Incredible 3D Printed Model Train Sets

[Eddie]

I never personally was into model train sets, but I had a ton of friends that were. A man in England has taking the hobby of model railroading and combined it with the technology of 3D printing. What he got, were some truly incredible model trains, and a very nice railroad set. He uses Shapeways in order to have his trains and some buildings 3D printed. He then assembles them and paints them the way he wants. Read more about this at http://3dprint.com/10135/3d-printed-model-trains/

[JRDM]

I see some excellent modelling skills. He's done much more than I've managed so far.

I probably would have layered laser cut plywood to do the carriage vertical panels, but that would have been a lot of work too. There are many good techniques to achieving a good model.

[Mjolinor]

A while ago I sold my other Stratasys on ebay and a guy came to look at it who wanted to print trains.

http://www.ironhorsehouse.co.uk/

He does all these drawings by scanning actual engines and they are all saved as full scale 1:1 STL files.

[RobH2]

JRDM: Keep at your 3D modeling and you'll get better pretty fast. Actually, modeling a train takes time (so many discrete parts) but for the most part they are pretty simple geometries. Take all of those simple geometries and layer them and you get a complex looking model. There aren't very many organic shapes on a train so modeling like you see above it not that difficult, it's just tedious.

Mjolinor: The trains on that link are all just 3D models it looks like. I was hoping to see some actual 3D prints (unless I missed them). He has some nice stuff for sale, some pretty cheap too, but I can't actually figure out what you are buying. Is he selling models for people to print or already printed models? He doesn't make that very clear.

[Geoff]

I can confirm N-Gauge props sell well on Ebay

[Mjolinor]

JRDM:

Mjolinor: The trains on that link are all just 3D models it looks like. I was hoping to see some actual 3D prints (unless I missed them). He has some nice stuff for sale, some pretty cheap too, but I can't actually figure out what you are buying. Is he selling models for people to print or already printed models? He doesn't make that very clear.

They are just virtual models. He gets a lot of requests for actual models which is why he is looking for a 3D printer. He also gets a lot of requests for the control panels and he asked me if I would do the electronics for him when he gets round to actually making some. That should be an interesting sideline.

[RobH2]

Geoff: That's encouraging. I thought you could already get just about anything in N-gauge already. There are millions of props. It's a much larger market than I expected.

However, unless the prop is elaborate/custom and somewhat expensive I don't see how you can make good money. If it takes as little as an hour to print something and you made 24 of those a day, you'd have to sell them for at least $7 each to make the equivalent of $20 and hour for a typical 8-hour/day job. That doesn't seem lucrative. Your probably aren't going to print 24-hours a day. So that means you make 10 of them. Now that part has to cost $16. To make any real money to make the time and effort worth it and raise a family you need to be making at least $208 a day to give you a $50K/yr job. Now your part is $20.80 each. Are people doing it for fun or have they found a way to really make a profit? I guess you could have 10 printers running but that's a lot of investment.

I see 3d printing as a prototyping tool at the level most of us are at, the sub $5000 printers and RepRap. We just don't have the print speed required to make enough parts in a day to make it work it for a business plan that is based on "volume" sales. I do see speeds inching up but we have a ways to go before it's truly a production manufacturing process for volume sales. But like anything, there is always someone who figures out how to make money with any idea. Good luck to them I say...


Mjolinor: Now that's a good way to go. You can design and make electronics and charge your fair value for them to sell to him. He can figure out how to make the profit on his end. You've done your part. Good luck with that endeavor if "he gets around to it."

[catzpaw164]

3D Printing is making an impact on all scales of model railroading in many areas. We at CatzPaw Innovations, LLC design and 3D print scale scenery details, figures, animals, and vehicles for model railroads. These accessories are also used by the toy farm community, slot car enthusiasts, and other types of dioramas. We are just finishing a project for a local Chamber of Commerce where are figures, animals, and other various items are being used in a Civil War diorama that will be on display in the local Chamber building.

We started this venture a year ago with a single printer, an FDM printer from MakerBot, and we are now looking at purchasing our third printer which will be an SLA printer from FormLabs. We are expanding into the smaller scales and need the greater detail the SLA printer will provide. Business has been that good!

You can find us on FaceBook at catzpaw_164 and on the web at catzpaw.com

[RobH2]

[QUOTE=catzpaw164;22801 Business has been that good![/QUOTE]

This is really good to hear. Don't get me wrong from reading my earlier posts, I want to see exactly what you are doing succeed. We have to admit that 3d printing currently forces us to look at volume sales a little differently. It's finding that niche and it appears that you have. Keep us posted on your success. It's great to see.