butler's printed models

Butlers's printed models

15mm Veichles (also 6/12/20) ww2 e post ww2

They certainly do some useful bits. Planning on trying their Universal Carrier as I need some mark I for Tunisia. Probably the Crusader AA turret too for NWE.

Is it possible to compare with other brands?

Andrea

I don't know why every man and his dog appears to produce CMP trucks in 15mm . IMO Bedford OYD 3 tonners are badly needed

This is a pair of their 15mm Landrovers.  The one on the left after cleaning up and base coating light grey.  On the right is one as it comes with attached support sprue, which is relatively easy to prise or cut away, although the plastic doesn't respond well to sanding or filing in my experience.



I have a pair of their FV432 mortar carriers and some Battlefront FV432s in the collection, so I'll try and photograph them later and post pictures for comparison.  Generally, they are OK models.  The printing leaves fine contour lines on sloped or curved surfaces, which are largely smoothed out with a decent undercoat, but they aren't as crisp as injection moulded plastic.  For the money, they aren't bad IMHO.

Cheers, Andy

I agree they are OK, although you appear to have a lot of excess material to remove comparing the 2 Land Rovers.

Most of it comes away pretty easily. I used a sharp craft knife to score around the base of the model and then just picked the excess away with my thumb nail. It's quite delicate and once the first piece comes away with the aide of the knife, the rest just pulls off. I tried to file a little around the wheels to round them up a bit more, but the plastic doesn't file cleanly but comes away in fibrous clumps. A knife to pare the excess away worked better. It only took a few minutes to clean up 2 Landrovers, 2 432 mortar carriers and a tracked Rapier. The Lynx came pre-cleaned up. The mortar carriers are actually printed with an open crew compartment, so I added some spare mortar crew from the Battlefront set, which worked well.

Cheers, Andy

They've done a YouTube on how to remove the excess plastic. All looks very simple but I'm sure I could mess it up.

Does anyone know how these compare say to other 3D printed models like ShapeWays Actic Skunk which are far more expensive ?

I just received some ships and parts for Battlefleet Gothic from Shapeways. While quite expensive the quality is good to excellent, depending on printing material used. One of the cheaper materials is called White Strong & Flexible, has a grainy surfarce, and while fine details are visible they are not always very clear. A better material is Frostred Ultra Detail, a very smooth material wich shows even fine details very well. There are no visible printing lines and all the ships i bought need no cleaning up.


Regards
Wolflord

Thanks for that input. I am looking to order eventually a Scammel Pioneer Recovery Truck for my 15mm 8th Army . At around £16.00 for one vehicle I needed to know the quality I was getting before I ordered .Even FOW appear cheap compared !