3D Printed Starfighters

Man, thanks for sharing these pictures, you guys, it really makes staying up late night after night to figure out the problems with that stupid Dralthi all worth it! :)
 
WARNING: Do not let it rain on these things before you get them sealed. Water will severely discolor the raw material. It is therefore recommended that you seal them with Testor's dull coat followed by a coat of semi-gloss. Or just never let them get wet. Stupid Pacific Northwest weather!
 
Whups, fixed! Sorry again about the price, I made her as hollow as I dared, but these Kilrathi ships are so darned big. I actually made her a little smaller to save some Wingbux™. Should still measure up against the Arrow and Hellcat, and everything else for that matter. As always, let me know if Shapeways gives you any trouble. :)
 
Cool; Dralthi IV and Concordia Rapier on the way; I'll post pictures when they get here!

Btw: that Triktor; looks familiar, but can't really place it- is that a Homeworld ship?
 
Triple-B said:
the dralthi looks quite fine, but the big particle cannon and the 4 exhausts are missing
Click to expand...

Not all Dralthi IVs have those features.

Wc4dralthi.png
 
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The markings you see on the Dralthi IV's are clan markings and could, in theory, be on any Dralthi IV from Orsini to Eloy.

On the flipside, I've ordered 3 fighters from Shapeways scheduled to ship by May 2nd.

1. Hornet - was thinking about getting the Raptor first but the Hornet was the first Wing Commander fighter we've (most of us) ever flown. Those engines look positively gorgeous.

2. Concordia Rapier - my original favorite to fly in Wing 2 (and Standoff) flown up right off Concordia's flightdeck.

3. Wing 3 Arrow - the little fighters are decidely sexy and was always my favored fighter over the Hellcat V, as Blair referred to them, a fighter a pilot strapped on rather then climbed into.

Drooling in anticipation for these fighters landing on my desk. I'll be sure to post pics when they arrive.
 
Triple-B said:
yeah, but the paintings indicate this dralthi to be the wc3 variant
Click to expand...

Virtually all of Klavs' designs incorporate his own artistic flairs, some dramatically so (such as with the Hornet or Raptor), so pointing out an extra gun or engine nozzle is incredibly minor. As he pointed out, there are several fairly distinct Dralthi IV variants, and Klavs pulls from them all in his model (see the "shutter" slope texture on the center-right pod from the Arena variant).

render_dralthi_striker.jpg
 
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@ chris reid: makes sense :)

@ klavs: Can you make another arrow variant? I think the "peacetime version" color sheme for the "armada arrow" (like seen in standoff) would be great. Need defintely one beside my "wc3 arrow".

thanks for your great work and efforts

Wc4arrow2.png
 
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Klavs, Shapeways just notified me the Dralthi IV could not be printed. Hopefully you'll be able to fix that? I'd be happy to give it a 2nd try.
 
I got the same message sndwv, it's probably to do with the hollow areas. The walls are too thin in a spot or too. Stand by, everybody, I gotta slap her around a bit!
 
The Concordia Rapier arrived today. Looks great in it's vibrant color scheme! There does appear to be a problem with the thruster nozzles though; it's difficult to see how these are supposed to look based on Shapeways' small thumbnails, but it seems the inner flaps are not entirely printed and/or broken off (pic. 2). Gently pushing on one with my fingernail chipped off another small piece.
 

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Busted flaps or not, she's a beauty! Always high on my list of favourite fighters. I think the Rapier II was one of my early inspirations to start building my own ships.
 
Interestingly enough my Rapier II is the last fighter I'm waiting to be finished printing. Scheduled to be shipped yesterday but still at it I guess. If it's any consolation the only time you see the inside of the engines in game is with the throttle cut and it's just a red emptiness. Any engine detail is bonus as far as I'm concerned.

Looking at the finished product I really want to introduce some dull coat. Want to try and buff some of the white-sandiness of the model. Can't wait to see mine!
 
Ooh... that Ferret that just went up on Shapeways looks great (and very affordable!). Any idea when you'll be able to fix the Dralthi IV (and if necessary maybe the engine part of the Rapiers)?
 
My Shapeways fighters have arrived finally. Had a bit of an issue with their ordering system forgetting to tell the printer folks that a Rapier II was supposed to be coming down the pipe. Took a few days but they've arrived and I've very happy with the results. You can smell the paint they're so fresh. Not as heavy as I thought they were either. The material feels semi-fragile but sturdy, similar to one of those figurines you're mom kept locked away to stare at that if you touched the floggings would continue till the next noon.

I can see what Sndwv meant in that there might exist some slight room for improvement in making the walls of the engine nacelles and vector plates a little thicker, not much more than a millimeter or more. You can see this the easiest on the rear shot of the Arrow where a few of the thrust-vectoring vanes have snapped off. Interestingly enough, the Rapier II's engines look more intact compared to the Arrow's (citing Sndwv's complaint). Still very acceptable looking considering the materials used, but I'm more than happy with the outcome and look forward to future orders. The lettering is also a little hard to read on the Rapier's wings, but you can still make out TCS-Concordia.

Now the troublesome part...which one do I get next?! :confused:

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Would be nice if Shutterfly didn't add those ridiculous borders but these are the planes raw out of the box. Next stop, clear-coat finish!
 
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