First Shapeways Order part 2

Launch Bays have arrived!

In part 1 of this topic, I showed you two different sets of iconography I designed and 3D printed for two of my Battlefleet Gothic fleets. Here we have a piece that replaces one of the original weapon assemblies that came with the game--Launch Bays.

Original Launch Bays

New Launch Bays Re-fit

I am super stoked how this turned out. It is exactly how I imagined it! The new launch bay creates a cleaner silhouette, and I am please with the simpler lines along the hull.

There was a small hiccup in the design--They turned out just a hair wide, but it was easy to sand the edges to fit. I am not worried and do not plan to update the stl file.

This ship is in process of a repaint and a remodel. In addition to ripping out and replacing the launch bays, it has had some other new bits added. The original bridge was cut off and a chaos bridge added. I also added Wing Shields and a Bridge Dome. The latter two are from Shapeways. They came in a set of bits called Cruiser Upgrade Pack 1, created by contributor Armand.

If you missed it, you can see the Launch Bay design file in this post.

Next step it to get some painted models to show!

First Shapeways Order

A new era of my hobby.

I received my first batch of my own custom 3D designed and printed loot today! I am very excited about the prospect of designing little bits and baubles for my own use and then be able to offer them to anyone else who is interested.

First up is a 'Khorne Tower", representing a MoK on my chaos cruisers. Sorry for the poor image, the pic I took with flash was just a white blob. These will look so much better all painted up, but I couldn't wait to share.

Next up is an Aquamarine badge. They will be placed on all of my space marine ships, but I am working on a modified design to use on my space marines.

Launch bays are on their way. I can't wait to see how they look!

Shapeways

My side project has become official.

I have officially opened my Shapeways storefront!

It is branded under my graphic design business, Design by Zorcon. Although, I almost branded the storefront under Games of Zorcon, as most of what I will design will be for games.

Only 7 items uploaded so far, but I have that many more in progress.

Yesterday I had my first sale! Unfortunately because the item was in 'Beta' status and hadn't been printed yet, Shapeways declined the order. I have since ordered the piece myself, and once processed I will remove the beta status.

3D Design Project

Testing out a new side project!

For the last week or so I have been muddling around with Autodesk's free web ap "Tinker Cad". It has been very easy to learn and use. I will probably move to a more sophisticated (free) program soon, as the control over the shapes/nodes are lacking.

Following is one of the 3D dodads I have been working on . This is a modular component for the existing capitol ships for the game Battlefleet Gothic. I am also working on other pieces for the game such as variant torpedoes, variant fighter craft, and other accessories.

This is a launch bay component. The motivation for this piece came from not liking the bit that comes with the original models, and the inspiration came from the middle section of a transport ship (see below). I always liked the design although it never looked right to me as a transport ship.

These are the components from a heavy transport ship. The second piece from the left was the inspiration for launch bay project. The two types of cargo bays here are 'troops' and 'fuel'.

Here is a sketch for the component I am planning of a 'spine' midsection that will receive modular cargo components. It will also be compatible with the weapon components from the original models allowing for merchant war ships.

Adeptus-B and I discussed making some steam-punk conversion pieces for building and figures. Eventually, I would also like to design some custom game pieces for my Monopoly Omega and Risk Omega projects.

[3-D] Print on Demand

I first heard about this little company, shapeways.com from the Daily Illuminator over at Steve Jackson Games. As Paul Chapman said, the dice are very inciting.

After looking through their site for a couple of hours, I decided to order a few of things-- 3 dice and a sci-fi wall detail.

Pinwheel Die 10 (item on shapeways.com)
(click on image to enlarge)

These dice are amassing!! I ordered the White Strong & Flexible material. They can easily be inked and/or painted. However they are a little light in the hand for my taste for game use. If I were to decide to use the pinwheel dice in a game, I would prefer to get another set in metal-- Yes! You can have these babies printed up in stainless steel, antique bronze, or other metals. Some items can be printed in glass!!

Tocrax Ten-Sided Die  (item on shapeways.com)
(click on image to enlarge)

This is another design marvel. However, as a die it is a little too out there for my taste... it will have to settle for residing on my "interesting dice" shelf.

Wall Computer
(click on image to enlarge)

The last item I ordered is a computer console/wall section. It was only available in the transparent detail material. Unfortunately, I can also no longer find it on their site. I don't know if this had anything to do with it, but the original image showed the piece on top of what appeared to be a GW wall section.