Next off the production line...

Yet another Vickers from between the World Wars (did anybody else in Britain make any tanks at all?). This is their Light Tank Mk.IIa.

The Brits were led into a completely false sense of the usefulness of these little vehicles by using them to police their empire, against people without the ability to shoot back on anything like equal terms. By the time WWII rolled around, there were thousands of this thing's descendents in service, and as soon as they went up against other armour — even light armour — they (and more importantly, their crews) were slaughtered.

It's up on Shapeways at http://shpws.me/LP94 in 15mm (1:100) scale, starting at about nine bucks.

And now the 28mm version is there as well, at http://shpws.me/LPfp. It's more expensive, starting at about nineteen dollars.

Lancia Armoured Truck

Lancia armoured truck, c.1921.
Shapeways "Black Strong & Flexible" aterial render.

After trawling my way through a whole bunch of photographs of vintage trucks in various states of dilapidation, I've mocked up sufficient chassis detail for wargaming purposes. It's guaranteed not to be very historically accurate, but it gives an idea that there's more under there than just a flat bottom.

The model is now available from Shapeways in 15mm and 28mm scales.

The original was developed in Italy in WW1 for use as an APC, and was widely exported between the wars: they were used in Ireland, where there is still a beautifully restored example. There were some still in service in WW2.

The Irish example has an A-frame wire mesh tent over the open troop compartment, to ward off bricks, bottles and bombs. I haven't included the frame because it increases the cost of the 3d-print substantially — it inflates the amount of machine space required for the the print, although the increase in material required is tiny.

Vickers in Paint

 I've painted my 3d-printed Vickers Medium Mk.III, and here it is with some 15mm WW1 Brits from Peter Pig.

The WSF material from Shapeways takes a bit of preparation before it's ready for painting.

The printing process is one of laser sintering in a bed of powdered resin, and when the model is cleaned up the excess powder is blown away with compressed air. That leaves quite a bit of powder still hiding in the various crevices and around detail elements, and that needs to be cleared away or else the paint will solidify it. The ideal tool for this would be a dentist's ultrasonic water pick, but since I don't have one of those, I use various steel modeling probes.

Also, the printed surface is very granular, with a texture like fine sponge. That gives a fine tooth for paint, but it's not ideal for small-scale modeling purposes. It can be smoothed down to a certain extent by burnishing, but it can't feasibly be eliminated entirely.

Hopefully, the cost of higher-resolution printing will come down within the foreseeable future. This plastic is OK, but it's not the best option, and I only entertain it because it's the only material Shapeways offer that I can afford in this scale..

More digital armaments

Port

The Carden Loyd Light Tank Mk.VIII from the mid-1920s. Now available from Shapeways in 1:100 scale and 1:56 scale.

This is the vehicle on which Vickers based their enduring line of light tanks, after they bought out Carden Loyd in the 1920s..

Starboard

It's tiny. At full size, it's less than three and a half metres long, which is a little bit smaller than my car — although it would have been a lot heavier than my car, and also much slower and less fuel-efficient. Though my car doesn't have a machine-gun mounted, which I sometimes regret when I'm in traffic

Yet another Vickers

I'm waiting on a book full of scale drawings of interwar military vehicles to arrive from bookdepository.com, and I thought while I wait, I'd whip up a quick Vickers Medium Mk.II. It would be simple and easy, I thought.

I was not entirely correct.

However, it's more or less done now; there are just a few more bits and bobs to add and then it'll be another one off to Shapeways.

It would be nice if I could actually afford to buy the stuff I'm designing. That would be really nice.

NOTE:
It's now available in 15mm (1:100) scale on Shapeways for a measly twenty yankee dollars.

Birch Gun for sale, one owner, low mileage

I don't know why the starboard running gear is bright white
while everything else is grey.

But not the port side, which was just mirrored from
the starboard.

Looking down into the fighting compartment

The view from behind.

I've built a 1:285 digital model of a Birch Gun from 1925, and put it up for sale in my brand new shop on Shapeways.

The limitations of the printing process means that things like the gun shield track guards and tracks are hugely over-thick in scale, but most of the model can just be resized upwards to form the core of a 15mm model.

On the plus side, this is the first model I've submitted to Shapeways that passed all their automated pre-acceptance tests first time, so I'm clearly getting a handle on how to design for the materials.

Austin-Putilov (1:100 scale, Peter Pig)

This is the 1:100 scale Austin-Putilov armoured car from Peter Pig. I haven't yet given it any markings, because I haven't quite decided how I'm going to use it, but no doubt I'll think of something.