Harry P.

I'm a moderator, but I'm also a member, just like you. Being a moderator doesn't take away my membership here, and I can still post my opinions, however contrary to yours they may be. In this case we obviously are never going to agree, but that doesn't mean that because my opinion doesn't mesh with yours that I shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion or post it.

A few years ago on "This Old House" they showed how an architect printed out his architectural model on a 3-D printer... fully detailed and in color inside and out. And this was 2-3 years ago! Can anyone still believe that 3-D printing isn't going to be commonplace very soon? Not just for model kits, but for hundreds of applications.

I did see the ones in the kit. I've built that kit. Sorry, but yours are not an improvement. No offense intended, just being straight with you. The model overall does look good, so don't take this as a slam. Overall you did a very good job, among the better ones of this kit that I've seen.

I think a '68-'69 Charger is a far more iconic car than a Fox "Mustang" any day. Just my opinion, yours may vary.

John Q. Modeler can only choose to spend his hobby dollars on plastic kits because that's all that's available! When downloadable 3-D printable kits become the norm, that's where John Q. Modeler will be spending his money. Don't kid yourself... it's the manufacturers that butter your bread. If the products are sold in the form of downloadable software to be printed on the customer's own 3-D printer at home, that would make what you now do obsolete. So you obviously have a vested interest in the industry staying just the way it is. Which obviously colors your opinion of 3-D printing and its possible emergence as the new way of "manufacturing" kits. Come on, Brett. I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Who do you think you're dealing with here? Maybe you can BS some people, but I'm not one of them.

The rear springs don't work... too thin and too loosely coiled, and your foiling is a bit ragged in a few spots, but overall I'd give it a solid B+. Maybe even an A-.

And I would agree with you!

Brett, you deal in the industry as it exists today. That industry is going to change. And I didn't mean that the industry is interested in keeping the status quo... I meant that you are. Because if the industry changes the way I think it will, your bottom line will be affected negatively. You, Brett, do not have an unbiased opinion. That's what I'm saying. It's in your own self-interest for 3-D model kits to not become reality, because if they do, you are out of a job. I understand that, and if I was in your shoes, I'd feel the same way. But you can't possibly have a fair and unbiased opinion on the subject, seeing as you derive an income from the industry as it exists today. As for me, I have absolutely no ties in any way to any aspect or facet of the 3-D printing industry. I'm just looking at reality and seeing the train pulling into the station.

Don't worry, Andy. It's coming. Just keep building... it'll be here before you know it!

Nobody can say for sure, but given the fact that the technology already exists and is in use, I'd say sooner rather than later.

We can only see whatever information you provide, along with your IP address. But your IP address can also be seen by dozens of others. Do you have an email account?

You have nothing to worry about. Your personal information, including medical history, voting record, credit history, banking info, criminal record (if any), employment history, and much more than you probably realize, is already available in thousands, if not millions, of databases, whether you are a forum member or not. If maintaining your privacy is your concern, this forum is the least of your worries! If you think you can be anonymous in 2013, forget it.

But the industry that you know is going to drastically change. People in an industry defend that industry because they have a vested interest in keeping the status quo. If kits are no longer injection molded and put into boxes and shipped to warehouses and then to retailers, that directly affects you and your bottom line. It has nothing to do with "knowing" the industry, it's all about the industry changing and doing things in a way that no longer needs people that do what you do. Please. Give me a little credit for seeing reality. I don't want you or anyone else who derives an income from the way the hobby operates now to lose their gig... but the way the model kit industry operates is going to fundamentally change, in my opinion. I'm sure the blacksmith's union was pretty vehemently against the auto industry. I'm sure that candle makers weren't jumping for joy over the invention of the light bulb. And I'd guess that the steamboat and railroad industry wasn't too pleased with the Wright brothers. Come on, Brett. You're not talking to a moron here...

Well now... there's a great way to deal with that kit's issues!

Brett, I know that your opinion is colored by who you are/what you do. You've been selling traditional plastic kits in the traditional way for years, and anything that challenges that way of doing business is obviously not going to get the open arms treatment from you. I get that. That's why you (and Darin) were the two who most adamantly defended Revell in the Mustang LX thread. I get it... don't bite the hand that feeds you. But I have no ties whatsoever to the manufacturing or distribution or retail side of the model kit business. I don't have a stash of hundreds of unbuilt kits, I don't live and breathe model kits... I'm just the typical model kit buyer. And I think, no offense, that I have a more unbiased and realistic view of this topic than a guy who is intimately involved, and has a vested interest, in the model kit industry as it exists today. Agree to disagree? Yes, I can agree with that.

Brett, I think you're off base. Models are all about the "sizzle" and not the steak? Don't know if I agree with that. I don't know if "most" people buy models so they can add to their stash. I know that I buy a model because I want to build it, not store it. I couldn't care less about things like box art... In fact as far as I remember, I have never bought a model kit based on nothing more than the box art. I would be just as happy getting the parts in a cellophane bag. And I know I'm not the only guy who thinks that way. And as far as people holding on to the old technology (injection-molded kits)... of course they will! Just like I (and millions of others) still have all my old vinyl LPs. I don't expect anyone with hundreds of unbuilt plastic model kits sitting on shelves to throw them all out... but I do believe that they will buy kits in downloadable form if that's the only way they are sold. Are you saying that an old-school die-hard plastic kit builder is going to give up buying new kits because they're only available as digital downloads? I doubt it. Digital kits are the future, I have no doubt. The technology is just too inviting and too convenient for the kit makers to ignore. They will all be jumping on the digital bandwagon... the only question is how soon. My guess is within our lifetimes, for sure. Probably sooner than later.

You may be right. From the business' point of view, lower production costs mean more profit, not necessarily a price drop for the consumer... so yeah, the consumer probably wouldn't see a huge price drop for a digital kit vs. a traditional plastic kit, but I do believe that at least a portion of the cost savings would be passed on to the consumer. But the digital 3-D process would enable kit makers to release a lot more new kits, because the costs associated with the traditional kit engineering/tooling/manufacturing/packaging/distribution/retail process would be eliminated. In other words, it would conceivably cost a lot less to bring out a new kit, so odds are we'd see more of them.

We'll have to see how it all shakes out. My guess, though, is that there will be a standard created for all 3-D printing. Just as you can print any document or digital file on any current printer, you'll be able to print any 3-D file on any 3-D printer. Sure, maybe one model company will try to come out with a proprietary software where you would have to buy one of their printers to print one of their kits, but that would mean the model companies getting involved with the printer companies, and that seems unlikely.

Actually both you and Art were talking about the possible problems of mass producing kits via 3-D printing. Mass production of models (replacing the injection-molding process with the 3-D printing process) is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the complete elimination of the manufacturing manufacturing process altogether, and the "manufacturing" being done by the consumer. Whatever glitches there may be in the 3-D process now, believe me, they will be worked out. I'm sure there were glitches and bugs to work out while the process of making CDs was being perfected, or the process of figuring out how to record TV programs was being perfected, etc. All new technologies have a development process, and the 3-D printing process is no different. I see absolutely no reason to believe that a 3-D printer won't be as common in our homes as an ipod, flat screen TV or cell phone is today... all technologies that weren't even available to us just a few years ago. And now they're completely mainstream and we don't give them a second thought. 3-D printing will follow the same course, and we'll all be printing a whole lot more than just model kits.

I buy stock photos all the time, for use in printed pieces. I buy the photo by downloading it. What's to stop me from using the same photo many times? Or giving it to someone else to use? Same with downloading movies, music, software, etc. If all of those industries can do it, the model kit industry can do it.

Correct. Believe me, they will figure out a solution. This technology is just too innovative to think that it won't be making a big impact on our lives in many ways, not just printing out model kits.

Correct. But they will be solved. And then people will work to get around the solutions. It's called human nature. But today we can buy music and movies digitally, we can even buy computer software digitally (and I have). I don't see any reason why we won't one day be buying model kits digitally.

Like Casey, you are completely missing the point. Model kits will not be manufactured by the 3-D printing process. The 3-D printing process will not replace the injection-molding process. Rather, the process of physically creating thousands of kits via the injection-molding process, then boxing those kits, and shipping those kits, and warehousing those kits, and distributing those kits to retailers... that long, convoluted and expensive process will be completely eliminated. Model kit companies will no longer manufacture actual physical kits. They will offer software for the customer to buy, and the kit will be "manufactured" on the customer's end using his/her own personal, in-home printer. Just like music downloads will completely replace physical disks that you have to go to a store and buy. You will buy your "kit" from an online catalog, download the software that will produce that particular kit, and print it out at home.

Nice, but he needs Dullcote. He's way too shiny.

The costs will come down. We're probably still several years away from true mass-market 3-D printing at mass-market prices, but it's coming.