3D printing makes me wonder about the future....

On another note I wonder how 3D printing could affect the aftermarket say by eliminating resin as a material.

At some point they're going to have the technology to print you up a fully painted and weathered rendition of whatever you want. Some people will rejoice at the ability to not have to muck around with all of this scary modeling work, others will still want a fun hobby and something they can do with their hands instead of just surf. There will still be modelling in some form.

What's the difference between science fiction and science fact?

About 50 years.

OMCUSNR

What's the difference between science fiction and science fact?

About 50 years.

A for Anything by Damon Knight (also known as “The People Maker”, in the November 1957 (!!!) issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction).  So we’re running a little late.

I wasn't thinking 3D printing would eliminate building a model. My thoughts are more you could take the material and just print off say a Sherman kits sprues instead iof waiting on shipping etc...

I think it will defintitly not take 50 years before 3d printing goes big.

As for 3d printing and modeling, it is already there. Just have a look on Shapeway, there are plenty 1/144 models and conversions avaible. Most of those are aimed a wargamers, who often have a lower demand for detail but there is some good stuff out there.

www.shapeways.com/search

http://images1.sw-cdn.net/model/picture/674x501_481535_383280_1338416895.jpg

http://images1.sw-cdn.net/model/picture/674x501_248975_127280_1338413387.jpg

http://images1.sw-cdn.net/model/picture/674x501_178485_113448_1338413386.jpg

Maybe the technology is not feasable for larger scale now but it wil be in the near future. Revell certainly thinks so. The Dutch IPMS recently did an article on RoG and they are actively thinking about how 3d printing can be used by them and how this will change there business model.

Here is a tread by Modelnerd. He used 3d printed parts as masters for resins conversion

How would we be able to "print" plastic sprues in our homes,would that require an injection mold machine ? If your not talking plastic sprues,then it's not really the same hobby is it ?

someone who really doesn't understand

I believe 3-D printers will just be another tool.  We will still buy aftermarket accessories if they are easier than doing your own 3D printing.  The later will take a lot of programming.  Also there will be parts for which making a pattern and mold will be a better solution than the CAD and programming for 3D. I would venture to say also that there will be shapes for which the 3D printing may not work so well.

I suspect we will just have a wider choice of accessory technologies.  3D products will end up alongside resin castings, PE, laser cut parts, etc. On dealers shelves.  Just like you can do your own resin casting and PE now, some will make 3D parts on their own printers, but many will buy aftermarket stuff 'cause they want the easy way.

Tojo72

How would we be able to "print" plastic sprues in our homes,would that require an injection mold machine ? If your not talking plastic sprues,then it's not really the same hobby is it ?

someone who really doesn't understand

Sounds good Mike,i'm a technology dinosaur when it comes to this stuff,but I am not stuck in the stone-age,I would be open to investigating whatever might come our way,just like I enjoy using all the new AM and weathering products we didn't have 25 years ago in the hobby.

No worries that's why I picked 50 years in the future. Right now we have the tech for aftermarket/big corporations but in the next few decades 3D printing might become feasable enough to mass produce affordable units to the masses. Heck it may not even take 50 years. I'm only 26 and I've lived through the film reel, VHS, laserdisc, DVD, and now Blu Ray. When I was a kid a cell phone was a gigantic clunky thing with an antenna that only rich people had and now we got these 5G 6G whatever they are now that can tell you where a reasturant is, your blood sugar, how long it's been since you last ate, and how many steps it will take to get there that are affordable to the masses.

The idea of downloading the kits and then printing them is interesting.

I think the printing part is not what is holding 3d printing back. As you can see on shapeways, the price of 3d printed modeing kit and AM is not unlike resin kits. Sometimes even cheaper. Most dificult thing is acuatly using CAD software to create models. I have a host of aircraft of which there are no kit but no skills to make them into 3d models.

As for mainstream companies, I think the business model of Eduard (offering a kit in a weekend, normal and profi variant) will be copied and enhanced using 3d printing (and make more variants/accesories) Also "drop in " AM parts like Quickboos and 3D-kits will become easier to manufactre and to market/distribute.

Do not underestemate advantage that 3d printing can have in distribution. Instead of having to ship a physical product via distributors and importers you can just use a 3d printing service. Starting an AM company will become much easier because of that (providing that you have the neccesary CAD skills)

Interesting, I even found a few 1/48 parts and kits at reasonable prices.  Here's a 3d printer you can buy for $1,300.

cubify.com/.../index.aspx

Like borg says, it's really making the 3d models thats the difficult part, but then you can buy those plans.

I would not be surprised if , someday, model builders were downloading 3D "kits" in place of buying models online.

Borg R3-MC0:  "Most dificult thing is acuatly using CAD software to create models. I have a host of aircraft of which there are no kit but no skills to make them into 3d models"

I testify to that, I'm learning  Sketchup, & AutoCAD to be able to play.... you need a totaly different headspace!

So Far.... I've used Google Sketchup (free!) to make my own drawn components, then laidout the design to the desired scale (1:48th) using Sketchup Pro (NOT FREE, sigh...)

I've used Autocad to produce parts I've laser-cut, then back to Sketchup to produce a 1/48th building, RAF bomb shelter, & CNC Milled the blanks.... 14 hours PC & CNC work so far & 4-5 bench hours to go

FunFunFun.... all part of my personal development, honestly...  & I note the labs have a bench sized laser cutters and a 3D printer....

I have seen some of this in action as it were, by MDC who are using 3D CAD to produce Masters for more conventional resin casting.  can't say much.

There have been 3d produced tracks for the LVT's, forget by who, they looked good but were USD$80.00 plus, but are now available much more reasonably, so there is a lot to look forward to here....

I don't know what the finished material is like or how it compares to styrene in terms of durability, workability & longevity, but it certainly is an interesting arena.

Thinking aloud here, but if I was a kit manufacturer I would certainly be interested in this - injection moulding is a costly process, using expensive equipment & consuming a fair bit of energy, add to this the fact that the moulds are EXPENSIVE to manufacture, are not easily altered, have a high minimum output before break even, aren't exactly convenient to store between runs & cant be quickly changed....

I imagine that once printing speed & resolution can both be brought up to the right level it might make sense for the mass production outfits. If / when speed is improved, it could save a fortune on equipment, moulds & energy - it would reduce their required minimum output & product changeover would be by the click of a mouse.

No more moulds to forklift about the place to swap or store, get mysteriously lost at sea, destroyed in a train crash or simply disappear.

I'm surprised that the big boys have only just gotten to the point of looking at it?

I'm looking forward to seeing the first mass producer getting really behind this. It wont be cheap to do it right, they will need large scale laser scanners to get it right.

Imagine the new Tiger kit from them, they go to a museum while the tank is being restored and laser scan all the parts. This can then be fed right into the 3D printers. Once you have one done all you need is to scan the parts which change so the costs start to drop. It would remove so many of the problems we dont like with accuracy. With modern items these are already made with CAD so this could be fed right in

You could end up with a possible situation where you walk into your LHS and say "I'd like a tiger produced in Feb 1944" and be asked "How detailed would you like it - basic, complex or every single part down to the bolts for the radiators, oh and what scale"

I hope this is the way the hobby goes but I'll have to finish my stash first

Phil

Is a 3D printer really a printer? We have one where I work and I have never seen anyone put paper in it. I really wish they would come up with a better term for it.

Milairjunkie

................

I'm surprised that the big boys have only just gotten to the point of looking at it?

 

KODAK filed for bankruptcy because management didn't recognize the potential of digital photography.

Sprue-ce Goose

Milairjunkie

................

I'm surprised that the big boys have only just gotten to the point of looking at it?

 

KODAK filed for bankruptcy because management didn't recognize the potential of digital photography.

Actually, the management at Kodak did recognize the importance of digital photography. But they where not able to get into that market effectively and they thought that people would still be printing their photographs. Lastly, making digital camera's is a different business then making film. For digital camera's you need to be an electronics company. Kodak was more of a chemical company, that was the expertise required dor making film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak#Shift_to_digital

As to 3d printing, I think the big boom is going to be the next 5 years, the technology is already here, it will become cheaper and better. I wonder was this will do to the global economy, what is the point of letting everything (including models) be manufactered in China when you can print is easily at home...that is the paradigma shift we are going to see.

Then again, ownership of personal 3D printers may yet be restricted due to this:

http://news.yahoo.com/you-don-t-bring-a-3d-printer-to-a-gun-fight----yet.html

"Kodachrome

You give us those nice bright colors

You give us the greens of summers

Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!

I got a Nikon camera"

Kodak sued

Nikon set them a camera

PritMar

Is a 3D printer really a printer? We have one where I work and I have never seen anyone put paper in it. I really wish they would come up with a better term for it.

Technically its not a "printer" in the purest form of the word. However, it is still a printer in that it uses digital information to "Print" a 3 dimensional "image" so technically it is still a printer.

What else would you call it? If you called it a personal CNC machine, that would be wrong too. Rapid prototype machine? What if its no longer a prototype? Rapid reproduction machine? I guess that could work, but its not very marketable.

At the end of the day, a name is just a name, i could call it a fizzwobler, if i could market that name so succesfully that it stuck to that product, it would be called that. For example, in new zealand a flip flop or thong, or sand shoe, is called a Jandal. Because it was first marketed in this country by Jandal, so the name stuck.  

Interesting thoughts here, speaking as someone paddling in the shallow end, as it were.

But I think the first wave of Borg's 5 year evolution will come from the aftermarket boys using the stuff to make masters to cast.

Look at the work by live resin, astonishing detail on those modern weapons sets, & 'scopes, stands, mag-lites, helmets, etc....

The big stumbling block is skills to get ENOUGH people trained on the software, to get critical mass.

Then the software costs need to come down to mass-market levels, eg. Sketchup is free, but you need add-ons to use it for manufacture, not all of these are free, or maybe the guys that offer "print the parts for U" service should take files in Sketchup format, then it would take off!

I think the 'big boys' may stumble over scalability. eg, It takes big Dollars to design & cut steel moulds, but therafter they can knock out a kit in, say, a minute, (60 per hour/ 24 hrs/day, 365 days/yr, etc, etc etc).  

Judging from what I've seen at my Uni, the machines are frequently left running OVERNIGHT to produce parts with the size & complexity of a 1/24th scale car body, or a holder thingy to clamp an I-phone to a bike!

So watch this space, progress & cost falls with be rapid, but don't hold your breath just yet.

There are websites that allow people to upload designs that you can print yourself. Some people are a little worried because theres a group thats managed to design a working .22 gun than you can download and print at home with a decent machine. Think of the ramifications of that, a firearm that wont set off metal detectors, and can be passed off as a "toy" plastic gun, or can be broken up into components that arent recognizable as a weapon, then assembled and used. Any object that can be used for good, can be used for evil.

But in saying that, you can buy a basic 3D printer for $1500 USD (or will be able to soon)

http://cubify.com/

Buy a part online, download the print files for your printer, print it out, got yourself an upgrade kit for that 1972 Airfix spitfire.

I'm new to this technology of 3D printing. But having read the threads I see a lot of potential in it. As mentioned. The mouldings will be made more flawless and probably more manageable with less prepping and maybe the details will be far better than ever. I don't believe in the prospects of a market where people will make their own models. That requires top notch design skills and a good amount of dosh to get the applications and the hardware to to execute the job. For the model kit manufacturers this is good news. It just new means of improving the product. I'm  sure we'll still see our models come in sprues on the assembly line for another 50 years or so. I hope...