KingSix

Photoshop and a good printer ? ..

Agreed ..

That is a way cool build.. I bet that car would be a rocketship in 1:1 .. love the old A Bodies .. man if someone would do a 4 door Valiant I could build my Dads car.. '68 B5 Blue Slant 6 ...

Smokey and the Bandit was about as far as this franchise should have gone, cool car though

You should check out Hearts cover of Stairway to Heaven.. not a huge fan of covers, but this one is amazing !!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-9W-wGgNX4

Somebody always has to spoil the party and bring me back to reality ...LOL

Jobs are highly overrated ...

Really ? Because I'm sure all the resin casters out there are doing the same ? ... Gimme a break

People who have no clue how trading actually works , that bugs me ..

That VW is way cool

well, see ? now I have a direction for the little promo ...

This may be the time to take a leap .. at worst I'm out a few grand, at best I could make a serious chunk of change ...

Not one that prints white ;-)

They also contain more technology than the entire Apollo space program !

Yes I agree, the cheaper machines right now do give that "layered" or ridged" look. Now, the Stratasys 500 Connex does not . But you pay a much higher price for that machine. over 5 k .. now operating in my shop, which is on my property , I'm pretty sure I could pump out quite a few items in an 8 hr day. Overhead is virtually nonexistent, other than the cost of a decent website (one that actually shows what's in stock or on hand ). Now, considering I would get the initial start up from cashing in some stocks, it really wouldn't be coming coming out of my "living expenses" it all looks good on paper right now, but I'd need to see a completed body at least , get some opinions on them and maybe a kit before I'd sink "X" amount of dollars into this. But then again, any business venture is a risk, right ?

The media is cheaper than all the supplies for resin cast. And there will always be people who don't want, or have the skill or drive or what have you to do something on their own .. Now I just got done having a conversation via email with a Stratasys rep. I also have a "brother" I served with in the Corps who works for Dreamworks SKG , who does, guess what ? 3-D modeling. Now, if I can get the printer I was for say 5k , buy this time next year I could be producing scale model kits or, selling a one time use program to people who have or have access to a 3-D printer of their own. That being said, I could produce kits, bodies, parts, for less than a 3rd of what it costs to resin cast, I don't have to deal with any artistic attitude from the artists that make the masters ... now guess what.. a few other guys like me get the same idea and BOOM, resin casting goes the way of the Dodo bird .. which is no great loss in my estimation because of the sketchy suppliers out their that advertise stuff for sale only to find it's not in stock .. or there is a huge lead time or etc etc .. with 3-D someone can order a kit, it can be produced in less than a few hours, boxed , shipped the same day. I fail to see how this is a bad thing ?

Amen to that.. think of it this way, if you could go on the web, buy a "canned " program of a kit YOU WANT to build, pay a small fee for it, download it, have it made right in your home in a matter of hours, then build it, as many times as you want.. or , go online, order a kit, wait however long it takes said kit to arrive, then build it once , which one would you choose ? Not something you'd have to think to hard on, I hope anyway ..

3-D master , then resin cast ? That would be ridiculous .. So you buy a 3-D printer, then make the part, then buy all the materials to resin cast , then make the mold from the master, then cast the part ( which is never as good as the master ), when you could just have the 3-D printer and make copies to your little hearts content ... you really don't need a slide rule to figure out what the more sensible thing to do here is .. and comparing a 3-D printer to operating a lathe is like comparing Open Heart Surgery to lancing a boil .. the is nothing complicated about turning a switch off & on ...

hahaha, good one. check this out, this is really motivating me to cash in some stocks and jump in feet first .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67cev_zcXJw

Now your assuming the internet will be here in 5 years ..LOL

And I personally can not wait .. think of the possibilities !!

I think you guys are missing the point in regards to 3-D printing. There is a whole section of the industry, dedicated to the idea of "one in every home". Or think about it this way. I have a friend , who happens to be a "part time" gunsmith. He has a small Mori Seiki , a Bridgeport , a small blast cabinet and a pretty wide assortment of hand tools specific to the trade. Maybe a total of 10k invested. he can turn out a firearm that will outperform, outclass and look better than anything you can find on the shelf. Now this requires skill, knowledge of CNC programming & more than an average knowledge of machine work. he makes quite a good "living" just producing firearms , with only 10k invested. Now, lets look at 3-D printing. This IS designed to be user friendly, to be stand alone. I'm not sure where you guys seem to be getting the idea of " Computers with the RAM and hard drives big enough to handle the HUGE files ( I'm still trying to wrap my head around that comment ) etc etc " There are no "HUGE" files, you don't even need a computer to operate a 3-D printer. The ones I have experience with are designed to be stand alone, so there goes that theory. It won't take long for the secondary industry of "canned" programs to take off. That means you buy the copy of the program, bring it home, plug it into your 3-D printer and go. You can now make parts, pieces etc etc to your hearts content. No need for learning CAD, Photoshop or any other program that was mentioned. If you can plug in a memory stick and turn a switch off and on, you're good to go. Now, if you want to actually design your own models, that's an entirely different story. You will need to become more educated in CAD at the very least. But CAD isn't difficult at all , trust me if this dumb old Marine Corps Grunt can learn it, you can too. So back to my point.. for a minimum of say, 3k for a printer, then you find a person willing to make the programs for you maybe a $200 or so for a design, you can churn out bodies parts, etc etc much faster and more efficiently than any resin caster can. Do you see where this is going ? Now, let technology do it's thing over the next 5-10 years, you'll be able to make your own kits its at home. Couple that with an already dying market ( modeling ) the big companies won't be able to hang. It seems to me to be a win win situation. No longer held down to companies that only make "kits that appeal to the masses" and now you can actually build kits that interest the smaller segments, or even just YOU.

Linkage ?

In a hobby where people spend literally 1,000's of dollars yearly on kits, new releases and OOP's , paints, styrene, glue , etc etc etc, 3-5K isn't that crazy, especially if it allows you to produce models that have never been done before, or re-pop that classic OOP you've been pining for . Think of the long term savings.. it becomes a no brainer. Resin casting would become almost unnecessary..

Ok, what about those that aren't going to be in Detroit ? I want one ..NOW!!!! LOL