What is the lead time for an order?
Total time between ordering and shipping should be between four and twelve weeks, with 6-8 being most common. This includes time to process your order, schedule it into a print-run, package and label, and ship the order to your country and address.
What about shipping costs, tariffs, taxes, etc.?
Shipping varies from about US$7 to US$15 depending on the destination country. See your cart for an exact number — the prices vary with currency fluctuations. Sales tax — where applicable — will be added for U.S. shipments. Value-added taxes (VAT) may (or may not) be collected by your postal carrier on receipt, which is known as “Delivery At Place”. Since my printing and shipping partner has no way of marking shipments as VAT-paid, this website cannot collect VAT at checkout and handle it for you. Most orders should be small enough to avoid customs duties, but you may want to check your local laws, e.g. avoid going over €150 for orders from the E.U.
The miniatures are printed in either the U.S. or Great Britain, depending on their final destination. This may allow the avoidance of tariffs in many cases. But tariff and taxes are continually changing and it’s hard to predict what will apply in a general sense.
What if my plane is damaged or bent on receipt? Can I get a refund?
See the tab on every plane explaining the refund and reprint policy, and you can find more details here: https://www.greatwarplanes.com/refund_returns/. The tab includes details about warped wings.
What is the status of my current order?
That topic deserves its own web page. Please see https://www.greatwarplanes.com/order-status/.
Can I see some photos of actual prints?
Sure, just visit https://www.greatwarplanes.com/product-tag/photo-available and look through the galleries of those models. The selection is pretty limited right now. I would be happy if you could send me additional sharp, well-lit photos to add to the galleries!
Are these miniatures more expensive than the old color prints from Shapeways?
Somewhat, but consider 1) Shapeways wasn’t charging enough to stay out of bankruptcy; 2) These color prints are better quality than the FCN12 Shapeways prints; 3) I have to leave some buffer in the price to account for things that Shapeways covered: exchange rate fluctuations, credit card transaction fees, international currency conversion fees, website fees, sales tax license, etc.
Why do you not ship to all countries?
To avoid accounting complications, I avoid shipping to countries if they collect a Value-Added Tax (VAT) and they do not have a threshold to exceed before worrying about it. Shipping to those countries may involve a lot of paperwork, fees, and even having a designated agent inside those countries. E.U. countries are an exception to this.
What game are these miniatures made for?
Wings of Glory is the most popular WWI aero game currently, but these miniatures have also been used with Blue Max/Canvas Eagles, Aerodrome, and others.
Where can I get plane cards, flight stands, altitude pegs, maneuver cards, etc.?
You can find unofficial plane cards in the galleries on these pages and on the Wings of Linen WIKI. There are stands, pegs, and various mounting systems available from third-party vendors. For instance, check out Rival Sky Games for custom, laser-etched bases. Maneuver cards remain a copyrighted property of Ares Games, but there are friendly people on the Wings of War Aerodrome who can get you print-it-yourself card decks in various formats.
How are my planes mounted to the stand?
Full-color miniatures from Reduced Aircraft Factory (RAF) come with a built-in mounting peg compatible with Wings of Glory stands. The peg is designed for a fairly tight fit; you can file or sand it down slightly if you prefer a looser fit. If you have your own mounting system, you can cut off that peg with a hobby razor saw.
What sources do you use for your full-color paint schemes?
It varies from Aeronaut books, Windsock Datafiles, Wingnut Wings instructions, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces series, Osprey Aviation Elite Unit series, Flying Machines Press books, internet sources, and others. Color-matching is done using the Methuen Handbook of Color and a Nix bluetooth color sensor.
Why don’t you replicate some of the popular and rare Ares models, like the Red Baron’s triplane?
While I realize the second-hand prices of some of the out-of-print Ares models is sky-high, it is RAF policy to avoid repeating a model that is already in the Ares catalog. After all, it was Nexus and then Ares that did all the work to bring Wings of Glory to our hobby shops and gaming tables. Perhaps that will change someday if Ares drops the line altogether.
Can you do WWII, inter-war, or pioneer aircraft?
Alas, my hands are full with World War I! There are several WWI plane types I’d still like to model, and there’s a much longer list of paint schemes and planes to cover as full-color models. Covering WWII would also mean buying a second small library of reference books.
What happened to the single-color, paintable materials?
Due to some changes at shop3d.io, I have moved my solutions for single-color, paintable models:
• For Grey Nylon, see the Reduced Aircraft Factory shop on Thangs. In addition to getting Thangs to print your models, if you have your own 3D printer, you can subscribe to a plan for downloading STL files for personal use.
• For Grey Resin, another solution is in the works. Watch this space for details.
Note that the variety of plane types in single-color materials is much larger than the full-color types on this site, with many more uncommon types and varieties available in single-color. On the other hand, there are over 25 Fokker D.VII paint schemes on this site and only two models in single-color (the D.VII and the D.VIIF).
Who is your full-color printing partner?
For twelve years, Shapeways was the RAF printing partner, but they went bankrupt in July 2024. RAF now partners with shop3d.io for full-color 3D prints.