Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

With the advent of 3d printing, and the almost impossible to find nature of the first edition models, do you think/feel the GWs would ever do a sort of "release of source code" for severely outdated models that will never see the table top? I know most of these were likely made back in the days of pressed plastic, and not pla printing, but still. Even if GW were to charge money for them I would still love to have the ability to suddenly play a game of Astartes vs Genestealers from First edition, and see/feel what it would have been like to play that syle.

Also I would love to have the opportunity to paint up those old models, and see what they were like.

Thoughts/feelings/scorn?

They should, but they won't since... mainly because their business approach is outdated.

Well people are making resin versions of metal models, and ton of people are buying it. The production of resin attack bikes around here, went through the roof, to a point where "stores" here run out of resin to make them.

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
With the advent of 3d printing, and the almost impossible to find nature of the first edition models, do you think/feel the GWs would ever do a sort of "release of source code" for severely outdated models that will never see the table top? I know most of these were likely made back in the days of pressed plastic, and not pla printing, but still.

Mostly metal casting, actually. There is no 'source code' here, or anything like it. And no point in going back to most of the old rubbish.

Even if GW were to charge money for them I would still love to have the ability to suddenly play a game of Astartes vs Genestealers from First edition, and see/feel what it would have been like to play that syle.

Easily done. The RT rules aren't particularly hard to find, even second hand. Basic marines and genestealers have changed a little stylistically, but they still slot right in to the original rules.

Also I would love to have the opportunity to paint up those old models, and see what they were like.

They were pretty bad. The constraints on casting and cutting sprues (particularly undercuts and arms and details folded against bodies) frequently made for bad sculpts.
If you want to see a somewhat updated version, they did two genestealers for the Deathwatch Overkill boxed set in the style of the old Space Hulk genestealers.

Since these models weren't created on computer it would mean they would have to put work hours in to create an STL file only to give it away for free. And since we're talking about GW you know how likely that is. And even if they did that we all know the only range to come out of this would be Space Marines...

They could scan the old sculpts and do it if they really wanted to, but its hard to see them doing that.

Modiphius has been doing a hybrid system selling both STL and actual minis for the Fallout game. I wonder how that is working out for them?

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
With the advent of 3d printing, and the almost impossible to find nature of the first edition models, do you think/feel the GWs would ever do a sort of "release of source code" for severely outdated models that will never see the table top?

In a word? NO.

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
I know most of these were likely made back in the days of pressed plastic, and not pla printing, but still. Even if GW were to charge money for them I would still love to have the ability to suddenly play a game of Astartes vs Genestealers from First edition, and see/feel what it would have been like to play that syle.

Also I would love to have the opportunity to paint up those old models, and see what they were like.

Points you towards EBay. Right there buddy. You can get your RT rules & all the OOP models right over there (some might turn out to be recasts).

 Slowroll wrote:
They could scan the old sculpts and do it if they really wanted to, but its hard to see them doing that.

Modiphius has been doing a hybrid system selling both STL and actual minis for the Fallout game. I wonder how that is working out for them?

Was just discussing this approach with someone in another thread. Surprised to hear a company is actually going forward with the idea.

Not in a million years... GW will not give an inch of the market or dilute its IP.

So I guess I found a old Gen 1 model of a Space Marine on Thingiverse, but I can't tell. I'm going mostly by the weapon designs here. The Rocket Launcher with the vertical magazine?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2221646

Were the base sizes the same back then?

Marines used 25mm bases, so did eldar, orks and chaos.
Larger things (like dreads/walkers) used 40mm SQUARE "monster bases". Even terminators were on 25mm bases.
Bikes used cavalry (25x50) bases.
Jetbikes had clear hex stand bases (25mm flat to flat).

Those are more "space crusade" era weapons in that stl. The RT missile launcher was an over the shoulder with vertical stacked magazine of rockets on top. Not a hand-held like that one.

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
So I guess I found a old Gen 1 model of a Space Marine on Thingiverse, but I can't tell. I'm going mostly by the weapon designs here. The Rocket Launcher with the vertical magazine?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2221646

Were the base sizes the same back then?

Well, you found something inspired by RT era stuff....
Here's what you want.
Note how inconsistent that last Marine is with the rest. Early in RT things were a bit less... standardized. And some of what was used in RT actually existed prior to the game.

On thingiverse there's a profile with a bunch of 3d scanned sm and ork models from the 2e starter set. I won't be linking it since Im not sure about the legality, I do have a few orks from there printed and painted up and IMO they look great

 chromedog wrote:
The RT missile launcher was an over the shoulder with vertical stacked magazine of rockets on top. Not a hand-held like that one.

Those models are copying the Space Crusade style. The weapons all socketed onto the front of the model. That missile launcher is a direct copy of the Space Crusade version, on a slightly updated by very poorly defined marine resculpt.


As others have said, there's zero chance that GW will release STLs of models from that era, but there are a growing number of fan-made resculpts popping up all over the place, of varying quality and accuracy. They walk a fine line of legality, though, so it remains to be seen whether they will still be around in a couple more years, once companies start challenging 3D file creators.

As to legality, I am not aware of any attempts by GW or any of it's subs to copyright strike Thingiverse or any part of the 3d STLs out there. Some of the recent "Space Monk" or "Space Vampire with rocket pack" are obvious for what they are, and you could make a very good case against those, but does anyone honestly see GW going full Sony on a guy printing models from the 70s that aren't even sold anymore? Don't they fall under curio & Relic laws? I can't be sued for making a rendering of the Mona Lisa, even if I sell it, because it's strictly an interpretation, or a mimicry.

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
As to legality, I am not aware of any attempts by GW or any of it's subs to copyright strike Thingiverse or any part of the 3d STLs out there. Some of the recent "Space Monk" or "Space Vampire with rocket pack" are obvious for what they are, and you could make a very good case against those, but does anyone honestly see GW going full Sony on a guy printing models from the 70s that aren't even sold anymore? Don't they fall under curio & Relic laws? I can't be sued for making a rendering of the Mona Lisa, even if I sell it, because it's strictly an interpretation, or a mimicry.

Wasn't part of the Chapterhouse lawsuit ruling that if GW didn't actually make the mini they can't claim copyright on it? So if you make, from scratch, a closely resembling but not identical copy of a model, that's fine?

Gw does indeed dmca thingiverse, often pretty inconsistently. Either that or theres some dedicated core of Concerned Citizenry doing it on behalf of their favorite billion dollar corporation.

Oddly, paid sites like 3dtrader and Patreon often have much much closer copies that never go down.

 BaconCatBug wrote:

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
As to legality, I am not aware of any attempts by GW or any of it's subs to copyright strike Thingiverse or any part of the 3d STLs out there. Some of the recent "Space Monk" or "Space Vampire with rocket pack" are obvious for what they are, and you could make a very good case against those, but does anyone honestly see GW going full Sony on a guy printing models from the 70s that aren't even sold anymore? Don't they fall under curio & Relic laws? I can't be sued for making a rendering of the Mona Lisa, even if I sell it, because it's strictly an interpretation, or a mimicry.

Wasn't part of the Chapterhouse lawsuit ruling that if GW didn't actually make the mini they can't claim copyright on it? So if you make, from scratch, a closely resembling but not identical copy of a model, that's fine?

At a very specific point, I am not aware of the exact rule, a work of intellectual property, art, movie, music, etc. becomes free from litigation as it understood regarding "design theft". It's why people can make cover bands of classic musicians why accepting paid compensation for the set at a club. Or how artists can scrap by making replicas of famous art pieces. Or for a more modern aspect, how certain musicians can take entire sections of a popular song, and weave it into their song without being sued. I believe it falls under the Fair Use clause of intellectual property. If I make a perfect replica of a primaris marine out of wood with my knife, and paint it perfectly as an ultra marine, and then sell it as a "Maximal Marine" for use of hobby wargaming on ebay, I cannot be sued or held liable. It is a mimicry, and despite my exactness, it is self made and has enough variances (Made from wood, with a knife, made by hand) that sets it apart from it's base. At least that's how I understand Intellectual property in US law....Please let me know where I am wrong if I am.

Don't models fall under the industrial design protection laws? they are 3d or 2d designs, that are of specific shape and aren't just utilitarian in nature. The thing is those designs are generaly protected for 25years. So if GW didn't pay to extend all their licenses, for all their specific designs for all their models older then 25years, there is no law breaking, if people use them.

Why would they? There's nothing in it for them. It would take considerable work for no return.

They're a business.