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Where would one go to get more information about 'legal' recasts, buying or potentially printing 😂

I'm just very new and want to find out information on 3d printing and also what other sites are out there. I've heard of a lot on Reddit but it's such a taboo subject and don't want to be scammed.

I've found sites that have packs for 3d printing but I never know if they are legit or if it's worth it or even if there is just a site that is trustworthy.

Anyway hope everyones having a nice Chrissy 😁✌️

There is no legal recasts. There are alternative miniatures.
But recasts are not encouraged in the hobby in most places.

Depending on the army there are lots and lots of alternatives.
And if willing to put in the extra work and effort, almost any mini can work!

Merry Christmas also, I hope your day has gone well !

What army, I am sure we can help out if we know what your interest is.

If you do want info on 3d printing your own, I would start with that. As that’s a hobby itself, and very specific. Resin 3d printing is a skill that must be learned. Which is where you will get the best miniatures from there.

There are no trustworthy sites for getting recasts. There are a number of crowdfunding campaigns for alternate models.

Word of caution: before Heavy Intercessors were available for purchase, I found some 3D models that were suitable stand ins. After GW announced HIs were coming - before they were available - people starting asking about my proxies before every game. Had someone walk away from a game because they thought my models were a little too tall.

The cost to print an alternate model was working out to be about $5 using a Photon III and basic resin. The cost to actually use them was closer to $8, because the final printed resin piece was so fragile in areas I lost a few of them in the making. The resin was hard to cut, even with a jeweler's saw, so I had to put the printed model's platform onto bases to make them fit.

All in all, the work involved in making proxies using a resin printer wasn't really worth it. I'm sure other people have different perspectives, but if the cost works out to be about the same, I'd just rather buy the models.

Learn to sculpt physically with greenstuff, or digitially with Blender, 3DCoat or Zbrush. Also kitbash models out of spare pieces from kits you have already purchased.

Removed - please do not hoist that flag here.

Recasts, just don’t. Without meaning to be overly paranoid, you don’t know if the material used in the casting is safe - or that you’ll receive anything decent.

3D Printing? Just be aware tournaments may turn you away for not using official models, if that sort of play is your thing.

I appreciate GW stuff is super expensive in Australia. Best thing to do there is hang around the community, don’t be a phallus, and hope someone else has a line to someone in the U.K. willing to pick stuff up here, via an online discount store, and ship it out.

Note the Loot Group in my thread doesn’t cover that, only Limited Edition models.

Pacmarn88 wrote:
Where would one go to get more information about 'legal' recasts, buying or potentially printing 😂

I'm just very new and want to find out information on 3d printing and also what other sites are out there. I've heard of a lot on Reddit but it's such a taboo subject and don't want to be scammed.

I've found sites that have packs for 3d printing but I never know if they are legit or if it's worth it or even if there is just a site that is trustworthy.

Anyway hope everyones having a nice Chrissy 😁✌️

Ok so a few thoughts

1) There are NO legitimate or legal copies of GW models. There are some which are close to those designs or share the same aesthetic elements. If they are sold on sites like My Mini Factory, Cults, CGTrader then chances are they are as legit as you can get as GW tends to monitor those and issue orders to take down any that are infringing things like specific symbols/insignias and the like. These are things GW has copyright/trademarks on to protect legally.
A good many patreons offer back access/redemption through my mini factory

2) After that there's a rafter of people making similar designs or models that are their own design, but fit the army roster slots of GW armies.

3) You can't use 3d printed models at GW stores or GW sponsored events. Some tournaments even if not sponsored/attended be GW will also enforce such rules. Clubs will vary a lot. Some will not care, some might have restrictions, some might rather you didn't. Those attached to retailers might care more if you don't buy anything from the retailer or if you're seen promoting and pushing others to get 3D printed forces (ergo the store is supporting the club; but you're working to turn people away from the store).
So that might be worth taking into consideration based on your local scene and what you hope to do with your models.

4) 3D printing isn't exactly cheaper. The STLs ARE cheaper than buying cast models from ANY creator (not just GW) and there are some very affordable good quality printers on the market. Mars 3 is pretty darn cheap and will print most things. Your initial start up costs though will be higher because you need IPA, health and safety gear, washing equipment, tools etc... You might also need an insulated enclosure and heating setup; an air venting system etc... Many of these are one time costs but they do mean that to get started with 3D printing you might well find that you've spent as much as a good start on any army.
Sure the second or third army might well start to make you serious savings, but at the same time many people I've seen get into 3D printing don't abandon cast models; it just greatly expands the range of choice they have.

5) 3D printing is a hobby in itself. It will throw random fails; it will have issues with temperature and humidity; it will be a problem. These can be overcome but its VERY far from "pour resin, click print, done". Resin (ALL 3D print resins) are also hazardous and require proper PPE and handling and disposal to be safe. You have fumes (even if you can't smell them); the resin in its wet or part cured state is hazardous to touch with bare skin (all the way up to causing chemical burns); the resin is toxic to water systems os can't be poured down the drain, nor washing liquids either.
Yes curing the resin (or the liquid used to wash resin) can render is safe; but its all about having the proper understanding, setup and process. Done right its safe, done wrong its not safe.


So these are things you should take into consideration.
Personally I love my 3D printer and am eager to get a second with a larger build plate to print bigger models. For me it lets me print things that I'd otherwise never own - huge dragons, large tanks; titanic mechs. Things that are unique and different from what GW or other cast model firms offer; or which might be 100s (and yet I still have my eye on some - eg I really want Creature Caster's Necromancer Dragon)


Personally I try to avoid things that I feel are too close to GW designs. I rather see creators in 3D printing experimenting and doing their own thing and not fully copycatting GW or any other brand. I'd rather see them able to create new, unique and fantastic designs for models that I can use in armies and such.

Karol wrote:

 techsoldaten wrote:
There are no trustworthy sites for getting recasts. There are a number of crowdfunding campaigns for alternate models.

Removed - please do not hoist that flag here.

Very nice to hear about your local blackmarket.

The question was whether there are any trustworthy sites. AFAIK there are none.

Trustworthy means you can download an STL file, know the print will be faithful to the original, and find other models that fit the range. I see plenty of one-off files floating around but nothing like a complete faction.

My Creality 3D scanner is detailed enough to pick up brush strokes on painted models. It only takes a few minutes to copy a model and maybe an hour to rig it in Blender so it can accept new poses.

I could do this for nearly every Chaos model GW has ever made - the scanner is 12 feet from the shelves. The thing is, there is almost no incentive to share a scan. The odds of anyone noticing the scan are almost zero, the odds of it staying up wherever you upload it are less, and the majority of feedback you will ever receive is negative.

While I'm certain recasters have found a way to profit from this situation, it's not the same as having a trustworthy site.

Well, the fact that I have to go down 3 blocks to find the nearest guy that does recasts and knowing him all my life probably, pushes the trust a bit. For example I know he doesn't experiment with resin, when he made bases for my Lumineth Lords.

But it is not just my local black market. YT is full of shorts and full interviews with guys how they make their stuff, and they are from all countries not just my. I can only understand german, most slavic languages, english and Flemish. And in all those places people are printing everything. Bases, models, dreadnoughts and all the horus heresy stuff. The most funny, to me, are reviews of how bad FW stuff is comparing to 3ed party made same models. GW or FW seemed to have "lost" some of their master molds, so people are getting copies of copies with half the land raider being a different size, then the other. While 3ed party printer are are updating their stuff and their models have the proper proportions and size. With China so close to Ozzlandia and with a gigantic disaspora in that country of people from there, I would expect, with GW and FW prices, 3d printers to be running 24/7 there. And if it ain't the case then I am really suprised.

Karol wrote:
Well, the fact that I have to go down 3 blocks to find the nearest guy that does recasts and knowing him all my life probably, pushes the trust a bit. For example I know he doesn't experiment with resin, when he made bases for my Lumineth Lords.

But it is not just my local black market. YT is full of shorts and full interviews with guys how they make their stuff, and they are from all countries not just my. I can only understand german, most slavic languages, english and Flemish. And in all those places people are printing everything. Bases, models, dreadnoughts and all the horus heresy stuff. The most funny, to me, are reviews of how bad FW stuff is comparing to 3ed party made same models. GW or FW seemed to have "lost" some of their master molds, so people are getting copies of copies with half the land raider being a different size, then the other. While 3ed party printer are are updating their stuff and their models have the proper proportions and size. With China so close to Ozzlandia and with a gigantic disaspora in that country of people from there, I would expect, with GW and FW prices, 3d printers to be running 24/7 there. And if it ain't the case then I am really suprised.

I hear you, but we're talking about two different things.

The op (who has 2 posts and is likely not on the level, read his intro thread) asked where to buy an army of recasts or figure out how to print one.

There's a difference between a blackmarket for buying recasts and a sharing economy based around files for printing models (ala Napster.) The first is something that surely exists, I've done recasts for my own use by creating a mold and casting the parts in resin. It's easy. Can't imagine someone isn't making a modest living doing the same, especially outside the US / Europe.

The second - the sharing economy - does not appear to exist. It's not hard to find a 3D printable model of a space marine and print it. If you want an all Intercessor army with every model in the same pose, there's a way to do that. But there does not appear to be a way to download all the models / units one would need to print an army that reasonably resemble the original GW casts. If you want to master a 3D modelling program (Blender / Autocad / Maya / etc) to work with what's out there, be my guest. It would take a lot of effort for very little in return. The cost difference, at least here in the US, makes it hard to justify the effort.

The trouble with either approach is there's always someone who wants to give you a hard time when you're using non-GW models. Unless you are going to put the work in to produce something very close to the original, you run the risk of having an army of proxies that some people won't play against.

The part I can't understand: If you can't play the army you made, is it still a hobby? 40k is a creative pursuit as much as a game. Devoting your creative energies to dealing with recasters or mass downloading a bunch of "conversions" to print seems like it takes away from the creative part. Making an army certain opponents will not play against takes away from that side of the hobby just as much. And if it's not a hobby, what is it? A fetish? An obsession?

 techsoldaten wrote:

Karol wrote:
Well, the fact that I have to go down 3 blocks to find the nearest guy that does recasts and knowing him all my life probably, pushes the trust a bit. For example I know he doesn't experiment with resin, when he made bases for my Lumineth Lords.

But it is not just my local black market. YT is full of shorts and full interviews with guys how they make their stuff, and they are from all countries not just my. I can only understand german, most slavic languages, english and Flemish. And in all those places people are printing everything. Bases, models, dreadnoughts and all the horus heresy stuff. The most funny, to me, are reviews of how bad FW stuff is comparing to 3ed party made same models. GW or FW seemed to have "lost" some of their master molds, so people are getting copies of copies with half the land raider being a different size, then the other. While 3ed party printer are are updating their stuff and their models have the proper proportions and size. With China so close to Ozzlandia and with a gigantic disaspora in that country of people from there, I would expect, with GW and FW prices, 3d printers to be running 24/7 there. And if it ain't the case then I am really suprised.

I hear you, but we're talking about two different things.

The op (who has 2 posts and is likely not on the level, read his intro thread) asked where to buy an army of recasts or figure out how to print one.

There's a difference between a blackmarket for buying recasts and a sharing economy based around files for printing models (ala Napster.) The first is something that surely exists, I've done recasts for my own use by creating a mold and casting the parts in resin. It's easy. Can't imagine someone isn't making a modest living doing the same, especially outside the US / Europe.

The second - the sharing economy - does not appear to exist. It's not hard to find a 3D printable model of a space marine and print it. If you want an all Intercessor army with every model in the same pose, there's a way to do that. But there does not appear to be a way to download all the models / units one would need to print an army that reasonably resemble the original GW casts. If you want to master a 3D modelling program (Blender / Autocad / Maya / etc) to work with what's out there, be my guest. It would take a lot of effort for very little in return. The cost difference, at least here in the US, makes it hard to justify the effort.

The trouble with either approach is there's always someone who wants to give you a hard time when you're using non-GW models. Unless you are going to put the work in to produce something very close to the original, you run the risk of having an army of proxies that some people won't play against.

So? This is always the case. There's always some people who won't play against something. You ignore those people & get on with gaming amongst more reasonable types.

 techsoldaten wrote:
The part I can't understand: If you can't play the army you made, is it still a hobby?

Yes.
Apparently building/painting models is a hobby.

 techsoldaten wrote:
40k is a creative pursuit as much as a game. Devoting your creative energies to dealing with recasters or mass downloading a bunch of "conversions" to print seems like it takes away from the creative part.

Models gotta come from somewhere. I don't see how getting them from re-casters or printable downloads is any less creative than hitting "Add to Cart" on GWs site or Amazon.
Besides, aren't we constantly being told how 3d printing is a hobby in its' own right?

 techsoldaten wrote:
Making an army certain opponents will not play against takes away from that side of the hobby just as much. And if it's not a hobby, what is it? A fetish? An obsession?

If "certain opponents" won't play against your army that's their problem and you needn't worry about them. Their opinions don't matter.
Ex: I'm not married to using GW models. Never have been, never will be. So my Grot army uses various WWII 1/2tracks as trucks. They're larger (and better looking) than the old truck kit and smaller (and better looking) than the current truck kit. If you won't play me because of that? You're not taking anything away from my hobby.

As for Hobby/Obsession/Fetish? One or more those? Depends upon your PoV?

I dunno, but would it be entirely legal if you made the moulds yourself, and only made the recasted miniatures for yourself, not selling any?

You could probably make silicon moulds, or oherwise try bluestuff to make moulds for milliput or greenstuff miniatures.

I think the illegal part is when you start selling recasts.

No idea, but what I do know is that GW has being going after people who were sculpting and printing stuff for themselfs, and just showing it off. A dude had a wonderful looking, imo better then the FW one, not-Lion, and GW told him to take the picture down.

 techsoldaten wrote:


The second - the sharing economy - does not appear to exist. It's not hard to find a 3D printable model of a space marine and print it. If you want an all Intercessor army with every model in the same pose, there's a way to do that. But there does not appear to be a way to download all the models / units one would need to print an army that reasonably resemble the original GW casts. If you want to master a 3D modelling program (Blender / Autocad / Maya / etc) to work with what's out there, be my guest. It would take a lot of effort for very little in return. The cost difference, at least here in the US, makes it hard to justify the effort.

The trouble with either approach is there's always someone who wants to give you a hard time when you're using non-GW models. Unless you are going to put the work in to produce something very close to the original, you run the risk of having an army of proxies that some people won't play against.

The part I can't understand: If you can't play the army you made, is it still a hobby? 40k is a creative pursuit as much as a game. Devoting your creative energies to dealing with recasters or mass downloading a bunch of "conversions" to print seems like it takes away from the creative part. Making an army certain opponents will not play against takes away from that side of the hobby just as much. And if it's not a hobby, what is it? A fetish? An obsession?

I mean regarding it non existing. I am not sure if places like etsy are region locked or something. But if I put something like "battlefield gothic statki" or "pliki custodes" I find entire model lines of GW original to download. There is also who lines of stand in models and they often have more versions then the GW/FW ones. And as I said before, dudes in germany had files ready to print of the entire shown new IG model line, before it was sold by GW. And the models look like the GW ones bar difference in weight.

Karol wrote:

Spoiler:

 techsoldaten wrote:


The second - the sharing economy - does not appear to exist. It's not hard to find a 3D printable model of a space marine and print it. If you want an all Intercessor army with every model in the same pose, there's a way to do that. But there does not appear to be a way to download all the models / units one would need to print an army that reasonably resemble the original GW casts. If you want to master a 3D modelling program (Blender / Autocad / Maya / etc) to work with what's out there, be my guest. It would take a lot of effort for very little in return. The cost difference, at least here in the US, makes it hard to justify the effort.

The trouble with either approach is there's always someone who wants to give you a hard time when you're using non-GW models. Unless you are going to put the work in to produce something very close to the original, you run the risk of having an army of proxies that some people won't play against.

The part I can't understand: If you can't play the army you made, is it still a hobby? 40k is a creative pursuit as much as a game. Devoting your creative energies to dealing with recasters or mass downloading a bunch of "conversions" to print seems like it takes away from the creative part. Making an army certain opponents will not play against takes away from that side of the hobby just as much. And if it's not a hobby, what is it? A fetish? An obsession?

I mean regarding it non existing. I am not sure if places like etsy are region locked or something. But if I put something like "battlefield gothic statki" or "pliki custodes" I find entire model lines of GW original to download. There is also who lines of stand in models and they often have more versions then the GW/FW ones. And as I said before, dudes in germany had files ready to print of the entire shown new IG model line, before it was sold by GW. And the models look like the GW ones bar difference in weight.

I see.

Let me try to be more clear about the differences between what you describe and a sharing economy.

A decent example of a sharing economy is YouTube. Anyone can make a video, post it online, and other people can view it. The underlying mechanics of the system is for people to share content. The economy has been diluted, with media companies offering paid content and recommendation systems creating winners and losers. But there's a clear emphasis on sharing digital creations, at no cost to the consumer. The system generates revenue primarily through ads and selling information about users, not by charging to access the content people produce.

Like I said before, I can produce faithful digital reproductions of physical objects and rig those scans to put them in any pose I want. There doesn't appear to be any incentive for sharing scans with a broader community. I won't get anything out of it, might be exposing myself to legal jeopardy, and most importantly: nothing is ever good enough for people on the Internet. All I could expect from people who use those scans is complaints.

I have no doubt you know some guys who can produce the same scans I can and are willing to print an army for a price. The mechanics are simple and relatively easy to learn.

The point is: that's not an economy. Call it a syndicate or a blackmarket or something. They produce bootleg GW materials the same way people produce and sell bootleg DVDs. They benefit from the same trade protection laws GW does, in that those laws keep any real competition sidelined. The customer may receive product at a lower price, but they don't benefit from the kinds of innovations sharing economies are capable of.

Have not seen a site similar to the ones you are describing. Etsy is a US company and subject to the DMCA, if there were sellers hosting entire model lines they would be shut down as soon as the operators received a request. Have seen plenty of projects on Thingiverse, Cults, Youmagine, Traceparts, GrabCAD, etc featuring a handful of miniatures that were removed within a few months.

Not what I'd call trustworthy.

Also from a hobby perspective people making full copies are only leeching. Yes copies can take time to produce, but at the same time they aren't making anything new or different; they aren't giving the community a new model or new idea or providing a service. They are simply providing an undercut product that leeches money away from the actual creative team.

I dislike copies being rewarded because today its GW; tomorrow its Dystopian Wars. GW can weather more copies more easily, smaller firms are far more vulnerable and if you build a local culture of supporting a lot of recasting and such - well - how will your local geek shops be supported?


Buying models from retailers is supporting the chain of product and people working to make a living from your hobby and thus supporting your hobby interests.



Furthermore if you're going to rewrad creators, reward those actually making new and fresh things. Who are adding to the market and creating amazing stuff that really pushes the limits on what can be done. I'm FAR more excited supporting a creator like Solwyte who is making Imperator scale titans, legions of smaller titans and awesome mega tanks and a huge mega mech worm machine than someone who is just copy-catting GW's kits.

Plus in all honesty if you can afford a 3D printer you can afford a GW army.

 techsoldaten wrote:


Have not seen a site similar to the ones you are describing. Etsy is a US company and subject to the DMCA, if there were sellers hosting entire model lines they would be shut down as soon as the operators received a request. Have seen plenty of projects on Thingiverse, Cults, Youmagine, Traceparts, GrabCAD, etc featuring a handful of miniatures that were removed within a few months.

Not what I'd call trustworthy.

Yes, GW does purges and then the same files are back in like 2-3 days. Same files or updated if GW updates stuff. I don't know maybe it is a language barrier thing, because I do not undertand the argument. If it is on etsy anyone can down load the files, well as long as they pay, if someone doesn't want or can't print the files themselfs there are litteral thousand of people that can do it for them.
I mean maybe it is because GW only checks stuff written in english and can't /won't check those writen in any other laungage. But the comments under the files are in english. I do know, the it is hard to find or not trustworthy is such a wierd argument to me, that there has to be something I just don't understand.
Or to make it my country specific it is as if someone told me that there are no trustworthy suppliers of non taxed vodka and that the knowladge about how to get it is hard, and that the state cracks down on those illegal booz makers.
Here if there is a town, and it has a store or a table top community. It will have a recaster, maybe more. And cities are full of them, because people are richer andor can use printers at school or work to make stuff for themselfs and for sale.

I dislike copies being rewarded because today its GW; tomorrow its Dystopian Wars. GW can weather more copies more easily, smaller firms are far more vulnerable and if you build a local culture of supporting a lot of recasting and such - well - how will your local geek shops be supported?

funny you say that, because one of the biggest recast, 3d printing communities, outside of HH/W40k stuff, is that for battlefleet gothic and dystopian wars, followed by Battle tech.

And I get that people don't like the fact that people print their stuff, especialy if they paid more for their models, or if it kills stores in their area. But in areas of the world where stores are already being killed by crazy WotC and GW prices and there is zero love or sentimenth for those companies, you are not going to find many people saying that paying 1200-1400$ for an army is better then paying 350$.

Plus in all honesty if you can afford a 3D printer you can afford a GW army.

That is the core of the problem, at least in my part of the world. People can't afford a GW full price army, nor do they have the living arrangments to set up shop themselfs, most of the time. That is why buying recasts and 3d prints is so popular. And it is hardly a new thing. From what I have been talking to people twice or three times my age, it has been like that since the 90s. Only back then people would use legos, had to do everything per hand. Now those that are in to 3d printing have 5-6 machines set up working on schedul. And the more popular w40k becomes, the more people want the models, but don't want to pay GW prices. It is a war GW will not win here.

Karol wrote:
you are not going to find many people saying that paying 1200-1400$ for an army is better then paying 350$.
.

Sure its good for your wallet, but its not good for your hobby. You talk about how local shops are having problems being supported and how everyone is using recasters and such, but perhaps the reason the local shops are having trouble is because customers aren't saving and prioritizing their hobby money for the stuff the shop sells and are instead buying the cheap bootleg stuff. You're basically seeing the result of a community adopting and supporting bootlegging and abandoning the official approach and the result is those official sources start to die off.

People who choose to make their living selling games and running a store and such stop when no one will pay for those services. In the end the bootleg approach is good in the short term, but in the long term health of the community and market and the creators making new stuff; its a bad thing.

Very few people are buying models at GW price. So the stores problems is not because of recasters or 3d printers or 3ed party companies, which often aren't that much cheaper then GW. Plus recasting was a thing here since the 90s. It is not like suddenly in became a thing in the last 2-3 years and killed stores. is 30 years living side by side with recasting, a "short term" approach? Especialy as a lot of the store owners and older players, have been recaster or bought recasts themself in the past.

Now I understand, or at least I think I can understan, why in the west, the view on the price hobby is different. Earning 4-5 times as much for same work, can give someone a different view on things.
For people that collect yachts or sports cars, GW prices seem trivial. I do think that the industry build in my part of the world has impact on other places too. Maybe in UK or US, there is no huge 3d printing or recasting market, because there is no need for it for the people already playing GW games. But I know that poles that moved to germany and belgium had no problems with finding buyers and communities that fully accept 3d printing stuff. So maybe it is not the entire wester world. In general this is a topic way above my understanding, why it could be so different.

Don't buy recasts.

If you want to get into 3d printing as a hobby then do some research but it's not a magic "print 10 armies for less than one GW model" button. You need to put in time, effort and money.

Second-hand sources like eBay are always an option. It might not be brand new quality but there are always job lots kicking about where you can get some really good deals. Plus you might be able to find some Oldhammer gems from time to time and get to own a rare model.

Unless someone is printing his models off hours at school or work with someone elses reisn, it does not have the cost of 10 armies per one GW model. Or the one model is a manta or something similar. People that want to make 3d prints have to put in the money to get the files, the machine and the resin etc. But the models they sell do not cost as much as GW or FW models, and it doesn't matter if the files are GW copies or self made designes or something else.
Even for people that print stuff not for a wide audiance the cost return is fast, because GW stuff is really expansive. A "patrol" box army can cost 1000$, but a fully optimised lists costs more. In rare cases like custodes that are build around a ton of FW kits, the army goes up in price super fast in price, when someone considers 3 regular contempors, 3 custodes dreadnoughts and 2-3 tanks. That covers the cost of machine, the resin and the learning needed. And it is not that hard to find someone who is already doing it. So yeah if someone is the first table top player, there is no one there to help them, and they want for some reason to open a small manufacture and sell the freezer, fridge and laptop to buy the caster and resin, then they can be in big trouble. But most people don't do that. They just buy what they want at a lower price or buy it at all. I said before that one of the biggest communities of printers is that of warhammer gothic players. I don't think any of them, aside for maybe our store owner and some realy old players, has the original metal models for it.

 techsoldaten wrote:


Let me try to be more clear about the differences between what you describe and a sharing economy.

A decent example of a sharing economy is YouTube. Anyone can make a video, post it online, and other people can view it. The underlying mechanics of the system is for people to share content. The economy has been diluted, with media companies offering paid content and recommendation systems creating winners and losers. But there's a clear emphasis on sharing digital creations, at no cost to the consumer. The system generates revenue primarily through ads and selling information about users, not by charging to access the content people produce.

I think the best example of this is Wikipedia. It has essentially demonetised the encyclopaedia industry excepting the dwindling number of people who want a physical book. Digital encyclopaedias cannot charge subscriptions and have any substantial userbase, because Wikipedia offers essentially the same service for free.

Pretty much only niche professional wikis can do it, but even then you get free-to-access gems like radiopaedia (radiology wiki, absolutely amazing for a lot of medical stuff).

A lot of open-source communities operate in this way, but few have out-competed the capitalist alternatives as successfully as Wikipedia.

As you say, the 3D printing communities are much more fragmented, probably most similar to modding communities as they frequently skirt the boundaries of IP law.

Karol wrote:

 techsoldaten wrote:


Have not seen a site similar to the ones you are describing. Etsy is a US company and subject to the DMCA, if there were sellers hosting entire model lines they would be shut down as soon as the operators received a request. Have seen plenty of projects on Thingiverse, Cults, Youmagine, Traceparts, GrabCAD, etc featuring a handful of miniatures that were removed within a few months.

Not what I'd call trustworthy.

Yes, GW does purges and then the same files are back in like 2-3 days. Same files or updated if GW updates stuff. I don't know maybe it is a language barrier thing, because I do not undertand the argument. If it is on etsy anyone can down load the files, well as long as they pay, if someone doesn't want or can't print the files themselfs there are litteral thousand of people that can do it for them.
I mean maybe it is because GW only checks stuff written in english and can't /won't check those writen in any other laungage. But the comments under the files are in english. I do know, the it is hard to find or not trustworthy is such a wierd argument to me, that there has to be something I just don't understand.
Or to make it my country specific it is as if someone told me that there are no trustworthy suppliers of non taxed vodka and that the knowladge about how to get it is hard, and that the state cracks down on those illegal booz makers.
Here if there is a town, and it has a store or a table top community. It will have a recaster, maybe more. And cities are full of them, because people are richer andor can use printers at school or work to make stuff for themselfs and for sale.

Not sure how to respond, except that trustworthy is a weird word subject to multiple interpretations.

If you see this as the best response to the OP's post, maybe you should DM links to him. Pretty sure the Dakka rules prohibit publicly linking to the websites described.

FWIW, the DMCA requires more from sites like Etsy than responding to take-down notices. They are required by statue to proactively monitor for infringing materials. The situation you described - where an entire army is posted, removed from the site, and reposted in 2 - 3 days - would create severe legal risks for the company.

I'm not saying that never happens. I am saying, if it's happening more than 0.0001% of the time, GW could sue them for infringement on a per-item. The RIAA has used this tactic to sue individuals for damages of over $250k per song shared. That would mean potentially $1m for every 4 models that are part of these downloads.

Curious how these lawsuits have never occurred.