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Any websites dedicated to scale model plans?


Eivind Lunde

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I'm in the process of trying to convince myself (and certainly my G.F) that I have the need for a 3D printer to make scale modelling details and parts. But it seems like the actual 3D drawings one can print are scattered over many different sites and formats. Are there no actual website for modellers that contains drawings other modellers have created for free use by others, in common file formats?

If there isn't, I may be able to host a site at least for the Britmodeller users if the interest is there.

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1 hour ago, bootneck said:

Do you mean plans for you to draw and produce your own CAD files?  Or do you mean already produced files, ready to download and print?  If the latter, try this site, or possibly this one.

 

MIke

I will add the first url to the thread Where to find 3D designs.

Didn’t hear of this one before, so thank you for bringing it to our attention.

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15 hours ago, bootneck said:

Do you mean plans for you to draw and produce your own CAD files?  Or do you mean already produced files, ready to download and print?  If the latter, try this site, or possibly this one.

 

MIke

I meant already produced plans to print. I know there are quite a few sites out there, but do they cater to modellers needs? 

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We modellers have different views on what our needs are; I need ship's boats and cranes in 1/350 scale or a Gannet AS.4 in 1:144 scale etc., therefore not sure what you are looking for.  Have a look at those sites and decide for yourself.

 

Here's an example of some free files I found by doing a search, although I've not printed them as I don't do cars

 

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I may be just plain bad at explaining what I mean, but what I am asking is really if there is a site that is dedicated to scale modellers (all areas and scales), and if not, wouldn't it be nice if there was?

I know you can find relevant things at the big sites, I have tried to find things like a Mercedes D.III engine, but sifting through hundreds of Mercedes cars, badges, accessories, and so on was a chore. And when I found some they were priced from $15 - 250, which is fair if you want to make money.

But if we could encourage the modellers using 3D printers to upload their designs to a dedicated modellers site for free for others to use and update/improve, it could help to spread the use of 3D printers in our hobby. 

It could even be as simple as sharing them here, on Britmodeller, using Dropbox or other ways. 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hi:

 

This is a very interestin topic. While I foresee that online sites or communities focused on sharing / selling digital products (=STL files) for modellers will arrive at some point I could think in a nunber of reasons why there are no such sites yet I´m aware of:

 

1.- This is too new already for the average modeller. 

 

2.- Modellers with 3D printers are a neglegible fraction of the already reduced 3D printer owners comunity. We are too few yet.

 

3.- Based on the previous, there are very few modellers and designers developing digital products and their designs may -or may not- be interesting for the rest of us. When I say digital products that includes from accesories to detailling parts to full kits. But that´s not all. We also need all of those designs with a proper development cycle that ensures the part / model works as intended and could be printed by the average modeller with an average 3D resin printer.

 

Just take a quick look at the styreme mainplayers: we all have seen promising CADs that turned into not that much fantastic models often.

 

I find -personal opinion- critical that this is one of those issues that we should avoid now that we can control the development cycle of our digital products from the start. As we speak  you may find many digital models out there that may not be up to our expectations often. Because those were not done with the modeller or the target kit in mind, because those do not have the resolution enough, because those are for a specific scale and cannot be rescaled properly... there are many factors at stake here in the design field.

 

4.- Those modellers and designers testing these waters may have quite different goals and motivations. Some reserve their designs for their own pleasure and personal use. Others have no interest in sharing or releasing their digital files but in printing for selling. Others have the intention to monetize their designs and then selling their STL files and a last group that is open to free share their STLs openly too.

 

5.- Based on the previous, it could be rather difficult to have a single community covering not just the end user (=modeller) preferences but the designers ones at once.

 

6.- I could see specific -in modelling theme at least (AFVs, airplanes, ships, sci-fi...)- communities could be very interesting and much welcomed. And those could split in scales and / or in free to download  vs for paid designs too. THat coud lead us to a real marketplace of digital products for the modeller.

 

But... there is a but always.

 

With no designers no game. And with no designers willing to free share or sell their designs no hope. And this is a touchy issue.

 

There are a few but relevant factors preventing designers to share their digital products and piracy is the main cause I hear often. That´s why designers are afraid to share their designs because a third party could start selling prints, resin casted copies, uploading them into printing marketplaces like Shapeways... so those concerns are for real.

 

There is also another factor that is the pressure of those modellers with no access to a 3D printer. When you show a CAD or a print the first thing you hear often is "can I order the part?". The issue for those with no printer is for real but the designer interested in designing and sharing their digital product have not way to bridge such gap.

 

But as we speak there is no market for those wanting to sell their designs either. Once more, this is too new. So at some point those designers that had the original idea of having some return for their hard work monetizing their designs  of those designers interested in free sharing may change their mind and became more interested in printing for selling.

 

And then, again, no designer, no game.

 

If you ask me, I´m one of those more interested in the digital product than the printed one and I have no issues in free sharing my designs. Others opinions may vay, so zero complaints of course. But what floats my boat is the "for modellers by modellers" side of all of this and I see the modelling community will understand the real meaning of disruptive soon thanks to this 3D thing. 

 

Going back to the topic, I run two FB groups devoted to CAD and 3D printing applied to AFV modelling -1/48th and 1/72nd-. If main online communities and long stablished modeller sites had offered such space I would have not gone to FB in the first place. So we have had to make our own decissions and I hope more and new specific communities will arrive soon.

 

I also want to say that this community has been quick and smart enough for starting some boards on the CAD and 3D printing topics. Perhaps not perfect or not enough yet but it´s a start indeed. So well done Britmodeller!

 

Regards!

Alvaro

Edited by Alvaro Rodriguez
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  • 1 month later...

The creation of a perfect scale model product from zero, consists of the following stages, each of which is a pain in the bottom for anyone who dares to do this nonsense.
1. Collection of reference data

2. Research work with reference

3. Digital, or phisical modelling prototype (scanning of physical prototype and finalization of digital form)

4. Printing

 

People who have gone all the way on their own will never upload digital layouts for free. Because the first three points usually make up the lifestyle and investment of most of the material resources of the enthusiast, as well as the large contribution of his loved ones, family, friends. The vast majority of technical historians and engineering enthusiasts published their books with technical nonographies and drawings only thanks to material support from other people or life circumstances, while such activity itself is completely unprofitable. The extraction of a reference is generally a mixture of luck, material capabilities, public relations and experience, very few people in the world have such a combination of circumstances and none of them publish materials for free.

Something that, of course, is a very insignificant part by the way, is available on the Internet. For example, how did the factory drawings of a P-51 Mustang for 100$ appear on sale in the internet, do you know? The German enthusiast spent several thousand euros to find and make a copy. His goal was to create a company for the production of airframe parts. He shared the archive with one person and then with another, these people also shared, and then a bunch of people completely unrelated to the original people began to trade this archive, dogging among themselves which of them is the more correct owner, and knock down the price. The original enthusiast did not suffer as a result of this obscurantism, since he created a company and sells parts, respectively, his investments paid off, but many people involved in the search and processing of historical materials were so unlucky. Therefore, the most intractable people are collectors of historical engineering materials.

 

Note, this is only the first number on the list.

Edited by DLinevitch
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2 hours ago, DLinevitch said:

People who have gone all the way on their own will never upload digital layouts for free.

Not necessarily so. Money is not always the motivation ... I've seen this myself with regard to photography and aircraft sims. There are those who will see the benefit of a sharing site. Yes, they may give their own work for free but in return they can use the work of others.

 

If you do/create something for your own personal pleasure with no intention of profiting from it, does it really matter to you if someone else makes some money? Have you lost anything? Of course the older of us will remember that this was the ethos of the web when it started. Of course it changed once the commercial world muscled its way in. Something that was perhaps seen as a threat to traditional capitalist values quickly got subverted.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

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I have a collection of plans that show airfield buildings from WWII.

I willingly shared a couple of these plans with a guy in the USA so he could print out a 3D model; I presume he must have done the digital update so the machine could print.

He very kindly sent me a 3D print out of the model as a Thank you.

I dont know enough yet about the 3D process of turning a line drawing into a print design but that, in the future, is what I would like to be able to do.

 

An interesting topic of conversation I must say with numerous points I find quite valid  . . .

Ian

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Here's a good example. You want to build an airplane model. The original is not in museums; there is also little to learn from books. You spend a couple of years to find out that what you dream about is in this archive. You will be very lucky if the archive is located in an accessible place for you, or at least in your country. Next, you either go to the archive yourself or hire an assistant. You spend a lot of time, energy and money on reading endless files of cases, bribing employees with gifts so that they are loyal to you, copying found materials (and it is not always possible to copy, and again bribery of employees can solve a lot). This process can also take several years. The next step, you spend a few years just to start figuring out what you've dug up. Then you finally start designing the prototype. What is generally a very complex process that again requires a lot of time and effort. A dream is expensive, isn't it? And here it is, the printed model. What it cost you your family and friends, only you know. After everything you've experienced, can you with a light heart upload the prototype to the Internet? If so, then you are apparently Jesus.

 

 

Edited by DLinevitch
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  • 5 months later...
On 26/01/2021 at 15:39, ckw said:

Not necessarily so. Money is not always the motivation ... I've seen this myself with regard to photography and aircraft sims. There are those who will see the benefit of a sharing site. Yes, they may give their own work for free but in return they can use the work of others.

 

If you do/create something for your own personal pleasure with no intention of profiting from it, does it really matter to you if someone else makes some money? Have you lost anything? Of course the older of us will remember that this was the ethos of the web when it started. Of course it changed once the commercial world muscled its way in. Something that was perhaps seen as a threat to traditional capitalist values quickly got subverted.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

 

On 26/01/2021 at 19:02, DLinevitch said:

Here's a good example. You want to build an airplane model. The original is not in museums; there is also little to learn from books. You spend a couple of years to find out that what you dream about is in this archive. You will be very lucky if the archive is located in an accessible place for you, or at least in your country. Next, you either go to the archive yourself or hire an assistant. You spend a lot of time, energy and money on reading endless files of cases, bribing employees with gifts so that they are loyal to you, copying found materials (and it is not always possible to copy, and again bribery of employees can solve a lot). This process can also take several years. The next step, you spend a few years just to start figuring out what you've dug up. Then you finally start designing the prototype. What is generally a very complex process that again requires a lot of time and effort. A dream is expensive, isn't it? And here it is, the printed model. What it cost you your family and friends, only you know. After everything you've experienced, can you with a light heart upload the prototype to the Internet? If so, then you are apparently Jesus.

 

 

This isn't black and white, so you have both valid points. But when you see the work done by people making shareware programs or do modding for PC games, then you know that people are willing to put down hundreds of hours just because they enjoy what they do and want others to enjoy it as well.

Have a look at the www.nexusmods.com site to see how big this actually is in PC gaming. 

These days many people ask for a small donation if you want to give them some money via PayPal or other services, but otherwise you are free to use their programs for free if you want to. So this could also be a way to get something back as an appreciation of the hard work you have put into it.

Also, not all things require hundreds of hours of research. Wheels of correct size, a smaller rudder to change a kit into the prototype, correct struts, things like that can be done quite quickly and could be helpful for other modellers.
 

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I´m with you here @Eivind Lunde and I also believe in the power of the communities and freesharing. We all are well aware how that works successfully for many other areas that I see no reason we modellers could do the same soon. Once more, I also have zero complaints regarding those wanting to have some (well deserved) return for their hard work. Internet is such a big place that there is room for everyone... including the bad guys wanting to take advantage of your hard work. 

 

BTW on a side note I had been contributing to some mods development in Nexus some time ago and I have to say that was a lot of fun but that required countless hours of hard work. Again, zero regrets actually. The fact that thousands of users could enjoy such collaborative work (for free) made it a truly rewarding experience.

 

Regards!

Alvaro

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