2 Less-Discussed Benefits of 3D Printing

3D printing (along with 3D design) is a hot topic these days, and with good reason. But amid many of the silly semantic arguments about what is or isn't modeling or scratchbuilding or whatever, I've been thinking about two factors that tend to get passed over frequently - persistent availabiilty compared to traditional aftermarket, and the benefits of practice pieces.

[jonas]

Fully agree, that 3D printing won't replace injection moulded kits any time soon, but they are useful for some smaller parts. I recently printed a set of 1/48 F-105 boarding ladders on my own resin printer, these came out better than the injection moulded ladder kit I had! Also, I build a lot of special versions of aircraft and they often have small avionics boxes on the outside or other small changes. The ability to design and print these is absolutely an added value!

[sandtable]

I haven't got into 3d printing but I've been tempted over the last few years. Having said that if you are worried about messing up your paint job on figures, bust's or frankly anything else, you can always strip the paint and start again. Plastic, resin or metal makes no difference it can be successfully stripped and you can start again from scratch.

[TonyJ]

Good video mate. Story of my life there! I almost fell over when I was going through a box of random crap in the darkest dusty doldrums at one of my local hobby stores and found the True details P-40 cockpit for the old Mauve kit. I'd been trawling the internet for a year looking for that! I think I'm going to take the plunge and get myself a 3D printer soon for the exact reasons you mentioned. For what it's worth I think those busts look pretty damn good. As always love your work.

[TheAa]

You've probably already seen it but there's a company called Resin Scales out of Singapore selling fully 3D printed 1/35 armour kits. They look pretty good, but I haven't seen one in person to confirm

[sebastiansuek]

You raised a very interesting issue of files for printing sets that may be withdrawn from production by the manufacturer in the future. I believe that the same can be done with the files of photo-etched sets which also disappear from the catalogs of companies producing such sets. unfortunately, it is unlikely that the companies to which the intellectual rights belong were well rewarded back then. such files can spread to people for free. I think this is some future of modeling and solving the legal issues would help a lot in this case.

[johndillon]

I'm not sure that selling files is the correct business model for the future. I think a better way to go is for a 3D producer to use the technology for producing it's own product on an as-needed demand basis. First, you don't need to worry about degradation of molds like a resin producer and second, the problem of products appearing, selling out and gone forever should be eliminated when all the producer has to do is set up the printer and run a preexisting file. This would limit piracy and make an entire catalog more or less permanently available. If a producer desires to get of the business, selling the files to an interested party would be much simpler than selling molds, masters and any related equipment.

[Graphixman]

Good video. Any chance for links to places you know that sell .STL files aircraft wise? There are more places than you can shake a X-Acto knife at for figure files, but aircraft, armor etc are hard to trace

[kudukilla]

I don’t 3D print, but I can see it as the wave of the future. If I did print my first idea would be to make a conversion kit for SR-71 to A-12.

[thegodofhellfire]

Time to open "Doog's STL Model Store" and get ahead of the game!

[gideonschlen]

I'm itching to build an Avon Sabre (rare Australian made hot rodded version of the F-86 with a bigger engine and 30mm canons shoehorned in to a redesigned fuselage) there was a scarce ordinary conversation set that did the rounds a few years back. The obscurity and limited demand makes it unlikely that it will be viable for anyone to do a production run.

3D printing would make obscure nieche aircraft like this viable.

[ronjeppson]

I'm curious, you mentioned Fusion 360 for your CAD/CAM....did you purchase or are you getting by with the free version w/3-year renewal?

[paulhargreaves]

Matt....how much better quality is the resin figure you bought vs the STL print?

[allanrichards]

3D printing is certainly coming into it own in the diorama world for all the little detail bits and bobs. I guess it is the way of the future as the process gets more accurate, simple and the resolution improves. I am sure piracy will be an issue but it is with anything these days.

[billray]

Hi there as I’m just getting in to resin printing. What resin would you recommend ?

[Rdoor]

I miss the Doogs rants… when are we doing more fucking raw discussions like this bro…

[lanesteele]

I enjoy crafting in software as much as i do dicking around scratch building. Then i can print multiple of the thing i designed on the printer

[stephenthomas]

My concern with buying STL Files is "author rights" and any intellectual property right issues. Unfortunately, sharing digital information is easy, so giving away STL files to a buddy to print or selling someone else's designs for profit is a major concern. I have designed cockpits and bits for RC aircraft, and I post those in a forum for free after the project is completed. A repository of 'free stl files' is an option, but therein lies the rub. No monetary incentive, not much reason to design the unique. 3DP resin printing is a remarkable tech for all modelers. I would think that providing 3DP printed parts for resale is the way to go and 'print to order' the method.

[michaelnaven]

I have a lot of learning what the fuck I doing figures.

[michaelnaven]

3D printing is the way of the future for modelers.