centered materials likely the most 'cost-efficient' solution to staying in 28mm scale for interiors, definitely said items laser cut for easy assembly.
Exteriors could be vacuformed 'skins' but would be somewhat fragile and detailing could be another issue entirely.
That said, I'd welcome 'packaged'-ready to assemble and paint kits for the Classic Traveller starships and a few non-canon designs to expand tabletop play possibilities.
I was thinking here; what would y'all think of a skeleton to which one attaches cardstock, aluminum foil, or plasticard (one's own choice). In doing it as a skeleton, I can cut 90% of the volume of the hull shell, and thus cost, and still have gear, gear bays, floor support, and do drop-in walls, and even an external turret. Kind of a compromise between a full up kit (not happy $$$), and paper only (not pretty)...
I'm thinking WSF material for frame, tho I could use metal level thickness to allow the iron frames.
I'm thinking WSF material for frame, tho I could use metal level thickness to allow the iron frames.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
I was wondering the same thing Wil. Seems pretty doable for the Scout. Were you thinking slotted frames for internal dividers for deckplan layout* inside the frame too?
* not thinking fig scale here, just large model scale, like 1.5m = 5mm scale
PDF pages of the panel bits to print or use as patterns of course
* not thinking fig scale here, just large model scale, like 1.5m = 5mm scale
PDF pages of the panel bits to print or use as patterns of course
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far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Know what would be real cool? Make a frame that fits all edition layouts and provide different PDF packages based on the model you want. Even have the variant types like the Seeker
Would require some real work though.
Would require some real work though.
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