Printl is a webshop on Shapeways, one of the commercial 3D-printing companies where anyone can upload a 3D model and offer it for sale through their site. Printl makes 3D scans of real people and offers them in variety of scales; I was recently looking for children in 1/35th scale suitable for posing with a model of a 1970s military vehicle, upon which Gary MacKenzie referred me to Printle’s web shop.
Browsing their selection, I found some that looked suitable for what I had in mind, but most weren’t available in 1/35. Luckily, the site says that:—
So I did just that through the message system on the Shapeways site, and within an hour, got a reply that the figures I wanted were now available in 1/35. Good customer service, certainly.
I duly placed an order for
(By the way, “wob” stands for “without base”.) The difference in material is because Kid 024 was already available in 1/35, and in that material, while the others were only offered in other types.
I received the order pretty quickly: I placed it on 11 July, got a notification that it was about to be shipped on the 15th, and received the package today (the 17th). Unpacking the figures, though, I felt somewhat disappointed for the reason shown in this photo:
[ATTACH]308813[/ATTACH]
At a glance, you can tell that they’re quite clearly not all to the same scale … So let’s look at them in detail.
Kid 024
This is a boy who I’d estimate to be maybe eight years old or so. The figure is:—
[ATTACH]308814[/ATTACH]
36 mm tall, which in 1/35th scale equals 126 cm. According to this site the average height for a British boy, age eight, is 132.8 cm, so he may be a bit short but is acceptable, though his head seems a little on the small side. (Note: I’m not sure where the people who were scanned for these models are from, but going by the site I’m guessing France, and I doubt French children are much taller or shorter than British ones, so I’ll use the British data for comparisons.)
Kid 063
This is a girl who I’d estimate to be younger than Kid 024, yet the figure is a bit bigger at:—
[ATTACH]308815[/ATTACH]
42 mm tall, equal to 147 cm. If we assume she’s seven, then average height for a girl is 125.2 cm, meaning she scales out to the height of a ten- to eleven-year-old, but her head is far too big for that age. (Children have proportionally bigger heads than adults, since the brain doesn’t grow nearly as much as the rest of the body. A child with a head that’s relatively big compared to the body is therefore younger than one whose head is relatively smaller.)
Kid 078
This is a young boy, who I’d estimate to not be older than about five, but he is:—
[ATTACH]308816[/ATTACH]
just over 40 mm tall. If we take the fraction off to account for his hair, that still scales him to 140 cm tall, when five-year-old boys average 113.1 cm. That’s the height of a nine-year-old, which he most definitely is not.
Kid 201
This is a teenage girl; I’d estimate her to be maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, and she’s:—
[ATTACH]308817[/ATTACH]
47 mm tall, or 165 cm. That’s neatly in the height bracket for those ages (164.7–167.1 cm), so this figure scales out well.
Kid 215
Finally, a youngish teenage boy, maybe thirteen or fourteen I’d guess. His height is:—
[ATTACH]308818[/ATTACH]
34 mm, or 119 cm. That’s a good height for a six-year-old, but this kid is definitely well past that age. He should be about the same height as the teenage girl, but reaches barely past her waist
To put all this another way, here are the approximate scales the figures work out at (assuming I estimated their ages correctly):
Kid 024: 1/37
Kid 063: 1/30
Kid 078: 1/28
Kid 211: 1/35
Kid 215: 1/48
All in all, only two of my five figures are usable for what I have in mind
In retrospect, of course, I should have known this, since Shapeways supplies the size of the models on the product page:
[ATTACH]308819[/ATTACH]
However, I trusted the seller to correctly size the figures to the claimed scale so I didn’t really look at this, let alone compare it to actual children’s heights.
Quality
After all that, I haven’t mentioned the quality of the figures at all. I haven’t examined them extensively yet, let alone painted them (I got the parcel about two hours before posting this), but detail seems okay but not outstanding. On the other hand, it’s not like these are military figures wearing lots of kit — they’re civilian figures wearing simple clothes, so the only areas that really need detail are the faces and hands. Those appear a bit soft, as far as I can tell from the white and translucent plastic, but they will probably paint up well enough.
Price
For what you get, the price is somewhat steep. These figures cost around what I would expect to pay for a resin figure, which would tend to have better-defined detail. This is probably largely due to the limitations of the 3D-scanning and -printing processes, and the price of the latter (in short: Shapeways charges the shop owner a price based on the material and the model’s physical volume, after which the shop owner puts a profit margin on top of that to arrive at the price advertised on the site).
However, it’s not like you have all that much choice if you need children in modern clothes. Therefore, my main complaint is the size discrepancy, aside from which I would recommend these figures. Check the sizes against real-world ones carefully before ordering, is my main advice.
Browsing their selection, I found some that looked suitable for what I had in mind, but most weren’t available in 1/35. Luckily, the site says that:—
Originally posted by Printle
I duly placed an order for
- 1 x Printle C Kid 024 - 1/35 - wob in White Processed Versatile Plastic
- 1 x Printle C Kid 063 - 1/35 - wob in Smooth Fine Detail Plastic
- 1 x Printle C Kid 078 - 1/35 - wob in Smooth Fine Detail Plastic
- 1 x Printle C Kid 201 - 1/35 - wob in Smooth Fine Detail Plastic
- 1 x Printle C Kid 215 - 1/35 - wob in Smooth Fine Detail Plastic
(By the way, “wob” stands for “without base”.) The difference in material is because Kid 024 was already available in 1/35, and in that material, while the others were only offered in other types.
I received the order pretty quickly: I placed it on 11 July, got a notification that it was about to be shipped on the 15th, and received the package today (the 17th). Unpacking the figures, though, I felt somewhat disappointed for the reason shown in this photo:
[ATTACH]308813[/ATTACH]
At a glance, you can tell that they’re quite clearly not all to the same scale … So let’s look at them in detail.
Kid 024
This is a boy who I’d estimate to be maybe eight years old or so. The figure is:—
[ATTACH]308814[/ATTACH]
36 mm tall, which in 1/35th scale equals 126 cm. According to this site the average height for a British boy, age eight, is 132.8 cm, so he may be a bit short but is acceptable, though his head seems a little on the small side. (Note: I’m not sure where the people who were scanned for these models are from, but going by the site I’m guessing France, and I doubt French children are much taller or shorter than British ones, so I’ll use the British data for comparisons.)
Kid 063
This is a girl who I’d estimate to be younger than Kid 024, yet the figure is a bit bigger at:—
[ATTACH]308815[/ATTACH]
42 mm tall, equal to 147 cm. If we assume she’s seven, then average height for a girl is 125.2 cm, meaning she scales out to the height of a ten- to eleven-year-old, but her head is far too big for that age. (Children have proportionally bigger heads than adults, since the brain doesn’t grow nearly as much as the rest of the body. A child with a head that’s relatively big compared to the body is therefore younger than one whose head is relatively smaller.)
Kid 078
This is a young boy, who I’d estimate to not be older than about five, but he is:—
[ATTACH]308816[/ATTACH]
just over 40 mm tall. If we take the fraction off to account for his hair, that still scales him to 140 cm tall, when five-year-old boys average 113.1 cm. That’s the height of a nine-year-old, which he most definitely is not.
Kid 201
This is a teenage girl; I’d estimate her to be maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, and she’s:—
[ATTACH]308817[/ATTACH]
47 mm tall, or 165 cm. That’s neatly in the height bracket for those ages (164.7–167.1 cm), so this figure scales out well.
Kid 215
Finally, a youngish teenage boy, maybe thirteen or fourteen I’d guess. His height is:—
[ATTACH]308818[/ATTACH]
34 mm, or 119 cm. That’s a good height for a six-year-old, but this kid is definitely well past that age. He should be about the same height as the teenage girl, but reaches barely past her waist
To put all this another way, here are the approximate scales the figures work out at (assuming I estimated their ages correctly):
Kid 024: 1/37
Kid 063: 1/30
Kid 078: 1/28
Kid 211: 1/35
Kid 215: 1/48
All in all, only two of my five figures are usable for what I have in mind
In retrospect, of course, I should have known this, since Shapeways supplies the size of the models on the product page:
[ATTACH]308819[/ATTACH]
However, I trusted the seller to correctly size the figures to the claimed scale so I didn’t really look at this, let alone compare it to actual children’s heights.
Quality
After all that, I haven’t mentioned the quality of the figures at all. I haven’t examined them extensively yet, let alone painted them (I got the parcel about two hours before posting this), but detail seems okay but not outstanding. On the other hand, it’s not like these are military figures wearing lots of kit — they’re civilian figures wearing simple clothes, so the only areas that really need detail are the faces and hands. Those appear a bit soft, as far as I can tell from the white and translucent plastic, but they will probably paint up well enough.
Price
For what you get, the price is somewhat steep. These figures cost around what I would expect to pay for a resin figure, which would tend to have better-defined detail. This is probably largely due to the limitations of the 3D-scanning and -printing processes, and the price of the latter (in short: Shapeways charges the shop owner a price based on the material and the model’s physical volume, after which the shop owner puts a profit margin on top of that to arrive at the price advertised on the site).
However, it’s not like you have all that much choice if you need children in modern clothes. Therefore, my main complaint is the size discrepancy, aside from which I would recommend these figures. Check the sizes against real-world ones carefully before ordering, is my main advice.
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