Nice fig! Very clean and cohesive. Dark Blue is a favorite color of mine, and I really like those highlights in the fig.
shmails wrote:The axe was designed in a 3D modeling program and made by a company called Shapeway in the Netherlands. They use a 3D printing machine to make prototypes. It is not ABS plastic, but looks okay after painting.
shmails wrote:It is the same process that brickarms, brickforge, and even LEGO themselves use to make new pieces. The real problem is that it is obviously not abs plastic, which always detracts from the look a bit. Thanks!
Rapid prototyping is definitely a versatile method that's used by many (including LEGO) to test out new parts, but just to be clear, the BrickArms prototypes that Will produces are made via injection of ABS plastic into molds he's cut using his home CNC machine. The advantage of that system of prototyping is that the resulting items are 100% high-quality ABS plastic (or sometimes whatever random plastic Will is experimenting with!).
I've picked up a few 3D printed items over the years, and depending on the resolution of the printer, the parts were decent, particularly after, as you mentioned, a bit of sanding and painting. Still, like you said, there's no substitute for ABS!