A Shapeways success story

[Josh1971]

It's rare that I look for something on Shapeways, can't find it in the scale I want, message someone who makes it in a different scale, and they come through! Last night, I'm happy to say that happened.

Lately I've been looking around for a suitable model of the Spanish carrier, the Juan Carlos. My options had been a vendor on Shapeways, 1/1800 in that dreadful 'white versatile plastic', with virtually no detail, or... a MUCH more detailed version in 1/700 by Orange Hobby which was mostly resin. Problem was, I really didn't want to spend $60 or more for the 1/700, and $17 plus about $13 shipping for a carrier as big as a snickers bar seemed... stupid.

But one of my favorite ebay sellers does 3D printing, and low and behold, their newest item is a 1/1200 print of the Australian Canberra (Basically a Juan Carlos carrier), for $19. SOLD.

But I'm a meddler, and in my little plastic world, during my fictional WWIII, Australia reversed its decision to not put fixed wing fighters on the Canberra. So.... the UK to the rescue, giving Australia a dozen Harrier Gr.7 to fly off the ship, "on lease". Waiting for a dozen super expensive F-35B (Which could be a long wait) wasn't an option for them.

So I needed 1/1200 Harriers. The only ones I found were either detail-less crud or not quite right (One vendor had FRS.1), but I found some really awesome looking AV-8B in 1/700. Then something that never happens, happened. I sent a message to that guy, asking if those could be scaled down to 1/1200. Within a couple hours, he answered me that he'd done it! So... these "Gr7" will be flying to my Canberra soon.

No, I haven't been drinking, why do you ask?

[smeg1959]

A little bit of "official" background on the HMAS Canberra, Version 3 (Version 1 was a heavy County class cruiser that operated between 1928 and 1942, whilst Version 2 was an Adelaide class missile frigate that operated from 1981 until 2005).

[Tim R-T-C]

Great to see some sellers offering good service. Now you just need some 1/1200 crew...!

[Josh1971]

Great to see some sellers offering good service. Now you just need some 1/1200 crew...!

As badly as I butcher 1/144 crew, I can only imagine how horrible a fate would await 1/700 or 1/1200.

And just wait until I'm done with my 1/1800 Giuseppe Garibaldi! Those Harriers are ridiculous!