3D printed ships

[The Royal Hajj]

I pulled this out of another thread, so that we could discuss 3D printing portion of it.

Will we see 3d printed ships? Probably...the aircraft production is still not without it's problems in consistent quality (I received an order of 30 nearly unusable planes which are being re-made now)- when they are good they are "pretty good" when they are bad though they are truly awful. I think the technology is going to improve dramatically and quickly and in maybe two years they will be able to make beautiful, accurate 3d models consistently. The possibility exists, at least in my mind which has it moments and absolutely no foundation upon which to make this claim, that perhaps they could produce 3d printed models in multi-colours removing the need to paint...you read it here first!!! ;)

The 3D printing tech is already capable of handing are quality needs. It is just that Shapeways does not offer the full resolution of the printers. And of course, we are not yet willing to pay the price for them ( DR.I would come in at about $28). Have a look at this printing site to see some very nice printings, Moddler.com. As for colored printing, it's here now as well:



That is as it comes directly from Shapeways. It is made from Sandstone, so I'm not sure how good the finish quality is or how strong it is. I should know today or tomorrow and one of those is in my last order. It will be interesting to see if it could stand up to gaming!