Traveller Starships on Shapeways

[Narl]

Foreven Shipyards is proud to announce that in cooperation with Far Future Enterprises we are offering Traveller starships on Shapeways:

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/foreven-shipyards

Foreven Shipyards is focusing on Adventure-class ships that are often used in the Traveller RPG. All are 1:1000 scale, so one meter of actual ship length corresponds to one millimeter on the model.

This is just the first wave of ships. We already have more in the works and they will be available in the coming months. We will have all the classic ships plus newer and more unusual designs. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks!

Mike

 

[crazy_cat]

My first thought, unfortunately was that they look pretty expensive. Nice iconic designs, but pricey.

 

[Reynard]

They look worthy of digging out Mayday.

 

[Narl]

My first thought, unfortunately was that they look pretty expensive. Nice iconic designs, but pricey.

They are printed in what Shapeways calls Frosted Ultra Detail. We test printed a number of potential materials during the design process and it is the best in terms of detail and paintability. We had hoped to offer them in White Strong & Flexible as well since it is much less expensive, but WSF obliterates all the detail and is unpleasant to paint.

This first wave includes a couple of more expensive ships since Shapeways charges based on volume. Both the Subsidized Merchant and the Patrol Corvette are 400 tons. Other upcoming ships, such as the Beowulf-class Free Trader and the Empress Marava-class Far Trader, at 200 tons, will fall somewhere between the Scout Courier and Subsidized Merchant in price.

Glad you like the designs!

 

[Narl]

They look worthy of digging out Mayday.

We are planning a game of Mayday soon. I'll be sure and post some photos!

 

[paltrysum]

They look great, Narl! Count me in. I'll be placing my order today. Can't wait for the other designs, especially the Marava.

 

[Narl]

My first thought, unfortunately was that they look pretty expensive. Nice iconic designs, but pricey.

I did a little more looking into this after I noticed you are in the UK.

At the bottom of the Shapeways page, you can change the location and currency, both of which affect the price. The Scout Courier in USD is $10.95. If I change location to the UK and currency to GBP, it becomes £9.96, which is equivalent to $13.13, and near exactly 20% more than the USD price, so I believe that is the VAT that is being added. It does make for the perception of the price being quite a bit higher!

 

[Narl]

They look great, Narl! Count me in. I'll be placing my order today. Can't wait for the other designs, especially the Marava.

Excellent, thank you!

 

[paltrysum]

Excellent, thank you!

Got my subsidized merchant and launch today. First, I'd like to tell you the sculpt and scale are excellent. Perfect size really. Much bigger than the TNE subby mini that came out in the 90s. The launch looks great, too.

A little critical feedback: The base prong does not fit into the subby's mounting hole without either a) drilling the hole a little deeper, or b) using putty to fasten it the base to the ship. I'm planning on doing b, which should keep the subby in nice condition after painting it. One other thing: I think you should have designed the launch to connect to the stud on the top of the subby. Not a big deal, since I can once again use some putty to hold it in place. Just a nitpick really.

They look absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait to see your Beowulf and Empress Marava sculptures when they come out. I don't think I'll be able to wait, though, and will undoubtedly buy a few scouts and seekers while I wait for the other two.

If I might make a request, please do a version of the Harrier, the commerce-raiding ship from "Pirates of Drinax." I'm using the Revenge-class ship from the old Silent Death minis for now, but a bonafide Harrier would be absolutely terrific. Thanks for making these minis. I've been looking for someone to do this for a while!

 

[Narl]

Got my subsidized merchant and launch today. First, I'd like to tell you the sculpt and scale are excellent. Perfect size really. Much bigger than the TNE subby mini that came out in the 90s. The launch looks great, too.

A little critical feedback: The base prong does not fit into the subby's mounting hole without either a) drilling the hole a little deeper, or b) using putty to fasten it the base to the ship. I'm planning on doing b, which should keep the subby in nice condition after painting it. One other thing: I think you should have designed the launch to connect to the stud on the top of the subby. Not a big deal, since I can once again use some putty to hold it in place. Just a nitpick really.

They look absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait to see your Beowulf and Empress Marava sculptures when they come out. I don't think I'll be able to wait, though, and will undoubtedly buy a few scouts and seekers while I wait for the other two.

If I might make a request, please do a version of the Harrier, the commerce-raiding ship from "Pirates of Drinax." I'm using the Revenge-class ship from the old Silent Death minis for now, but a bonafide Harrier would be absolutely terrific. Thanks for making these minis. I've been looking for someone to do this for a while!

I'm glad you like the ships! And thanks for the feedback on the bases. We did deliberately decide to not make the bases fit via friction alone. The LITKO base stands are a bit inconsistent, so the hole is a bit oversize to leave room for them without having to force things. Counting on friction to keep bases on might not work with regular use. Either use glue, blue-tac putty, or my favorite option MAGNETS:

I plan to do a video on it, but a great way to attach the ships to the bases are to use magnets. You can get 3mm x 1.5mm neodymium magnets on eBay for a few dollars for a hundred. Glue one in the hole on the ship, and another on the top of the stand. Makes for a perfect removable stand. I even glue one to the end of a bamboo skewer and attach it to the ship while painting.

For the Subsidized Merchant and Launch, superglue one magnet into the hole on the bottom of the Launch, and glue another magnet to right where the circular thing is on the top aft of the Subsidized Merchant. You'll then have a Launch you can put on the ship, or take off and put on a stand.

I'm just waiting on the test prints of the Beowulf to get to me. Once I have them and if all look right, they should be available in the next few weeks.

Please post pictures once you have them painted. Thanks you for your support!

Mike

 

[paltrysum]

Magnets! What an excellent idea. Thanks, Mike. Just ordered 100 on eBay.

I'll definitely post a pic when I'm done. Planning on making the subby into the Perfect Stranger from the new Mongoose Traveller adventure, "Islands in the Rift." Can't wait for the Beowulf, and will watch the site closely for the release.

 

[steve98052]

Neat products! I don't play miniatures games much, but I want some of those as tabletop mood decorations next time I get a chance to play.

. . . Counting on friction to keep bases on might not work with regular use. Either use glue, blue-tac putty, or my favorite option MAGNETS:
. . .

This is a great idea.

And off-topic, I was thinking about attaching some of my home baseboard trim with magnets. The only reason to remove them is for ease of painting, which isn't a frequent event, but new nail holes (or paint spills if they're not removed) every decade or so has left my baseboards looking a bit ugly.

Back on topic, magnets might be useful for miniatures with movable parts, like the classic "P" pirate ship and its clamshell doors and movable fins.

 

[paltrysum]

For the Subsidized Merchant and Launch, superglue one magnet into the hole on the bottom of the Launch, and glue another magnet to right where the circular thing is on the top aft of the Subsidized Merchant. You'll then have a Launch you can put on the ship, or take off and put on a stand.

Worked like a charm, by the way. So cool to have the launch magnetically attach to the subby. Thanks for sharing the idea. Still painting them. I'll post photos soon.

 

[paltrysum]

And off-topic, I was thinking about attaching some of my home baseboard trim with magnets. The only reason to remove them is for ease of painting, which isn't a frequent event, but new nail holes (or paint spills if they're not removed) every decade or so has left my baseboards looking a bit ugly.

That's actually a really great idea. I can't imagine my wife going for it, but how much easier would it be to paint a room with magnetic baseboards!

Back on topic. Finished painting my subby and launch. Here are a few photos:

https://ibb.co/fE8r7w
https://ibb.co/bGhJnw

Modeled it on the Perfect Stranger from Mongoose's new adventure module, "Islands in the Rift," which I hope to run soon. Using Narl's magnet idea, I created labels of an iris valve to put on the magnets that are on the bottom of the launch and the top of the subby. The iris valves meet to establish an airlock connection!

Receiving a scout, seeker, and patrol cruiser at the end of this week. Can't wait to paint 'em!

 

[Narl]

Finished painting my subby and launch.

That looks great! Would you mind if I posted the pictures on the Foreven Shipyard Facebook page?

 

[Narl]

I posted this on Facebook, but thought I would share it here as well for those of you who are interested:

I get a fair number of questions on the scale of our miniatures. I thought it might be helpful to list the sizes of our current and upcoming models:

Scout/Courier - 36mm
Seeker - 36mm
Free Trader - 40mm
Patrol Corvette - 72mm
Subsidized Merchant - 53mm
Far Trader - 38mm
Close Escort - 48mm
Launch - 15mm
Fighter - 15mm
Gig - 18mm

Since they are 1:1000 scale, that means every millimeter represents one meter of actual ship. We determined the lengths of the ships from all sorts of Traveller sources, from the T5 deck plans to Classic Traveller's Traders and Gunboats. In some cases we did some averaging since many of the sources disagree.
We really like 1:1000 because it balances out detail and price. The ships are large enough to show lots of detail and paint up well. The scale is large enough for us to do small craft, but not so large that we won't be able to offer a larger models like the Mercenary Cruiser at a reasonable price, since 3D printing prices are based on volume of material.

We did consider matching previous Traveller starship miniature scales, but found that none of them were really true to their stated scale individually or as a line, so there was no point.

Our goal is to have a line of well done Traveller starship miniatures that will forever be available for fans. I spent years trying to collect Traveller starship miniatures, with little success aside from overpaying on a few auctions. Print on demand means they will never go out of print and it means we can offer lots of different ships. We have lots more models in the works beyond what I listed above, but I don't want to spoil too much.

Thanks for your support!

 

[paltrysum]

Finished painting my subby and launch.

That looks great! Would you mind if I posted the pictures on the Foreven Shipyard Facebook page?

Please do! Got my scout, seeker, and patrol cruiser yesterday. I'll post photos there after they're painted (and magneted).

Since they are 1:1000 scale, that means every millimeter represents one meter of actual ship.

Glad you went to the effort. The fact that they're scaled adds to the gaming experience. When conducting ship combat, it's nice to have a visual that's more or less accurate.

 

[Narl]

The Beowulf-class Free Trader is now available!

https://www.shapeways.com/product/46B3M72EJ/free-trader

We also added the gig small craft. Just waiting on the test prints of the Marava-class Far Trader, and the Gazelle-class Close Escort is not far behind!

Thank you to everyone who has bought a few of these to help us recoup some of the initial design costs. We really appreciate the support of our goal to make a full line of Traveller starship miniatures available!

 

[paltrysum]

I see your sculptor has been busy! Placed my order for all the new ships (the Marava, Close Escort, etc.) a couple days ago. I'm overdue at posting a few more photos. I've painted a scout, seeker, patrol cruiser, and a Beowulf. I'll put them up on the Foreven Shipyards FB page ASAP.

 

[bklokis]

Nice work!

Any chance we'll see the PoD Harrier miniature soon?