My God, It's Real!

The raw resin

 I'm more excited than is truly proper for a Gentleman of a Certain Age, as the very first actual physical 3d-printed results of my labours has just arrived.

The model, primed for visibility

It's the two-piece 1:300 scale Vickers Medium Mk.III, in Shapeways' Frosted Ultra Detail resin.

I'm pretty impressed, I have to say. And it shows me a lot about what I need to be adjusting and exaggerating when designing in this very small scale, and what can just be left to be suggested.

The rivets, for example: they're visible (in places), but they don't get across the rivetiness of the tank. There could be fewer of them, but larger. There is visible striation on vertical surfaces, though it isn't visible from arm's length, and I doubt that it would be visible at all on a pewter casting.

I'll be interested to see how the Frosted Extreme Detail resin fares. It's more expensive, but in terms of the overall labour and expense involved in creating a master for moulding and casting, the difference isn't that great, and hopefully it will deal better with vertical surfaces.