Nov 27, 2022

Welcome to the Future


The beginnings of an 18th century naval campaign are currently on my mind. The basic premises are that it is centered around an Ottoman force running the blockade at the Pirate Bay, and then trying to capture as many merchantmen as possible.

For this, harbor defenses for creative use were necessary, and I began constructing a medium-sized ship "in ordinary". However, scratchbuilding such things, while cost-effective, is very time-consuming. I started looking for alternatives, and thought that even with the worst possible results, a 3D print of an old semi-derelict vessel of war could be a good start.

While I don't own a 3D printer myself, by the suggestion of my wife, I found an on demand 3D printing service nearby. You just upload the .stl file to the website, scale it up or down, get a quote and in a few days you receive the final product by courier.

It was kind of hit or miss, but worth a try. I downloaded a free .stl template of a 1/700 scale large frigate from Wargaming3D, blew up the model to a 150% scale (to better match my own fleet of 1/500-ish ships), and made an order worth about 7 Euros including p&p for the pair.

You can see the results above. I went over the models with a lighter to remove most of the fine threads sticking out, but overall I think they look pretty fine, and there is not a lot more prep work to do on them than on some old injection-moulded stuff. Some filling and sanding required here and there. One will be the Böhnstadt flagship SMS Jagdhund, and the other an Ottoman/Tekirdag razée of 40 guns, without masts or sails, ready to be towed to battle (or not).



 

2 comments:

  1. Great idea! I have upscaled a few ships to match my old Pyro USS Constitution in 1/450 and I'm very happy with them. I was doing what you are doing a few years ago, but broke down and bought a Ender 5 Pro through Amazon a year ago last April. It has paid for itself several times over now, and I am even printing for other folks.

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    1. Thank you for your comment - I thought about purchasing a printer myself, but alas, there is no secluded hobby room in our flat, and all the moving bits could make it a target of the cat's attention. For a while, if something is needed, I'll get it done with the same on demand service.

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