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Before we get to the release itself for this month, I finally got the test prints from TheShop3D.
First off, the MT-LB, in white nylon (the same as Shapeways VPN) and grey resin.
As a serious test, I had them do some 144th sci-fi infantry in resin, to see how they would come out.
Aotrs Drop Infantry
And a sneak peek and the eventually forthcoming Phystyulon ground forces, their infantry and rocket cycles.
As you can see, they came out very well.
I am actually very impressed with their resin material. Not only is it cheaper than the nylon it seems to be sharper (compare the grill on the MT-LB). The turret fits better on the resin model, as on the FDM models (the nylon is always little loose, which is why I say that you SHOULD paint the posts and hole of the turrets in my ranges).
It has a texture (and I do not mean this in an at all pejorative way) than reminds me of a tough, rubberised plastic. The sprues on which the models are mounted are flexible (which is good for durability (re gun barrels et al), since it means it isn’t brittle), and my first impressions are very favourable!
Now, to the release itself: the Dingo 2 GE A3.3 (in 144th).
The picture marks the literal very last print the Replicator squeezed out, before finally keeling over (one of the axis started continuously slipping). As I was typing this release, out replacement, a Prusa, has just arrived, so hopefully by the end of the week, we should be back in normal production.
Dingo 2 AE3.3
Direct price: £4.40
The Shop3D price: £4.79 (Resin)/£6.64 (Nylon) Link
Shapeways price: $6.08 (£5.53) Link
Photos of the Replicator 2 version, pretty much for the last time. (And not the best of prints, but it wasn’t like I could do better without delaying the releases!)
As a sort of side-note, Shapeways appears to have dropped the floor for VPN from $5.00 to $4.50, which will reduce the price of the smallest of my models (good) but mean all the prices listed are no wrong (bad). I say “appears,” for as usual with Shapeways, I only noticed this change by complete accident and no official announcement has been made (as per usual, though they are always so eager to advertise new and expensive materials…) and there is no telling whether this is a test or permanent.
(All the more reason, one feels, to look at TheShop3D’s resin…!)
And also, because 2020 is 2020 and thus cannot ever let ANYTHING pass without kicking sand in everyone’s faces, I would also like to take this opportunity to extend a middle finger to SD cards and SD card readers and their tendencies to fail frequently during normal use; my bay-mounted card reader died (for the second time in six months, the first time while still under guarantee) at the start of lockdown, and the back-up has also, between one breath and the next stopped working, meaning to get this release out, I had to take my camera’s SD card upstairs to Dad’s lap top, transfer it to a key and then bring it back down again. We have now ordered three more (of different types), because it clearly doesn’t matter when you have an expensive one of a USB-stick one, they all fail. Quite how a system for removable media that becomes so unreliable as soon as you actually, y’know, REMOVE it regularly (as you have to do to move it, e.g. from camera to PC or PC to 3D Printer) I have no idea. But as said cameras and 3D printers both use them, I don’t have any option other than to roundly curse.
On a more positive note, next month – if no further issues arise – should be the HS-30/ Spz 12, the CAD design of which I have finished, but am waiting on the new printer to be able to do anything else. Next week should see the release of the second wave of Aotrs Starships and the second part of the Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear.
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