So curious about the company, as I am wanting to find or have made the following in 1/35 scale:
Galil ARM (bipod type)
Galil SAR
Negev MG
Tavor 95
(Yes I am aware that Blackdog makes the earlier Tavor)
Issue is I have no 3D model! Is this possible or am I just dreaming?
We have two members (@Petition2God and @MikeyBugs) who do 3D printing for people here, one of which does sell on shapeways also but you get better rates here from him.
Hi Bruce,
I can custom CAD and 3D print them. Don’t know if Shapeways has them available. Their print quality hasn’t kept up with the technology and I beat their price 100% of times.
Thanks, Ryan for mentioning me.
Kind regards,
James
Not to mention SW is rather risk-averse and sets their minimum thickness to a size that makes delicate 1:35 small arms virtually impossible to print. Take James up on his offer!
I actually made a 3d model of the TAR 21. I currently sell it on Shapeways and I’ve successfully 3d printed it as well. If you want a TAR-21, I can provide.
Hi Bruce, here are some Israeli FN FAL’s I ordered from Shapeways a couple of years back now, definitely good in scale….as per the Kitty hawk Delta operator holding one to demo. You can see the fine print lines in the weapons and I noticed some parts of the flash suppressor cage are missing on a couple of the rifles. Overall they are good minus a bit of warping which hot air/ hot water treatment will fix. As I said I got these a few years back when they first hit the market as no one else made them. So they may have improved since then. I would be keen to get some from James to compare also…… Don’t forget Dragon do the Galil ARM and Negev LMG also in their weapons set.
I have ordered from both MikeyBugs and James_Lee in the past. Both do good work and deliver as promised. I think you will like their stuff
What @Recon22 said.
I don’t have the time to explain in detail right now, but yes, Shapeways has subtle print lines and warping of the barrel even at the finest resolution.
I dropped a gun on a shag pile carpet, and to my surprise, it shattered along the print lines! And the carpet was soft! A different time I dropped a Shapeways gun on the same carpet and it didn’t shatter.
I’d go with James_Lee and other 3D resin printers on Armorama instead. Sure, Shapeways is the “only game in town” but their print quality and durability is “hit and miss.”
Lesson…buy items with a cheap price on Shapeways. DO NOT spend a lot of money on a Shapeways item (if you can help it) because the durability and ruggedness and details just aren’t there compared to today’s 3D printers that print gray resin like MikeyBugs and James_Lee, AK Interactive, AFV Club and other true 3D printed resin products.
It’s also true that if you wash and weather a Shapeways item, even at the best print resolution, the subtle print lines will show.
And yes, the Shapeways’ Search Engine is horrible. Best to search under the scale first such as 1/35 and then type in the keywords such as “1/35 Sci-Fi,” “1/35 tracks,” “1/35 soldier,” “1/35 guns,” etc.
I have mixed experience weith SW. One low point is their site. Their search engine is unprecise so you must longer search than expected. I ordered from 2 makers and found the speed, quality and packaging good. My biggest concern is the ability of the designer(s). I ordered a set on HEMTT A4 suspension and found that the DON´T fit to the Trumpeter kit. And for this I spend 25 Euros!
Yes, if it has to fit an existing plastic kit, look for pics on the product page that show a print fitted to the kit! If they only show the CAD, beware - too many designers don’t really bother to test their products. My own stuff is designed mostly for my own hobby, and then offered for sale to others afterwards, so at least I have taken the time to get it right…
How interesting this post generated a lot of comments…
Got some STL files for these:
Galil ARM (bipod type)
Galil SAR
These designs have some accuracy issues but can be file bashed to make a more accurate model:
Negev MG
This one needs to be CADed. Couldn’t find an existing STL.
Tavor 95
Or like Recon22 said, simply use Dragon’s plastic offerings instead of getting 3D prints.
If I may add more to this discussion, 3D modeling and printing are really a form of art that takes a lot of time to learn and improve on. Someone who has bought from me (e.g. Tank_1812) can probably tell you that my skills have improved a lot (and are still improving) in the last 4-5 months I have been doing this. There is so much to learn. I feel like a run-of-the-mill production from Shapeways simply lacks the personal human touch to make things better.
Kind regards,
James
I bought some Owen smgs from Shapeways a few years ago. The only game in town at the time, now of course there are injection moulded versions which are much superior.
Nowadays I would avoid shapeways, at least for our hobby in my opinion their best quality is quite expensive and no better than any home 3D printer.
Shapeways is too expensive and can’t print some of the finest detail. You have to take the risk that they can print something that won’t pass their checks. I’ve had much better results working with someone who can point out the weak points in my design and fix them.
If you see some of the 3D designs out there on ETSY, Turbosquid, and other vendors, the 3D CAD “blows away” anything on Shapeways in terms of details and renderings. ETSY allows one to size their purchase to any scale. Most experienced 3D sellers and printers sell on ETSY instead of Shapeways.
I just find Shapeways’s products to be “too soft” in details nowadays. But they’re the “only game in town” for certain items that you’re looking for so don’t discredit them entirely.
IMHO, Shapeways + postage can be very expensive, and their products aren’t always great. Sometimes their items have prominent visible printing layers, often in locations difficult to access. Don’t buy the cheapest printing option “White natural versatile plastic”, at least not for modeling purposes, unless you want something that looks like it was made of sand! Any printing service that uses “gray resin” is much better!
I have purchased Shapeways 1/35 11.00 x 16 tires that could/would be multiple, and alternative, brands of tires used on the AML 60/90, other than the standard Michelin run flats that come with the Takom and Tiger Model AML’s. The Takom wheels fit nicely to the 3D tires after a bit of careful shaving with an exacto knife. After fitting, I add a valve stem to the wheel. On another note: I haven’t tried fitting any of the alternative tires to the Tiger Model AML as they look to be quite the challenge to fit, but then again, I’ve got my hands full just trying to finish a couple of AML builds.
Hi @BruceB , Galil ARM prints in 1/35 came out nicely except for the extremely thin trigger part:
Kind regards,
James
I always thicken the triggers a bit in my designs 
Good advice, Venko! 
Will implement going forward.
