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So I was rewatching Obi Wan and mostly looking at the new ships (and trying to ignore plot holes and rewrite the story).

Outside of Legos, even Disney/Star Wars' big and toy-centric shows barely get any model kits or toys these days (the Bad Batch will finally get their ship next year, the Mandalorian got his ship a year after it was blown to bits).

So what if they released STLs in different scales for the rarely seen ships?

They could probably charge a good amount but for well-designed files made from the actual models used on screen they could get it.

Sure there's be piracy, but there already are knock off STLs and for now the Mouse isn't getting a cent.

Anyway just a thought. I imagine it will take a decade, it's like trying to get companies to embrace digital music and video, but it would be cool.

Look you. I was sensible throughout my “blossoming” and was always sensible and took precautions like Jubber Ronnies and so far I’ve avoided

Oooohhhhhhhh STL.


Never mind. Forget everything I just said. As you were.

Thing is the STL market is REALLY different to manufacture markets.

I honestly don't see any firm that already has manufacture turning toward STL distribution. Most of the firms I see doing it and doing well are, by Disney standards and all, tiny. Heck a good many are little more than a manager and sculptor and maybe a support staff.

The Patreon focus also drove the value of the STL into the ground very fast. The market did a race to the bottom in a few months really. The result is its fantastic for customers because you can get lots for little investment; but the flipside is a rather brutal work rate for many sculptors and quality issues for them as well (its hard to release all your potential when you're against the clock).


Honestly I don't see big firms ever doing it; they can already mass produce and the mass market products have WAY WAY WAY more customers than STL markets. And that's before we even touched on the DRM side or the issue of people ripping off things.




Of course stls are already out there - heck I haven't even been looking and I know 3-4 people making regular starwars content every single month from spaceships for Armada and X Wing to 28-32mm warriors and all.
I'm honestly surprised the Mouse hasn't cracked down on it, which I'm going to assume is because the STL market is so new and so small its beneath their attention right now.

The thing is even Paramount and the Mouse can't mass produce to meet the demand. There's a core of audience who want such and such a ship releasing one or two kits a year don't cut it.

I'd love a Resistance Bomber and First Order landing craft (28mm scale) but I'm not holding my breath for either.

Opening the door to micro manufacturers would mean they'd get a cut.

Yeah but are the profits really there? One Page Rules are the biggest patreon for 3D printing and they've got 10K customers. Granted that's 10K customers giving a set amount each month, but its still only 10K customers. To the Mouse that's likely not even worth waking the lawyers up to draft the agreements

I do agree if they opened up the market they could take a cut from it and official and marketed Starwars STLs would 100% sell like crazy super easily. Esp if they put a talented team behind it.

I just don't see them doing that over going with a firm who can mass produce models to the point where they can't actually keep up with demand and hit a much bigger audience from the get go.


The STL market is still growing and it had huge lockdown growth, but I think some bigger firms might still be waiting to see how the dust settles over the next few years. Will resin printers get easier to use - will they get safer and more common; or will they remain a niche of a niche market. Right now its a niche of the wargaming and model market

I disagree about model kits. Going into an actual model shop there will likely be kits from Revel for various Star Wars things. I know that in my local model shops there are kits ranging from an easy-build A-Wing to a much more advanced AT-AT.
That being said, an STL isn't going to have any form of street presence, which is what niche products like model kits need.
I know that at some point there was a Millenium Falcon model kit magazine kicking about. I learned about it because I saw a TV advert but that's also the sort of thing that sits in the magazine section at my local Tesco beside the Krispy Kreme unit. Now if I were doing a weekly or monthly shop at said big Tesco and saw that it would be something I would consider buying even if I hadn't seen it advertised. Likewise, it would easily attract the attention of a child i.e. the main Disney market.
An STL doesn't have any of that. At best there will be an ad on Facebook or the Star Wars website but you can't sell it in a Disney store or any of the local big chain supermarkets. Your average child or even just the average person also isn't going to have a 3d printer kicking about.