As promised, images of my experiments using Shapeways prints in Full Colour Sandstone to create pre coloured 1/450 models. This material is, as its name suggests, gritty in texture and quite unlike the finish of FUD which I normally print in.
My test print included some models larger than T which worked quite well, however the T scale items were really on the limit of what this material can do - both in terms of minimum wall and detail sizes for the print, and also the resolution of the colouring.
The first T scale item I tried was a red British telehone box. As can be seen the detail is not a patch on my police box models show in earlier posts, however they still probably look better than a regular print painted red if used far enough into the background when on the layout.

- For Forum - Telephone Box FCS.jpg (94.87 KiB) Viewed 11893 times
The other model I tried was a simplified version of my Dodge Charger. As can be seen some of these models have side windows printed and other do not due to hitting the mimimum resolution for printing. The stepping effect on the front of the cars looks very prominent in the photograph, but is really no where near that noticeable when looking at the actual model.
The flag on the top of the General Lee version has worked out quite well considering the small size. For the black and white (completely made up idea) I added roof lights which turned out well - just need to be on a more appropriate model! For the other models I just took the opportunity to quickly and easily change the colours around.

- For Forum - Dodge Chargers FCS.jpg (171.86 KiB) Viewed 11893 times