3d printed wheels for a 1/48 Cessna 172

[modelbear]

Hi,
This is my first attempt at 3d printing some model parts - a few 1/48 Cessna 172 wheels that I had printed up at Shapeways. These are the raw prints that I got back and I am really happy with the quality of the parts. There is certainly room for improvement in my design work based on what I got back and I might have to split the wheels in two to get the best quality but I think it is an encouraging start. I'll have to start work on a few other parts I want to update as well, such as some modern style wheel fairings.
Peter

[Graeme H]

Nice,
I am curious though why there are runners between the wheels

[modelbear]

Purely to save cost. Each item printed has a fixed handling charge plus a material cost so joining them together eliminates multiple handling charges. The material cost of the joiners is a lot less than the extra handling fees. Another reason that you may have to join parts is that there is a minimum volume of part (about 2/3 the size of the nosewheel) that is needed for them to able to print the part so the only way to print very small parts is to join them to something else.