tundrayeti

well from what i've seen they can get pretty detailed. perhaps i should have them send me a "test Print" it's a wrench or something like that. I could teke detailed pics and post them. it might give us an idea of what we might be in for.

Chas you have some excellent points and I am looking at small scale non transformable items to start. The unit i'm looking into prints in ABS plastic, so i would think that the end result would be pretty robust. Of course testing it out and seeing how far the technology can go would be the first thing. I know that the newer units can print materials fully assembled with moving parts so the possibilities could be endless. transforming toys would be a bis deal, but for starters, i would like to start out with easy items like support aircraft, ground vehicles, figures, and scenery. i have no doubt that with the creative talents of some of the people on this site it could go much farther. Very encouraging so far everyone thanks for the input!

I like where some of the ideas are going with this. Of course I would not be looking to compete with what is already out there. I like your idea for the pilots etc... maybe even some add on acessories for existing toys/models. originally the idea came from what isn't avaliable. one day i was thinking how cool it would be to have a cat's eye recon plane in a certain scale. or maybe a VC-33 mom's kitchen? ground crew and equipment, let's face it the Valks don't fix themselves. or maybe even some background greebles etc for your display. Of course large scale transformable mecha would be possible, but with so much out there already done, it seems more feesible to start small and work our way up.

I was looking into a dimension Uprint. it prints is UBS plastic so The models would be pretty tough.

Actually JasonC I have looked into a scanner setup and i can get one running for about $500 us. take a look on Ebay and see what I'm talking about. Having worked with technology like this in the field has always made me wonder how cool it would be to use modern prototyping techniques in my personal hobbies. It actually started with a diorama of a hangar that i have been working on in the last year. I used CNC technology to make some of the panels and it looked nice. I will try to get some pics posted si that everyone can see some of the possibilities. CNC is nice, but it is a little wasteful where the 3d printer would not be. Well during the course of making this diorama, I found myself thinking, like I see so many people do in these forums, how cool would it be to have a VC-33 mom's kitchen in 1/100 scale or 1/72 scale? or maybe the Centipede? I think it can happen with some of the new technologies out there.

Hello all! This is my first post. I have been a member for a little over a year and I have done some business with a few members on this site. I love all the ideas that I see and be a design engineer by trade i have an opportunity to get my hands on a 3d printer. Before I do, i would like to use this thread as a sounding board to look into the possibilities that such a device would offer. Personally i would like to use it to make my own detailed models for my various projects. One of the most frequent questions that I see when someone is making a cool Scratchbuild or customizations is people asking if the model can be done in a different scale. Well i think that the 3d printer would be a very cool way to make that happen. Anyone can make up their idea in the form of a 3d model and that model can then be printed out in any scale that the end user wants. For example If i get a model for say ground support equipment, (boom trucks, etc) if the 3d model isn't already out there, we could use the various talents of people on this site to make that model and it would then be printed out to whatever scale is desired. I would not be interested in making a profit from this, however i would only seek to cover the cost of materials, etc. Let me know what you think.