the future for railway modelling

[rodger5591]

Not sure if the right forum area to discuss this but it is a question.

 

I recenty had a discussion with a few friends regarding an article in the Economist on 3D printing. It is now possible to design items and 'print' them in certain materials as a finished product (eg custom jewellers do it already). The discussion was about the future of consumer goods, but the implications for modelling are interesting. Being able to commission a model in kit form or as a complete item to your own specifications is probably not far away, and not much further away than that is being able to do it at home with consumer level 3D printers. You would just buy is the design (much like some building kits now) and the necessary production and finishing materials. A computer programme can be used to 'design bash' the original design to whatever specifications you need. Modelling the unusual and the obscure would become very easy. Probably a few copyright issues there though as lot of potential for pirating of original design work. Consumer level 3D printing of metal is probably quite a bit further off so we would still need to buy all those bits for a while yet, but current model engineering companies might switch to commercial 3D printing for some things now done by milling/lathing/injection moulding/etching etc.

 

Also interesting is the benefits to modelling of emerging battery technologies. The future might be miniature batteries in models and operation by radio control rather than electricity in the track. MPDs and sidings would have "charging tracks" where locos would have to go to 'fill up" their batteries periodically (or overnight). That would add a lot of interest / complexity as managing loco fuel would become an important part of planning operations, timetables etc. For steamers, coaling stage / water tank / ash pit areas would actually become important functional areas of the layout demanding periodic visits, rather than just scenic areas. The implications of this for the future of DCC are also interesting, especially for those that haven't made the leap yet.

 

Any thoughts or other ideas on the future ?

[Prew]

There are already several modellers using 3D printing technologies

for instance, refer : http://www.koala-creek.net/category/3d-printing/

[Prew]

and others on this forum e.g. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/28552-3d-modelling-irish-narrow-gauge-and-zrr-15th-class-garratt/

[Dave777]

Both ideas have been discussed quite a few times on here, and using batteries for loco power has been around for decades. So - sorry - but nothing new.

[Jenny Emily]

What's next after 3D printing? Surely the logical step might be a Star Trek style replicator where one can just 'create' a working layout to play with for the evening, perfect in every detail, then toss it in the trash when you're done.

 

A friend of mine who is a computer nerd talked to me some months back about the idea that railway modelling would become so much easier with 3D printing. However, I think the technology still has a long way to go before it is affordable and of a standard to match some of the RTP buildings on offer from manufacturers and certainly has a long way to go to match some of the excellent scratch built examples I've seen. It also assumes that the person 'printing' off their entire layout has the computer savviness to design all their bits in a CAD programme first - surely that's a lot of effort in and of itself?

[Arthur]

It also assumes that the person 'printing' off their entire layout has the computer savviness to design all their bits in a CAD programme first - surely that's a lot of effort in and of itself?

 

Good point. Maybe, for some, the way will be to have a 3D printer and buy in the finished CAD design. That's the RTR equivalent, others, with the skill, will modify that bought in design to suit their particular needs and yet others do their own full design from scratch. A kind of parallel to today's RTR/kit builder/kit basher/scratchbuider range of modeling approaches.

 

Edit; and yes, some will still want to cut it out of flattened oil cans and solder it up, each to their own.

[tebee]

And just to prove that the future is here now here is is a OO9 train completely made by 3-d printing (apart from the wheels and couplers - and I'm working on the couplers - Loco is on a Kato tram chassis)