For about 18 months I have owned a Prusa Mini filament printer but I know people who have resin printers and use them to print their own designs commercially. Filament printers can produce very good results at their finest settings but they work best on models that have one flat surface. All waterline ship models do have a flat surface - the waterline and if you cannot design your own, there are many waterline ship models available on sites like Thingyverse but you cannot use those designs to sell on. It is relatively simple to re-size a design in software that comes with a printer and one of the first models that I printed in 1/1200 scale was Cape Hatteras Lighthouse offered free as a large scale outdoor model that could be illuminated. If you email me I can send you photographs of finished models 1/1250 models from 3D prints.
I have also been finishing 3D ship kits for my local model shop in the UK to help them promote John's Model Shipyard prints. These are resin prints of WW2 era ships and are of John's own design. They are not as detailed as Christian/Nanomaquette models but they are sharply printed in 1/1200 scale and make impressive models for the price. You will need to make topmasts and yards for these kits. Resin prints need supports or cages to print and designing them is more complex but I have been able to commission resin 1/1000 scale people and 1/1200 scale cows for some of my diorama models from someone who has moved on from filament printing to resin printing.
Dean - I've looked into this occasionally in the past, and there are now some relatively low-price printers out there that have good resolution (a key factor at our scale). However, for me the biggest impediment in taking on this possibility is my complete lack of knowledge and ability to use the software necessary to create the digital images of the ship that must be used to print it.
Does anyone here use 3D printers to make your own 1/1250 or 1/1200 ship models? Any recommendations, suggestions, comments?
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