I don’t hide the fact that I’m not really the biggest fan of Steve Jackson Games. They do produce a few interesting titles, but they’re very much stuck in the past and can be guilty of being purveyors of shovelware.
That I’m happy to share this with you and say nice things about a Steve Jackson product should tell you just how impressed I am with this campaign. Maybe they’re modernising.
The campaign is for STL files. Given the huge number of 3D printable campaigns on Kickstarter, I’m pretty shocked that at this point I’ve only actually spoken about one other such project. it won’t be the last. This campaign has a ton of 3D-printable bits to turn your diecast cars (or prints of the 3D-printable cars included in this campaign) into deadly, post-apocalyptic battle wagons:
There are actually a ton of places where you can get similar STLs. Several of these are paid, but plenty are also available for free from various places. Of course, these all look good and have a pretty consistent style. Consistency is not something you’d get from scraping together a collection of free files from across the internet. There’s also the fantastic Implements of Carnage sprue that North Star released a few years back. It has a range of guns, armour plates, and other accessories for sticking onto your wee cars:
I suppose the benefit of the Implements of Carnage sprue is that it’s easy. The stuff from this campaign probably looks a bit better than the bits you’ll clip off from the plastic sprue, but you need to actually go and print it all. The sprue is easier. The STLs have the advantage of flexibility. Need more of a specific item? Fine, print more of that specific file. Does the piece not look quite to scale on your wee car? Okay, let’s adjust the scaling before we print. That’s a big plus for the hobbyist who wants to be able to tweak and ensure that everything is just so.
Here are some examples of the bits, printed off, stuck onto one of the 3D-printed car chassis and painted in glorious pink:
That’s a very pretty car, innit? In practice, you’ve got a choice. You can stick the bits onto existing diecast cars (like Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars) or you can 3D print one or more of the many cars that come as part of the campaign. Here are a few examples of printed cars:
Now, there are many more cars than the few I’ve shown here. There are also a lot more bits as well. You should go and take a look at the whole bunch before deciding if this is a campaign you intend to back. In terms of value, I’m pretty delighted with this campaign. There are a lot of lower tiers with bits of this and bits of that, but I wouldn’t even really bother looking at them. Why would you when the top tier, “I Want It All,” contains everything else from every tier for the pretty inexpensive price of just $38. I’m actually a bit surprised with this price because I’ve always found Steve Jackson Games games to be just a little bit too expensive for the contents or quality of whatever is in the box. Being a digital purchase (STL files, yo!), there’s also no shipping to worry about. Delivery is expected to take place in March 2023. That’s a bit late for an STL project. Generally, those tend to already be complete and are usually up for delivery a month or less after the end of the campaign. Still, it’s not a long wait, and the value is fantastic.
You can click here to visit the CARnage project page at Kickstarter.
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