Still haven’t gotten anything related to my ship, pics or even a response to the inquiry about my order. Hopefully, it comes before December at this rate.
So, as my new signature indicates, I finally received my ship...after waiting for over four months. For those of you that are still waiting, I really really really hope you get yours soon. I'll share some things I learned from my experience that'll hopefully clear up what GamePrint hasn't.
(I took a bunch of pictures that can be found on my tumblr, including a side by side comparison with Eaglemoss ships of roughly similar scale. I plan to write a thorough, in-depth review, but I'm off to the Star Trek convention tomorrow, so that'll have to wait until I get back.)
Anyway, here's what I learned from my experience with GamePrint:
- Certain ships take longer than others. Some ships are printed in pieces and then assembled while some ships are printed in one piece. GamePrint makes the call when they first get the ship assets on how best to print a ship. Apparently, GamePrint has several printers of different sizes but the queue for the large printer is very long so ships that are printed in one piece will take longer than ones that are assembled.
- After printing the ship, GamePrint tests each model for structural integrity and if a ship doesn't pass the test, it may need to be re-printed with a stronger resin or to have the weak points strengthened. This obviously adds additional time so if your ship has thin structures or pylons (like mine does) this could be another reason why you're waiting longer.
- You may need to reach out to GamePrint repeatedly and through multiple channels (emails, phone calls, tweet at them, etc.) for them to answer. It took me several emails and phone calls before they gave me substantive updates and started to explain what was taking so long. Eventually, I started emailing and calling them almost every week after June. FWIW, their customer service people do seem to genuinely care about getting the orders fulfilled as soon as possible so just be courteous (but firm) with them, and I think they'll try to help however they can.
- GamePrint is based in Jordan, but their production facility is in Poland apparently, at least for the 12-inch painted models. Factor in the time difference when you're calling or emailing them.
Also, Spoiler Alert for those of you who were promised a "gift" because of the delay. The gift is just a 4-inch color printed Pathfinder. They sent them out in early June. I'm guessing they ran out of those and now are having to use the printers to fulfill the new 4-inch orders, so maybe that's why you haven't received the gift yet. I didn't really care about the Pathfinder model, but if you really want one, it might be worth asking about.
Hopefully, some of that was helpful. Keep hope alive!
After only 4 months, 19 weeks, 134 days, it's here. It's real! U.S.S. Tempest
It took a little while, but I did receive the ship I ordered from GamePrint. Note: this ship wasn't one of the more complex designs out there, and since I am an experienced model builder and prefer to do my own painting, I ordered it in the primer-only format. I placed the order on May 29, production was completed on July 26, and the print arrived on 04 August.
The box the model was shipped in was apparently designed for a much fatter ship. At least it was well protected. The black GamePrint box was in bubble wrap, and was shipped in an even larger box filled with Styrofoam peanuts, which in turn was completely wrapped in clear plastic (like you sometimes see on cargo pallets). The package was shipped via EMS from Poland, then transferred to USPS Priority Mail once it got to the US. It took a couple of days for the package to get through customs apparently.
(ruler for size reference)
My ship is a Dauntless-class T6 Experimental Science Vessel, with the Type 1 surface material and Type 1 windows, nothing too crazy on the geometry side.
The print is about 1 foot/30-ish cm in length as advertised, and painted in a gray primer. It seems similar to some lacquer primers I have used. It looks like they replicated a lot of the hull lines in a scribed (indented, as opposed to raised) style. The smaller paneling (represented with bump mapping and color variations in game) was not represented, nor were the edges of the darker colored areas of the ship. The windows and lifeboat hatches are printed as indented details.
It looks like the surface of the ship has been finished with putty or some similar filler, and is fairly smooth around most of the print. There are a couple of areas near the front of the engine nacelles that are harder to access with tools, and some of the 3D printing artifacts (ridges) are slightly noticeable around there. Some of the hull lines did get a little filled in, so I will probably need to re-scribe some areas a bit to make the lines more consistent in depth. I would prefer to depict the lifeboat hatches as raised detail, so I will probably use some thin styrene sheet to reproduce the hatches and put them over the indented detail there.
The details of the impulse engine exhausts and warp nacelle grilles are kind of subtle, since they are almost flush with the surrounding hull in the game mesh.
So far, I think the cost is reasonable for the item I received. I usually estimate that by considering how much time it would take me to do the same work myself, and since I don't have access to a similar quality 3D printer, that is part of the equation. I am one of those model builders who is crazy enough to cast this thing in resin to make it hollow and put lights and stuff in it, so I have a lot of interesting ideas brewing on this project!
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Eaglemoss announced at STLV that it would be collaborating with STO to produce the Enterprise-F. At the very least, this means that STO has been talking to Eaglemoss. There's the possibility then that it could produce other STO ships if there is sufficient demand for them.
I don't expect Eaglemoss to ever produce custom ships for players like GamePrint does, but if they happen to produce a STO ship that matches a player's ship design structure, it should be much cheaper (and faster) to get the ship repainted than ordering a 3D printed one from GamePrint.
After only 4 months, 19 weeks, 134 days, it's here. It's real! U.S.S. Tempest
Is a Risian Luxury Cruiser, with the top door closes of course, doable in the 7 inch range?
I believe I saw pictures shared on the STO Facebook page way back in May that showed a primed Risian Luxury Cruiser so they can definitely do it in the 12-inch range. I don't know why they wouldn't be able to in the 7-inch range.
After only 4 months, 19 weeks, 134 days, it's here. It's real! U.S.S. Tempest
Eaglemoss announced at STLV that it would be collaborating with STO to produce the Enterprise-F. At the very least, this means that STO has been talking to Eaglemoss. There's the possibility then that it could produce other STO ships if there is sufficient demand for them.
I don't expect Eaglemoss to ever produce custom ships for players like GamePrint does, but if they happen to produce a STO ship that matches a player's ship design structure, it should be much cheaper (and faster) to get the ship repainted than ordering a 3D printed one from GamePrint.
Eaglemoss would have to heavily emphasize it is the STO version of the Enterprise-F due to the possibility of a canon Enterprise-F being created in some future Star Trek TV series or movie.
I never understood why anyone would want to create a standard Star Trek ship with GamePrint when Eaglemoss and other companies would do it cheaper.
I never understood why anyone would want to create a standard Star Trek ship with GamePrint when Eaglemoss and other companies would do it cheaper.
Exactly! Eaglemoss even started making 8.5 and 10-inch versions of the hero ships. They sell them for $75. So if your STO ship is a Constitution-, Galaxy-, Sovereign-, NX-, Intrepid-, Defiant-, or Excelsior-class startship, you could buy the large size Eaglemoss model and still have around $470 to hire someone to repaint it with your ship's colors and insignia for the same cost of a 12-inch hand painted model from GamePrint ($549).
I've actually done this with McFarlane sports figures and the cost of getting a figure custom painted was only around $150. Also, I only had to wait for less than a month before the artist was able to complete it so the wait time was shorter too!
After only 4 months, 19 weeks, 134 days, it's here. It's real! U.S.S. Tempest
Is a Risian Luxury Cruiser, with the top door closes of course, doable in the 7 inch range?
I believe I saw pictures shared on the STO Facebook page way back in May that showed a primed Risian Luxury Cruiser so they can definitely do it in the 12-inch range. I don't know why they wouldn't be able to in the 7-inch range.
Included in the review is a comparison with a model of the U.S.S. Defiant from Eaglemoss to help evaluate if the 3D model is worth the extra money.
TL;DR summary: While I'm very satisfied with how my ship turned out, I would only recommend getting a 3D printed ship from GamePrint if your STO ship is a design that you can only get through 3D printing. Eaglemoss models, especially their new large versions, are very comparable in the level of detail that you can get for a fraction of the cost.
I hope this is helpful for anyone considering getting the 12-inch painted option from GamePrint. LLAP
After only 4 months, 19 weeks, 134 days, it's here. It's real! U.S.S. Tempest
Very nice review, and for anyone who gets the bigger models, I hope it's everything you want. Myself, I've resigned myself to the four inch model, because I just can't afford anything bigger. I will however take full advantage of the chance to had e my kitbashed and unique Arbiter made.
Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there... you can make a difference.
-Captain James T. Kirk
I will probably get my ship tomorrow, yours look great! I especially love your choice of kit-bashing, I love those Nacelle's and the configuration in general! She truly shows the re-used parts scenario of ships made from left-over parts.. Like the Centaur and Yeager Class ships from the Dominion War.
so i get this a few days ago this will be the second delay, Granted i can see why they would want to use a far better printer system to cut down on hand painting but seriously.
Hello,
We strive to make sure every order is perfected and done with the highest quality possible but due to the complexity of your design it is almost impossible to get the quality we want using only hand painting, for that we are offering you the ability to switch to a better approach which merges between the best of both 3D printing and hand painting; the approach uses a new type of inkjet 3D printers that will lay down the base colors (10 million colors) and a master artist will detail out the model into it's best form, if you approve this switch then we will be more than happy to start processing your order otherwise we are happy to offer you a full refund as unfortunately the model can't be done fully handpainted.
I will agree to let them do this as frustrating as it is ,
If that's a standard sized BNC connector on that radio or whatever, the ship in the above pictures looks about 12 inches long. I don't know what the material is for the color-printed models, but the single-color print I got was made of something really super rigid.
To try to deal with the painting issues in hard-to-reach areas of the model geometry, I e-mailed GamePrint and asked if they could send the model in parts (in my case with the engine nacelles detached), but I didn't get a whole lot of follow-up on the subject. Even though it would reduce the work for them, I am guessing that would require a bunch of extra coordination.
From what little experience I have with 3D printing (on a much cheaper printer than what they probably use), trying to print too much stuff in one go can result in distortion for various reasons. It seems like it would allow for a better overall product if they printed the ships in smaller sections and then combined them afterwards. If there were some misalignment like in the nacelles of the above ship, you could at least shave down the ends of the pylons so that the nacelles go on straight, or you could redo the pylons without messing up the rest of the ship.
In my darkest hour of waiting, I had doubts that I would ever get my 12-inch painted ship from GamePrint...so I ordered a 4-inch color printed version of my ship because I noticed people were getting those quicker. Here's what the two options (on the polar opposite ends of the cost/quality spectrum) look like side by side:
I would just say that for those who can't afford or don't want to wait for the super high-end option, the cheapest option is actually a pretty good deal. There's a surprising amount of detail in the 4-inch model, and while the 12-inch painted option is great, I wouldn't say it's 20x better than the 4-inch version to be commensurate with the cost.
Having said that, I just got a 10-inch U.S.S. Voyager from the XL edition of Eaglemoss models. For someone who's kinda OCD about my models being in scale with each other, I'm very pleased that my 12-inch ship (an Akira-class variant) is just about the same scale as Voyager and the Defiant!
LLAP
After only 4 months, 19 weeks, 134 days, it's here. It's real! U.S.S. Tempest
If anyone is curious about how the high end 12-inch painted model directly compares to the more economical 4-inch color printed model, I just received a 4-inch version of my ship that I also ordered. (At one point, I had serious doubts as to whether GamePrint would be able to deliver the 12-inch painted ship I ordered and I noticed that the 4-inch ships were being delivered much faster. I figured I'd get one and if it arrived before the 12-inch was finished, I would just cancel my first order since I really only wanted a model of my ship in any shape or form. The painted model arrived first, but the small model still did arrive faster: 1.5 months instead of 4 months.)
Anyway, here's what the two options look like side by side:
As others have noted, the color on some of these smaller models seems to be off. It's much more yellowish-gray than the blue-gray that it should be. Although not that noticeable in the pics, the nacelle pylons were a little distorted and caused the nacelles to bend a bit. Also, unlike on the larger model, there are visible striations in certain areas of the smaller ship so that you can tell it was 3D printed.
Still, the 4-inch model is VERY detailed for something so small. Almost every detail on the larger model I can also pretty much find on the smaller model too. For me at least, the good outweighs the bad and I'm pretty happy with how the 4-inch version of my ship turned out. I'll probably loop some fishing line around it and turn it into a Christmas tree ornament this winter!
FWIW, I'd say that the 4-inch model is a very nice option, assuming you don't encounter any serious problems with the coloring or shape distortion. The high end 12-inch painted option now costs over 20 times what the 4-inch color printed version costs, and I honestly can't say that the former is 20 times better than the latter.
After only 4 months, 19 weeks, 134 days, it's here. It's real! U.S.S. Tempest
There might be some problems with the struts and spikes. The negative Gameprint thread involved a 4 inch Constitution and due to the similarities, the same structural issues might arise in a 4 inch Pioneer.
I can't help but notice on the closeup of the handpainted model in your review that there is quite a bit of sloppiness with the paint in places. To be honest for the money I would expect the painting to be more precise. Even more so with the long wait you had before it was delivered. This has me thinking of skipping the hand paint and getting the primer only so I can airbrush it and get the paint inside the lines if you will.
Comments
(I took a bunch of pictures that can be found on my tumblr, including a side by side comparison with Eaglemoss ships of roughly similar scale. I plan to write a thorough, in-depth review, but I'm off to the Star Trek convention tomorrow, so that'll have to wait until I get back.)
Anyway, here's what I learned from my experience with GamePrint:
- Certain ships take longer than others. Some ships are printed in pieces and then assembled while some ships are printed in one piece. GamePrint makes the call when they first get the ship assets on how best to print a ship. Apparently, GamePrint has several printers of different sizes but the queue for the large printer is very long so ships that are printed in one piece will take longer than ones that are assembled.
- After printing the ship, GamePrint tests each model for structural integrity and if a ship doesn't pass the test, it may need to be re-printed with a stronger resin or to have the weak points strengthened. This obviously adds additional time so if your ship has thin structures or pylons (like mine does) this could be another reason why you're waiting longer.
- You may need to reach out to GamePrint repeatedly and through multiple channels (emails, phone calls, tweet at them, etc.) for them to answer. It took me several emails and phone calls before they gave me substantive updates and started to explain what was taking so long. Eventually, I started emailing and calling them almost every week after June. FWIW, their customer service people do seem to genuinely care about getting the orders fulfilled as soon as possible so just be courteous (but firm) with them, and I think they'll try to help however they can.
- GamePrint is based in Jordan, but their production facility is in Poland apparently, at least for the 12-inch painted models. Factor in the time difference when you're calling or emailing them.
Also, Spoiler Alert for those of you who were promised a "gift" because of the delay. The gift is just a 4-inch color printed Pathfinder. They sent them out in early June. I'm guessing they ran out of those and now are having to use the printers to fulfill the new 4-inch orders, so maybe that's why you haven't received the gift yet. I didn't really care about the Pathfinder model, but if you really want one, it might be worth asking about.
Hopefully, some of that was helpful. Keep hope alive!
U.S.S. Tempest
The box the model was shipped in was apparently designed for a much fatter ship. At least it was well protected. The black GamePrint box was in bubble wrap, and was shipped in an even larger box filled with Styrofoam peanuts, which in turn was completely wrapped in clear plastic (like you sometimes see on cargo pallets). The package was shipped via EMS from Poland, then transferred to USPS Priority Mail once it got to the US. It took a couple of days for the package to get through customs apparently.
(ruler for size reference)
My ship is a Dauntless-class T6 Experimental Science Vessel, with the Type 1 surface material and Type 1 windows, nothing too crazy on the geometry side.
The print is about 1 foot/30-ish cm in length as advertised, and painted in a gray primer. It seems similar to some lacquer primers I have used. It looks like they replicated a lot of the hull lines in a scribed (indented, as opposed to raised) style. The smaller paneling (represented with bump mapping and color variations in game) was not represented, nor were the edges of the darker colored areas of the ship. The windows and lifeboat hatches are printed as indented details.
It looks like the surface of the ship has been finished with putty or some similar filler, and is fairly smooth around most of the print. There are a couple of areas near the front of the engine nacelles that are harder to access with tools, and some of the 3D printing artifacts (ridges) are slightly noticeable around there. Some of the hull lines did get a little filled in, so I will probably need to re-scribe some areas a bit to make the lines more consistent in depth. I would prefer to depict the lifeboat hatches as raised detail, so I will probably use some thin styrene sheet to reproduce the hatches and put them over the indented detail there.
The details of the impulse engine exhausts and warp nacelle grilles are kind of subtle, since they are almost flush with the surrounding hull in the game mesh.
So far, I think the cost is reasonable for the item I received. I usually estimate that by considering how much time it would take me to do the same work myself, and since I don't have access to a similar quality 3D printer, that is part of the equation. I am one of those model builders who is crazy enough to cast this thing in resin to make it hollow and put lights and stuff in it, so I have a lot of interesting ideas brewing on this project!
However I was not allowed to share these pictures of the painting process, will do a review once the ship arrives though.
At first glance I can already see the ship name is missing from aft of the Nacelle's, but everything else looks SPOT on.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
I don't expect Eaglemoss to ever produce custom ships for players like GamePrint does, but if they happen to produce a STO ship that matches a player's ship design structure, it should be much cheaper (and faster) to get the ship repainted than ordering a 3D printed one from GamePrint.
U.S.S. Tempest
I believe I saw pictures shared on the STO Facebook page way back in May that showed a primed Risian Luxury Cruiser so they can definitely do it in the 12-inch range. I don't know why they wouldn't be able to in the 7-inch range.
U.S.S. Tempest
Eaglemoss would have to heavily emphasize it is the STO version of the Enterprise-F due to the possibility of a canon Enterprise-F being created in some future Star Trek TV series or movie.
I never understood why anyone would want to create a standard Star Trek ship with GamePrint when Eaglemoss and other companies would do it cheaper.
Exactly! Eaglemoss even started making 8.5 and 10-inch versions of the hero ships. They sell them for $75. So if your STO ship is a Constitution-, Galaxy-, Sovereign-, NX-, Intrepid-, Defiant-, or Excelsior-class startship, you could buy the large size Eaglemoss model and still have around $470 to hire someone to repaint it with your ship's colors and insignia for the same cost of a 12-inch hand painted model from GamePrint ($549).
I've actually done this with McFarlane sports figures and the cost of getting a figure custom painted was only around $150. Also, I only had to wait for less than a month before the artist was able to complete it so the wait time was shorter too!
U.S.S. Tempest
Any pictures out there at all?
https://ironcaniac.tumblr.com/post/176887702520/review-of-star-trek-onlines-3d-printed-ship
Included in the review is a comparison with a model of the U.S.S. Defiant from Eaglemoss to help evaluate if the 3D model is worth the extra money.
TL;DR summary: While I'm very satisfied with how my ship turned out, I would only recommend getting a 3D printed ship from GamePrint if your STO ship is a design that you can only get through 3D printing. Eaglemoss models, especially their new large versions, are very comparable in the level of detail that you can get for a fraction of the cost.
I hope this is helpful for anyone considering getting the 12-inch painted option from GamePrint. LLAP
U.S.S. Tempest
Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there... you can make a difference.
-Captain James T. Kirk
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1242925/gameprint-ship-unboxing-review-lots-of-pictures
Hello,
We strive to make sure every order is perfected and done with the highest quality possible but due to the complexity of your design it is almost impossible to get the quality we want using only hand painting, for that we are offering you the ability to switch to a better approach which merges between the best of both 3D printing and hand painting; the approach uses a new type of inkjet 3D printers that will lay down the base colors (10 million colors) and a master artist will detail out the model into it's best form, if you approve this switch then we will be more than happy to start processing your order otherwise we are happy to offer you a full refund as unfortunately the model can't be done fully handpainted.
I will agree to let them do this as frustrating as it is ,
To try to deal with the painting issues in hard-to-reach areas of the model geometry, I e-mailed GamePrint and asked if they could send the model in parts (in my case with the engine nacelles detached), but I didn't get a whole lot of follow-up on the subject. Even though it would reduce the work for them, I am guessing that would require a bunch of extra coordination.
From what little experience I have with 3D printing (on a much cheaper printer than what they probably use), trying to print too much stuff in one go can result in distortion for various reasons. It seems like it would allow for a better overall product if they printed the ships in smaller sections and then combined them afterwards. If there were some misalignment like in the nacelles of the above ship, you could at least shave down the ends of the pylons so that the nacelles go on straight, or you could redo the pylons without messing up the rest of the ship.
I would just say that for those who can't afford or don't want to wait for the super high-end option, the cheapest option is actually a pretty good deal. There's a surprising amount of detail in the 4-inch model, and while the 12-inch painted option is great, I wouldn't say it's 20x better than the 4-inch version to be commensurate with the cost.
Having said that, I just got a 10-inch U.S.S. Voyager from the XL edition of Eaglemoss models. For someone who's kinda OCD about my models being in scale with each other, I'm very pleased that my 12-inch ship (an Akira-class variant) is just about the same scale as Voyager and the Defiant!
LLAP
U.S.S. Tempest
Anyway, here's what the two options look like side by side:
As others have noted, the color on some of these smaller models seems to be off. It's much more yellowish-gray than the blue-gray that it should be. Although not that noticeable in the pics, the nacelle pylons were a little distorted and caused the nacelles to bend a bit. Also, unlike on the larger model, there are visible striations in certain areas of the smaller ship so that you can tell it was 3D printed.
Still, the 4-inch model is VERY detailed for something so small. Almost every detail on the larger model I can also pretty much find on the smaller model too. For me at least, the good outweighs the bad and I'm pretty happy with how the 4-inch version of my ship turned out. I'll probably loop some fishing line around it and turn it into a Christmas tree ornament this winter!
FWIW, I'd say that the 4-inch model is a very nice option, assuming you don't encounter any serious problems with the coloring or shape distortion. The high end 12-inch painted option now costs over 20 times what the 4-inch color printed version costs, and I honestly can't say that the former is 20 times better than the latter.
U.S.S. Tempest
There might be some problems with the struts and spikes. The negative Gameprint thread involved a 4 inch Constitution and due to the similarities, the same structural issues might arise in a 4 inch Pioneer.