Hey, folks! Coming in at you with a quick article that tells you a little bit about one of my favorite things — miniatures on Shapeways. So, let’s go over a few things and misconceptions.

Editor’s Note: This guide is specifically for X-wing’s 1/270 scale miniatures — a lot of the materials I’m shitting on here work perfectly well for larger scaled game pieces, like for Imperial Assault or Legion.

Models: The 3D-model is at the heart of a 3D-printed miniature, and unsurprisingly, what you put in is what you get out.

That means when you have a low-detail model, it doesn’t matter how detailed or fine the plastic and print resolution is, the detail doesn’t materialize on its own.

When you’re looking to buy, there’s a little ‘3D Rotate’ button in the top right corner of the picture of the model, and make sure to zoom in to see what you’re really getting.

Materials: Miniatures on Shapeways come in a variety of materials, the most common being Frosted Ultra/Extreme Detail (often abbreviated FUD and FED) and White Strong & Flexible (WSF). Put simply, FUD and FED will look like a miniature — WSF will look like a grainy 3D-print. Back in the day, WSF used to be significantly cheaper than FUD/FED, and so was a favorite for the X-wing crowd. Nowadays, they’re about the same price for most models, but WSF has a grainy texture, poor detail, and has so many restrictions on minimum detail resolution that things like gun barrels & wings will be super thick and block.

Prints with small details/parts are literally not allowed to be printed in WSF, so if a seller is offering WSF, it means the print is very simple and lacks fine detail.

Cleaning: For FUD and FED (the only materials I buy) I give the miniature a long bath in Simple Green followed by a light scrub, then a dip in 99% Isopropyl Alcohol (no longer than 5 minutes) followed by another light scrub, and finished with a quick soap & water bath/rinse. This pretty effectively gets rid of any crusty wax residue.

Painting: This is the easy part! Tamiya Fine Surface Primer followed by your acrylics and washes of choice.