{"id":22008,"date":"2015-08-25T18:59:15","date_gmt":"2015-08-25T18:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/?p=22008"},"modified":"2017-04-17T12:09:21","modified_gmt":"2017-04-17T16:09:21","slug":"understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Shapeways materials for scale models"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shapeways shop owner Dain Penman of\u00a0MadasU<\/a> shares some insights into choosing the right material for printing scale objects meant to be part of a larger train set.<\/em>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

When you are looking at a model to purchase, the material choices available can be confusing.\u00a0 While some models are offered in only a single material, others are offered in multiple materials which have different characteristics.\u00a0 Where a model is only offered in one material, sometimes you want to understand why.\u00a0 Let\u2019s explore the main material options used for scale models:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"HO<\/a>

HO scale 44-gallon drum groups<\/p><\/div>\n

Strong and flexible plastic \u2013 this plastic comes in a variety of colors and finishes.\u00a0 The finishes available are unpolished which is only black and white or polished which includes white and a range of seven great colors.\u00a0 This material is fairly flexible, depending on thickness but quite strong.\u00a0 The finish does show print lines or \u2018stepping\u2019 although this can generally be taken care of with some post-production light sanding and painting.\u00a0 This can be seen in the barrels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"625x465_2903457_9335467_1439945075\"<\/a>

1000 gallon watertank (HO)<\/p><\/div>\n

Metallic plastics \u2013 available in both polished and unpolished. Very similar to strong and flexible plastic, although comes in a metallic finish.\u00a0 This can be great when the model is either entirely or in part based on a metal prototype as you won\u2019t need to paint the model before placing it.\u00a0 Have a look at the corrugated iron water tank for an example of metallic plastic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"625x465_2987423_9395208_1439945372\"<\/a>

Scale HO luggage set<\/p><\/div>\n

Acrylic plastics (black, white and transparent) \u2013 These are more detailed plastics than the strong and flexible plastics, but still have thicker wall requirements.\u00a0 So they are good for showing surface detail on a model, but not good for fine pieces like thin walls or wires.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"625x465_2992556_9398185_1439945288\"<\/a>

Four single station lights (HO scale)<\/p><\/div>\n

Frosted detail plastics \u2013 the two frosted detail plastics (ultra and extreme) allow for the finest level of detail, with the smallest thicknesses of any product.\u00a0 This makes the material perfect for models with a lot of fine detail including thin walls or wires.\u00a0 While these models look great raw, they will need to be painted for a realistic effect.\u00a0 This material is the most expensive in terms of volume, but allows for finer details and thinner walls so the models are not necessarily more expensive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So which material is best?\u00a0 The answer to this is entirely dependant on the model and how it was designed.\u00a0 Firstly, have a look if multiple options are available as often the designer will make the choice on your behalf.\u00a0 This will usually be a balance between the design and the cost, with the quality of the design the most important of the two.\u00a0 If you do have a choice, look at the price of each material as there are no absolutes with pricing.\u00a0 Some of my models are cheaper in the more expensive materials!\u00a0 Now you can compare the qualities of the different materials and determine the best choice!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shapeways shop owner Dain Penman of\u00a0MadasU shares some insights into choosing the right material for printing scale objects meant to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":22018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[489],"tags":[479],"class_list":["post-22008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-products-and-design","tag-3-tutorials"],"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg","yoast_head":"\nUnderstanding Shapeways materials for scale models - Shapeways Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shapeways shop owner Dain Penman of\u00a0MadasU shares some insights into choosing the right material for printing scale objects meant to be part of a larger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dain Penman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dain Penman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9231486e31320abc35327ba6fa3ad531\"},\"headline\":\"Understanding Shapeways materials for scale models\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-25T18:59:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-17T16:09:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models\"},\"wordCount\":531,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Tutorials\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Products and Design\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models\",\"name\":\"Understanding Shapeways materials for scale models - Shapeways Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-25T18:59:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-17T16:09:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"Shapeways shop owner Dain Penman of\u00a0MadasU shares some insights into choosing the right material for printing scale objects meant to be part of a larger\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg\",\"width\":625,\"height\":465,\"caption\":\"HO scale 44-gallon drum groups\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Understanding Shapeways materials for scale models\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/\",\"name\":\"Shapeways Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shapeways Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shapeways-blog.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shapeways-blog.png\",\"width\":943,\"height\":121,\"caption\":\"Shapeways Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/shapeways\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/shapeways\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/shapeways\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9231486e31320abc35327ba6fa3ad531\",\"name\":\"Dain Penman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22f5183605a6942852a9a04d179737ab072ec57ec35283e944dc5f3547317d6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22f5183605a6942852a9a04d179737ab072ec57ec35283e944dc5f3547317d6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dain Penman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/author\/dain-penman\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Understanding Shapeways materials for scale models - Shapeways Blog","description":"Shapeways shop owner Dain Penman of\u00a0MadasU shares some insights into choosing the right material for printing scale objects meant to be part of a larger","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dain Penman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models"},"author":{"name":"Dain Penman","@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9231486e31320abc35327ba6fa3ad531"},"headline":"Understanding Shapeways materials for scale models","datePublished":"2015-08-25T18:59:15+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-17T16:09:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models"},"wordCount":531,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg","keywords":["Tutorials"],"articleSection":["Products and Design"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models","url":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models","name":"Understanding Shapeways materials for scale models - Shapeways Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg","datePublished":"2015-08-25T18:59:15+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-17T16:09:21+00:00","description":"Shapeways shop owner Dain Penman of\u00a0MadasU shares some insights into choosing the right material for printing scale objects meant to be part of a larger","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/625x465_3615028_11463250_1439945534-1.jpg","width":625,"height":465,"caption":"HO scale 44-gallon drum groups"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/understanding-shapeways-materials-for-scale-models#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Understanding Shapeways materials for scale models"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/","name":"Shapeways Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#organization","name":"Shapeways Blog","url":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shapeways-blog.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shapeways-blog.png","width":943,"height":121,"caption":"Shapeways Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/facebook.com\/shapeways","https:\/\/x.com\/shapeways","http:\/\/instagram.com\/shapeways"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9231486e31320abc35327ba6fa3ad531","name":"Dain Penman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22f5183605a6942852a9a04d179737ab072ec57ec35283e944dc5f3547317d6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22f5183605a6942852a9a04d179737ab072ec57ec35283e944dc5f3547317d6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dain Penman"},"url":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/author\/dain-penman"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}