3D Printable Alpha Vector Ship from No Man’s Sky Video Game on MyMiniFactory is the Best of Both Worlds

With all the craziness going on in the world today, it is easy to forget the things that really matter. Small acts of kindness, reaching out to loved ones and having compassion for those with different beliefs than your own, even political ones, are little things that can help one reconnect with your fellow humans. And there are times when you just need to unplug from social media and the pressures of dealing with people. Sometimes, you just need to escape for a bit. So, when you’re tired of all the worries of this world, it might be time to discover a new world. No Man’s Sky has plenty of that, and you can explore the many worlds it offers while cocooned in your personal safe space.

No Man’s Sky offers virtually infinite undiscovered worlds to explore. The massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, available for PS4 and PCs, features a procedurally generated universe populated by 18 quintillion (1.8×10¹⁹) planets. So, saying there’s a lot of planets in the No Man’s Sky universe is the understatement of the year. Nearly everything in the game is procedurally generated; star systems, planets and their ecosystems, flora, fauna, as well as their behavioral patterns, artificial structures, and alien factions and their spacecraft. There are stars in abundance in the game, and around every star are planets. It’s a first-person, open world survival game and there are four main modes of play; exploration, survival, combat, and trading. Exploration is the most freewheeling mode allowing Travellers (as planetary explorers are called in-game) to discover virgin worlds.

While the game promises a really unique game experience, it has also endured some controversy, as some players have accused the game developers of misleading advertisements. Essentially they claim the gameplay featured in the trailers prior to the game’s release did not accurately depict their experience playing the game. However, this week the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the developer, Hello Games, did not mislead gamers, and that the content featured could be experienced by playing the game for an average length of time. The developers also released a “foundation update” to the game this past Sunday, so gameplay should be better than ever. Regardless of your thoughts about the game, or whether you have played it or not, there’s a really cool 3D printable model from No Man’s Sky on MyMiniFactory.

Jeff Lagant AKA StarJeff created his version of the Alpha Vector ship, which was a PS4 exclusive for preorders, as his entry to the MyMIniFactory Playstation Contest. The model was designed in Solidworks and consists of 24 different parts (not counting the 6 assembly pins). It’s quite a bit of printing, but well worth the effort as evidenced by the images on the model listing page. Included in the files in a nifty base, so you can display your ship in mid-flight. The design is exclusive to MyMiniFactory and as with all the files on the site is completely free (although there is an option to leave a tip).

According to Lagant, it will take just under 10 hours of printing and use roughly 200g of filament. the overall dimensions of the completed model are roughly 268 x 260 x 75 mm. I started printing it myself and it was printing quite well, although you’ll want to put some consideration into choosing the best orientation for printing.

And if you’re looking for other No Man’s Sky models to print, Martin Moore posted the Grave icon on MyMiniFactory. So, what are you waiting for, Captain? Start building your ship and seek out strange new lifeforms and galaxies!

Below are some videos of No Man’s Sky for your viewing pleasure: