Talking about 3d Printing...

Recently I have read some less than inspiring comments on a Forum on 3D printed vehicles, some were general, some were directed against Butlers Printed Models. It happens that I own several 15mm models from them, and I do think that the comments were basically sockpuppetting from people linked to other companies. 

Of course I cannot present evidence (but one of the most virulent commentators was indeed a scratch builder whose excellent masters are used by another company...), but there is often a clear message:

3d printing is bad buy our resins...

Now my experience with 3d Printing is mixed. I have tried Shapeways, and while the ship in 1/6000, 1/4800, and 1/3000 I got were from good to excellent, the only tank in 15mm I bought there, a Chinese Type 96G, was subpar and extremely expensive. While I can recommend ships and some shops i particular (more on an upcoming post), once you got to tanks in larger scales, quality and price are not there. 

On the other hand my discovery of Butlers Printed Models has been an happy experience. Their vehicles are reasonably priced and compare well with 15mm offers, either in plastic, metal, or resin. 

Here is one of my first model, a Centurion Sho't. first of all, except quality castings in US no one does a 15mm Sho't for the 1973 war. Peter Pig does one for lebanon with ERA armor, BF has only the Meteor engine one.

Now if you look closely you can see the 'trademark' of 3D printing, the lines or stripes, but photography emphasized them more than real life sight. The other issue is the riveting in this particular tank the rivets came a bit 'larger than life.'  The other issue is excess material. The underside of the tank is ugly (but you do not see it!), and the underside of the gun barrell required a strong clean up. Said that, for a 15mm vehicle it is more than reasonable. I would not say awesome, but definitely good.

I replaced the MG with a plastic one, MGs are, as the time of writing, one of the weak points of the range.

Our second 'witness' is a soviet BTR-60PB in East German livery.

Another good representation of the real life vehicle. The turret MG is not bad at all, better than the metal one in the PSC/ArmiesArmy Resin-metal ones. The 'striping' is not prominent at all, despite the dry-brush. The real bad issue of this specifi model is the light above the driving hatch that is not well reproduced. The one on the plastic FoW kits is much better. But the Butlers one is around half the price, and the overall quality is good. 

Finally, the last witness, for now, is an Israeli Defence force Magach (M48 with 105mm gun and local modification). Again this is a vehicle you do not find anywhere else. It is also quite peculiar compared to the previous one because its rounder shape. Rounder shapes is were 3D printing is often  weaker.

The turret pass inspection with flying colours. The wheels... a bit less. it is probably the weaker visible area. In the last picture you can see the little problem with excess material (even after cleaning) on the underside of the gun barrel.  Again MGs were replaced with plastic ones from the spare box. Said that it is not a vehicle I would complain about. IT captures the shapes well, the jerry can on the turrets are nice, and on the table it works well. 

Verdict?

I am more and more persuaded that there is a lot of sock-puppetting involved in the bash. It is not perfect, it has limitations, but 3D printing is a viable wargaming tools, and, thanks to company like Butlers, it is helping us gamers. 

PS: no vehicle story today... it was more a post on 3D printing than the 'toys', but feel comforted, I will talk about them very soon!

Bundesheer...

After the madness of the 'unplanned diversion that turned into a horde' post, a little filler. I have recently repainted four Leopard 1A5 from H&R.

Everyone on the net always moans how good the GHQ models are, and then they painted them in awful manner. I have GHQ models, but I do not think they are by default the first choice. Heroic and Ros models are often perfectly good, especially with a good paintjob.

These Leopards were sitting in my bits box for ages. I just repainted them (so they have two coats!), and the end result is perfectly good.

The key element of the 1A5 version, the added Blohm und Voss turret armor and the smoke dischargers are perfectly visible, especially after a mix of dry-bushing and black-lining. The tools on the sides of the hull are there. The mantlet (another key element of the outlook) is also well done. I am happy.

M60 Platoon (+)

Okay finally I got around taking the pictures of the whole box of Pattons. Five MBTs give be or a pre-division 86 5 tank platoon, or a division 86 platoon (4 tanks) plus one tank going to the Company HQ section. Not a lot of text this time, just pictures.  Here we go...

PSC M60, Part 2

As I promised here is a follow on post on the PSC M60. I painted the first two, so I will post some quick images of the first one, with some comments.

I have gone for an US MRDC Summer (US and Europe) camo. I think it suits the M60 pretty well.  Painting was easy and peasy, with no real issues.

As I said two days ago, the mantlet cover is really well done. The turret looks nice and spot on to me. Its distinctive shape is well reproduced. The smoke launchers... well they are not perfect, but workable once painted. The strange band on the muzzle is not too visible, too. Overall the tank deserves a 8.5 or even a 9 out of 10. The only missing part that immediately come to my mind is the pipe on the right side of the hull (look at the real photo in the previous post. It should have been modeled on the upper hull without any problem.  That it what prevents an higher score. The BF model has it... :(

Now after having painted some, and looked at them my final verdict is still positive, for 4£ a tank (from Caliver) it is a must buy if you are looking for M60A3 TTS.

Now, if you are interested to my camo recipe...

Base Forest Green: Vallejo US Dark Green  893
'Jungle' Green: Vallejo USA Uniform Green 922
Khaki: Vallejo Khaki 988 (surprise!!!)
Black: Vallejo Black 950 (again what surprise...)

I gave a drybrush with Vallejo Iraqi Sand 819 that really helps bringing out the detail (sharply molded on the kit).

Black-lining... well of black ink.

PSC M60A3

Whaaaaa....

months without a post. Let's roll with something new. Thursday I received a couple of boxes (two actually...) of the newest PSC cold war tank the M60A3. 5 tank per box, at around 21£, 20£ from Caliver Books.

Now, I love the Patton, and I could not resist assembling a couple as soon as possible. So I took cutters and glue... and here is the result:

15mm, plastic, it looks a little neat kit. I am pleased with the results but...

well before rambling and ranting let me discuss the positive elements of the kit. Beside the price, that is not bad at all, the shape of the tank is well rendered. The turret basked is both well done and sufficiently fine, but also easy to build and sturdy.  The canvas cover over the mantlet is well done, looking suitably canvas. The MG turret/cupola is also quite nice. The two turret hatches are clean and easily to position, either open or closed. I also like the two crewmen. Overall build was quite easy and pleasant, with pieces fitting well. For 4£ at tank this is a good model no ifs or buts.

One the other side of the coin... well there are some issues. Minor issues I would say, at least the majority. First of all there are no aligning marks on the two halves of the hull or the turret, it is not impossible to line them properly (the turret especially), but you need to be careful. I found that gluing the rear grill to the upper part of the hull before putting the bottom hull into position is helpful (changing the order from the instruction sheet). More annoying is the fact that the instructions place the smoke dischargers in a completely wrong position, both on the specific panel and one overall render. The box art has them in the proper position... my suggestion is double check pictures of the real tank. The dischargers were the most annoying thing in my first build. I had to scrounge the shelves for pictures. Also they are a bit crude and badly angled.

Another issue is the barrel, while the fume extractor and the thermal sleeve are well done, the muzzle is not.  There is no ringed brake on the the real thing.

Look at this picture of a Taiwanese (ROC) M60A3 TTS:

you see the difference? You can also see the dischargers... and other missing items on the right fender.

The final issue is the fact that you can build only an M60A3 TTS from the box. There is no searchlight for a vanilla A3 or the non sleeved barrel of the A1. Used to the panoply of options from PSC this is a let down. It also means you cannot do an Israeli A1 for the October War...  of course I would have also loved an original round turret (for IDF tanks) or an A2 one... but these were fancy things, the missing barrel and searchlight were minor addition, not even taking too much space on the sprue, that would have increased the value of the kit.

In summary it is a good model, well priced, but is just an A3 TTS and has a couple of mistakes.

Stay tuned for painted beasts!