So a while back, as you see upthread, I commissioned Adam Kopala to design and illustrate the Phoenix Queen based on my specifications. As part of his process, he created a 3D model of the ship's basic shape, and it occurred to me as the project was wrapping up that, if his software could export that in the right format, I might be able to do an interesting side project with it. So I asked him to try it, and he succeeded.

One of the results arrived on my doorstep today:

I got this one from shapeways.com; took a couple of weeks and wasn't cheap by not-very-big-plastic-object standards, but, I mean, come on! It's a toy version of a starship I created! How awesome is that? The ten-year-old who still lives inside me is in transports of delight.

If you're feeling covetous, don't despair! The EPU Model Shop at Shapeways is here to help. Like I say, they're not cheap, but I've got markup set to zero; you'll get yours for the same price I paid for mine.

I'm also experimenting with other uses for the model file. We have a MakerBot Replicator 2X at the Machine Tool Lab at school that I'm hoping to score some time on next week, after all the official printing for this weekend's Engineering Expo is over with. The guy who's operating it this semester as an independent study project has already put it through MakerWare (the software that operates MakerBot printers) and assures me that it will print just fine, though a little smaller than the Shapeways version.

Exciting!

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.