Thanks so much for the feedback!

Re: the questions about the model...

Brittleness -- Yes, pretty stiff. Feels like that plastic they used to use to make Crackerjack prizes. Also VERY lightweight. Will be interesting to see how the finished ship feels and looks and handles, and whether the masts break any more easily than the Ares ones.

I won't be making any pins or holes on the bottom, to keep the bottoms flat and smooth for any minis system. So for SGN one would need to use a dab of blue-tack or something like that to stick them on a game card and base. People who do this now with other brand minis say it works great.

Texture on the deck -- Actually that's a byproduct of my own learning process in making this first model. I made the deck and bulwarks by taking the filled solid hull with a flush upper surface, and sinking (negative extruding) it into the model. When doing that I had 2 options for the bottom of the extrude: Flat, or Normals (following the inner shape of the model). I first did flat, but that made the rear of the deack break through the angled transom once it was pushed down. So I chose Normal, thinking it woudl be flat anyway since this is a waterline model. But...I'd failed to make the bottom of the model perfectly flat in the beginning. We eventually had to fix this in printing because every object has to sit flat on the print bed in order to print. But the deck was already made, and remained with some variations in height that aren't really that noticeable from playing distance but are visible on close scrutiny.

In future models, If I can, I'll probably just make a solid hull from waterline to deck, then define the sheer edge and extrude it upwards to make the deck and bulwarks effect. Also, now that I'm more proficient with smoothing brushes, I can polish imperfections on decks to get them a bit nicer.

A bit here about my intent on these models:

A model, by definition, is a representation of a real ship and not the ship itself. So every model lies somewhere on a continuum, with 0 being a generic game piece (like a hotel in Monopoly or a meeple in a Euro game) and 100 being a totally authentic scale replica that includes every rope, pulley, and visible detail from the real ship. I'm going for ships that represent the original in the major areas most visible to the SGN gamer, at the distances that the gamer would normally be looking at the model during play. That includes major things like the hull shape and style, the masts and sail plan, etc. But these are game items and not intended for the minis connoisseur or the collectors of Langtons, etc. They're just meant to look good enough alongside the Ares models and fill the need for a more diverse range of ships. And, since I want an automated process, I'll be making some tradeoffs due to the nature of the print technology. So, for example, my initial sails will be 3D and "billowed" on the front side but flat on the back, with 3D masts that get attached to them. I'll have to see how that looks, but at this point I think it won't matter that much because we tend to look at the sails mostly from front and sides, and the lack of a concave back isn't that big a deal. I predict the front "billowing" will tend to fool the eye into seeing them from a distance as 3D in back, even if they're not. If I do find a way to make printable masts/sails that are 3D on all sides, I will. The guy who's selling replacement first rate foremasts already on Shapeways has apparently done it, but I'm not sure how to do it yet.