Harry P.

That's a pretty impressive booth!

Not sure... but if there's one that's been running longer I'd be very surprised!

But the difference between putting your model up against others in a contest or posting it here (to be judged by others), is that here, yeah, your work will be judged... but not necessarily in the context of whether or not it's "better" or "more worthy" of a prize than anyone else's work. Entering your work in a contest is by definition putting it up directly against the other guys work and letting the judges decide which one is the "best," according to whatever judging standards are used. Posting on the forum isn't the same. Your work will be judged on its own merit and commented on, but not in relation to anyone else's posted work.

When someone says "I build for myself," what they're saying is they don't try to build to some external sort of standard, like to win a contest, for example. They don't worry about pleasing the judges or being "better" than the other guys. While it's true that some modelers don't compete in contests, and don't have that same desire to compete that contest guys do, I don't think that everyone who says they "build for themselves" is necessarily including a "contest guys are goofy" subtext. Maybe it's more like the contest guys assuming that the non-competitive builders look down their noses at them for some reason? I know that I have absolutely no desire to compete in contests... I really do "build for myself." But that doesn't mean that I think someone who builds with the intent of competing against others is a bad guy! And I'm sure many (most) of us non-competitive modelers have no feelings of superiority over the contest-type guys.

Man, that guy is good! Amazing.

Not too many right answers this time... too hard? Anywho... the sleek, sexy car in the picture is a Russian GAZ Volga 31105 (built from 2004 to 2010). Komrades who got it right: Badluck13 ChrisR sjordan2 Johnag4004 patami GHolding Kenny george53 Chillyb1 carsntrucks4u

Good plan!

A lot of interesting stuff has been said in this thread, and everyone can go through it and read everyone's comments... but there's a little too much personal "stuff" going on here and I don't want to have to keep checking in and deleting or editing posts. So as the man behind the curtain who controls all the levers... I think I should lock this. I don't see a whole lot more positives coming out of this if I let it go on. Sorry guys, but that's the way I see it.

I see a day not that far off where a 3D printer is sitting on a modeler's bench right alongside his/her computer, and I see the day that model kits will be made that way and not the way they're made today. My reasoning is, like I said, the technology (while still prohibitively expensive for the average consumer) does exist. True, Pat, an actual 3D model kit output printer doesn't exist yet, but I would be shocked if the technology didn't eventually filter down to us. If architects can use the technology to make accurate 3D models, why couldn't it be adapted to create model kits? I see no reason why not. Of course, we have to remember that we're all speculating here.

I think that printing out individual pieces vs. a "finished product" would just be a matter of how the electronic file was created. Sort of like a layered Photoshop file (all pieces separate) vs. a JPEG or TIFF, which is all one piece. Not a perfect analogy, but you get my point. And outputting the electronic file in any scale you want would also seem to be very easy... maybe as easy as typing in the scale you want to output, just like you can now scale an image before you print it. The possibilities here are very interesting, to say the least. And Pat... it's not "pie in the sky" Jetsons stuff... the technology exists. It's not a theory, it's here and it's being used in real-world applications right now, today. The only thing keeping it from the mass market is cost. It's just a matter of time before it gets to the price point where it can be sold as a mass-market product.

New technology comes down in price over time. My very first VCR cost me $750. The last one I bout was $100, and it had more features than the first one. Plasma and LCD TVs have greatly come down in price. The same will happen with 3D printing. The day will come when buying a 3D printer for home use will be as common as buying a resin kit or an aftermarket PE detailing set. And the day will come when the manufacturers abandon actually manufacturing plastic model kits, and will instead sell us electronic files. Modelers won't have the choice of buying a box full of plastic parts or outputting the parts, because the box full of plastic parts won't be being made anymore. I'm not necessarily saying I see this happening in 5 years, or even 10. But I think that 3D printing technology, and the flexibility it gives the kit companies and the builders, and the fact that it makes the cost of running a factory, buying injection molding machines, cutting tooling, and boxing/shipping kits all over the country obsolete, is just too much to ignore. It's the future of model kits. I think it's inevitable that the 3D process is the way we'll be buying and creating model kits in the not-too-distant future. And to your point regarding "printing" full-size cars, that's a completely different thing. You can't output sheet metal on a 3D printer. Not yet, at least. Remember, there was a time not so long ago that people thought the earth was flat...

A few years ago they featured a 3D printing operation on "This Old House." They created a traditional architect's model of the proposed renovation in 3D. It came out of the printer with all the external and internal details in place and in full color... doors, windows...right down to the flooring and the wallpaper! It was incredible to see such an intricate thing as a fully detailed model house--exterior and interior--come out of the printer in one piece! And this was a few years ago! Imagine what the technology will be like a few years from now.

Casey, the point of 3D printing is not that the kit manufacturers will recreate all their old tooling into 3D files somehow. That's just as unlikely as them recreating all their existing old tooling into new tooling. That won't happen either. I think that 3D printing will have a major impact on the hobby because it will actually change the way kits are made. They won't need huge factories, multi-megabuck injection molding machines and dies, a packing and boxing operation, etc... because they will no longer be kit manufacturers, we will be the manufacturer! A model kit won't exist until its parts are printed out by the end user (us!). I see the day where Revell, AMT, etc. will no longer make traditional injection molded plastic kits that come in a box and sit on a store shelf somewhere. They will be creating and selling 3D print files, directly to us via download, and we ourselves will actually "manufacture" the kit by plugging the 3D software for the new "Tucker" (or whatever we just bought) into our printer and creating the kit parts ourselves. We will no longer buy a kit that someone else manufactures... we will be buying the information needed to manufacture the kit ourselves (although in a different way than they used to be manufactured). That's how I see 3D printing shaking up the hobby--changing it in a very basic way, just like the automobile changed what our idea of personal transportation was back when cars took over the job from horses.

Very nicely done! But with all the underhood detail you added (and it's very impressive)... you forgot that the washer fluid doesn't get to the windshield by magic...

Boy, ain't that the truth! They got you if you don't make a claim, by collecting premiums from you, and if you do ever make a claim they raise your rates so fast it makes your head spin! Insurance has to be one of the most perfect business models ever invented!

The whole problem with hybrids is the cost! If you "do the math," as they say, you figure in the initial price premium you have to pay up front for a hybrid (about 10K over the price of a comparable "regular" car), and work in the amount of $$$ you'll save on gas and add the cost of the electricity you'll use to charge it up and it winds up that it will take the average owner anywhere from 8-10 years before they actually begin to see any savings vs. buying a "regular" gas-burning car. And that's not even taking into account the $5-6-7,000 or more replacement battery pack you'll eventually need. So if you buy a hybrid with the intention of saving money, the joke's on you!

Yep, that's the way they should be sold. In pairs!

Very nicely done, good attention to detail.

Careful! You don't want to blow a fuse on your printer!

Man, that thing is flawless! Beautiful! I don't think you can do box stock any better than that. The paint looks perfect! (But if there was an outside rear-view mirror and you left it off, you're in trouble!)

Nope. Never. But I do have common sense.

How is light a luxury when building models? And isn't building models itself a luxury? I mean, we don't need to build models to survive.

So explain it. I got back bacon when it was explained to me!

Are you saying you never realized that they made fluorescent shop lights?

I said this a long time ago on a similar thread, but I'll say it again. The day that a 3-D printer is as common as a phone or a toaster is not far off, and most modelers will have one. It's the future of scale modeling. We'll either be vreating kits or parts based on our own "home-made" input, or we'll be buying files made professionally and sold by the traditional kit manufacturers or other sources. I have no doubt that 3-D printing is going to completely reshape the process of how a model kit is created. The only question is how soon it will become the norm and not the exception. My money is on sooner rather than later.