As I mentioned previously, I ordered a small sample set of 3-D printed figures from Shapeways. Their initial delivery estimate was January 1st, which was quite overcautious as the figures actually arrived about a week ago.

But I get slightly ahead of things. The first sign of life from Shapeways was actually a notice that one of the figures I ordered could not be produced in the material I had chosen (naturally the cheapest one). Apparently the designs available have actually not been tested with all the materials offered, if at all. So I ended up with about $5 of credit with Shapeways, will have to think of a use for it.

Then I was slightly surprised to get notification of shipment for the remaining items and before I really realized it, the UPS courier had delivered the items. At the very least Shapeways seems to have good deal with UPS as the shipping was pretty inexpensive.

The figures came in individual ziplock bags as you can see from the first picture. On closer inspections they are rather interesting. The first thing you notice is that they are very very light, even lighter than plastic models. I suspect they may be hollow.

The next thing is that the surface seems rough, like the whole figure was coated with some rough texture primer. I suspect that is an artefact of the printer resolution. Upon closer inspection you will also see that small detail is not as good as you would expect from an injection molded plastic figure. It will be interesting to see where this goes as the technology improves.

One final thing to note is that these are all one piece models. There is nothing to assemble. Still, there is none of the usual flatness of one piece models, absolutely no lack of undercuts and no mold lines, flash or casting imperfections. There is definitely promise of great things here.

I will be painting these test figures and reporting back.