I hope it isn't too late to reply to this thread...
To clarify: I do not speak for ADB themselves, though I have been fortunate enough to have a few items published by them here and there.
-----
Whether it be
Star Fleet Battles or
Federation Commander - or, for that matter, a number of other Star Fleet Universe game systems, such as the strategic-level game
Federation and Empire - there are certain components which can be printed on demand at ADB, not least of which being the rulebooks and (in the case of
SFB) the SSD books... so long as said books are in black and white, at least.
However, there are other components of certain products, such as countersheets and colour book covers, or the colour laminated Ship Cards used for
FC, which have to be ordered from third party vendors. Typically, by my understanding at least, once one (or more) of these components run out of stock, the product they are a part of is put on hold until the next batch of said item (or items) arrive(s).
In some specific cases, there have been changes made to the countersheets themselves. For example: some of the older countersheets for
SFB had 216 counters per sheet, and had plain silhouettes for the actual ship on each counter. Newer countersheets have 280 counters on them, often with colour line art for each ship. So, when older countersheets for certain modules are due to be replaced, the countersheet is switched over to the new format - adding 64 "spare" counter spaces that can be used to add new items to the list.
This often runs parallel to updates to the rulebooks and/or SSDs books in the module the countersheet is assigned to. To give another example: some of the older SSD books used an older format, which (among other things) did not include the infamous "Crawford Boxes" seen on more recent SSDs. So, when such-and-such an older module is being updated to the contemporary standards, the SSDs included are often updated to match.
Aside from this, ADB have posted many of their rulebooks and SSD books as PDFs on such sites as Warehouse 23 and DriveThruRPG. Which can be handy, if you want to have a reference file to brush up on while waiting for a physical product to ship to your address!
As for miniatures, there are still a number of the "pre-Shapeways" 3788 and 3125 scale metal minis offered on the ADB storefront. But it might be a while yet before a clearer sense can be had of what the "post-Shapeways" era is going to look like. Or rather, what the "post-Shapeways 1.0" era has in store, not least since the new ownership group behind "Shapeways 2.0"
have only just started to talk about their plans for this new iteration of that company.
-----
One final thing I might suggest - other than popping over to take a look
at this thread, if you want to know more about how the technology of the SFU functions in-universe - is to have a look at some of the training files offered as free PDFs by ADB.
In the case of
SFB, there is a
Cadet Training Handbook, which is intended to teach the basics of how to fly one's ship, how to arm certain types of weapons, and so on and so forth. (The "Cadet-scale" SSDs are scaled down somewhat compared to the "full-scale" SSDs in
Basic Set, but should be enough to help get a handle on things.)
Meanwhile,
FC has a sample PDF called
First Missions, which in turn offers a brief introduction to that game system. Note that, in
FC terms, most Ship Cards have a "Fleet Scale" side, which is more or less equivalent to the
SFB "Cadet-scale" SSDs; plus a "Squadron Scale" side that is broadly equivalent to "full-size"
SFB SSDs.
