Model Creator: Historical Miniature Creator Kickstarter

Eine Art Heroforge für historische Figuren ist auf Kickstarter unterwegs.

Model Creator: Design and print your historic miniature

Model Creator is a service that enables you to design, customize and 3D print your historically accurate and unique model soldier.

What is Model Creator?

Model Creator is a service that enables you to design your unique and historically accurate soldier scale model by using an advanced web GUI. Your design is then 3D printed and delivered to you so you can create your desired miniature, vignette, or diorama.

If you are anything like us, then you must have spent frustrating hours searching for the right model – the one in the right stance and with the correct uniform, equipment, and weapons. Sometimes you got lucky, and found exactly what you wanted, but often you had to buy something far from ideal and adjust your initial idea.

Model Creator is here to shake things up, and offer the solution and capabilities that modelers, wargamers and history enthusiasts could only dream of until recently.

We plan on building an easy-to-use Web GUI (graphical user interface) using the WebGL platform. While the platform itself is a critical part of Model Creator, on its own it’s just an empty shell, and needs to be populated with 3D designs of historically accurate armies. You will be able to choose the period, the army or even a specific unit. Equip your figure the way you want, choose a pose in which you want the miniature to be, determine the scale of your figure, and send it to us for 3D printing.

The idea is to start with historical military figures from the 20th and the 21st century. Our master document already contains over 200 units across conflicts, countries and branches. Once this is completed, we will move to other periods and include other eras that can complement the platform, such as the Napoleonic Wars, the Wild West, the Middle Ages, or the Romans. Historic military miniatures are just a start for us – be aware, the possibilities are endless!

Our timeline

Model Creator started taking shape in early 2021. 3D model prototyping took place in the spring, summer and early fall of 2021 and we started software development in early November of the same year. Since November we have focused on developing relationship with the 3D print provider, we looked to expand the team and spread the word about the project and of course prepared this Kickstarter campaign. Our goal is to go live with the first version of Model Creator and at least 10 units by June or July this year.  You can find much more information about the journey so far on our web page  www.model-creator.com .

Why Kickstarter?

We invested our capital in the initial prototype production and software development. The funds we receive from Kickstarter campaign will help us fine-tune our Web graphical user interface, so it is as intuitive and user friendly as possible. Moreover, we want to explore software capabilities that will allow us to further automate the design process. Finally – and most importantly – our stretch goals aim to help us create as many designs as possible and really provide Model Creator clients with the plethora of options to choose from. Creating one unit is a complex, time consuming, and expensive process involving research, initial design, and finally detailed design of different poses with numerous load-out combinations.

 Kickstarter campaign also allows us to connect with you, our supporters, and future users of the platform. We want to hear what is it that you would like to see on Model Creator, and through that interaction help us shape the Model Creator platform, so it answers your needs and dreams.

Historically accurate models

If you have read up to here, you know that Model Creator is focused on historically accurate soldier scale models. There are great platforms in the market that offer fantasy figures but there are no platforms that offer customizable historically accurate soldier scale figures. Our research is based on openly available sources. Thanks to the Internet various pictures, books and reports can be accessed and explored by sitting in front of a computer.

This does not make the research quick nor easy, as there are a lot of misleading myths and false information floating around, which need to be filtered out. Once Model Creator is up and running, we would love to expand our sources to include both original and re-enactment equipment, as well as regular visits to museums specializing in military equipment and uniforms.

STL Files

Many of you have asked us if we will allow downloading of STL files. This was the most debated topic within our team. Due to popular demand we have decided to give Kickstarter backers who pledge €50 or above the ability to purchase and download their customized models from the Model Creator platform.

– All Kickstarter pledges that include a physical figure will also include digital download of the same unique model.

– All Kickstarter pledges of €50 and above will give backers the ability to buy digital (STL) files only. Available when Model Creator goes live. Digital download ability will not be available to users that have not participated in the Kickstarter campaign.

Scale

Scale modelling and wargaming use different scales. The most popular scales start at 1/72 scale (24mm), move up to 28mm and 1/48 (36mm), and then to bigger 1/35 (50mm), 1/32 (55mm), and finally 1/24 (73mm) and 1/16 (110mm) scale.

Our goal is to offer all these scales, but we need to overcome some of the technological and design challenges, specifically with the smallest and the largest models. The smallest models need to have somewhat thickened weapons for the 3D printer to print them well. On the other hand, we need to make sure that the level of detail on the largest model is more than sufficient, as on larger models more details need to be visible.

Pricing and Quality

Possibly the most important point for any business venture is finding the right intersection of price and quality. We strongly believe that Model Creator will offer something that does not exist on the market yet. However, if we would compare current static models with the same models created on Model Creator, on a like-for-like basis, we expect to position Model Creator in the upper middle of the market with regards to price/quality relationship.

Cheap plastic solutions are characterized by poor quality and large production volume, which means that the choice of armies, load-outs and poses is very limited. Expensive solutions, on the other hand, are usually resin based with extreme level of detail but with small production runs. In the end, both cheap and expensive models currently available on the market are equally limited in the choice of armies, load-outs and poses and offer no space for customization – you get what you see, and that is it.

Model Creator will not be the cheapest solution as WebGL development, the design of each unit set, as well as 3D printing are not cheap. However, neither will it be the most expensive one, as we want to provide a solution that is affordable to the broader market. What we can say for certain, as 3D print technology advances and costs decrease, we will try to pass these benefits to you, future Model Creator users, and optimize the prices.

Funding Level

Part of the amount that you will be pledging will cover the standard Kickstarter fee and payments company fee. In case you choose a physical reward, additional part of the pledge will go towards production cost for 3D printing and the VAT/sales tax component. After setting aside all these costs, the remaining part of the funding will go towards building 3D models and finishing the development of our WebGL platform. When we reach the base funding, we plan to have the following 10 units available at the launch:

 If we exceed our base funding goal, we will have more resources to design more units and more equipment much faster. You can help us add them sooner and meet our stretch goals!

Stretch Goals:

There are more than 175 units on our list which are not covered here. If there is overwhelming interest, we will further expand our stretch goals with these units.

Die Kampagne ist noch nicht finanziert und läuft noch 13 Tage.

Quelle: Model Creator: Design and print your historic miniature