I would love to have some of those buildings for my city scene.
I wanted to get a 3-D printer to make parts, like monopoly game board tokens and hotels. And you can make small parts of RR cars easily. The basic 3D printers are not expensive, but they only print in one color, and only use plastic, but the bigger problem is how to get the machine to know the exact dimensions of what you are trying to copy. For that you would need a 3D scanner or some way to accurately measure the item...
My first professional model making job was at an architectural model shop. Depending on the level of detail, you won't get too far unless you can work for about $5/hr. There is probably only a couple hundred in materials and machine time but thousands in labor. I once built one of the tall buildings in downtown Seattle in 1/8" = 1ft or 1/96 scale. It was a simple massing model, basically just the shape and painted. It took me a couple days to finish and paint it and that, while big, was about as simple as they get. The lighted acrylic models take much longer, maybe 2 orders of magnitude.Maybe I can build some for you, at a discount? Let's say only $50,000?
I had a model building kit called "Skyline" when I was a kid. I had the biggest version of the kit...
I've also worked a fair amount with 3D printed parts and none come off the printer ready to use. If it is a small detailed part, there is always sanding involved. They are getting better but any defect is magnified by the scale. A feature that is .010" on the part is just under an inch in HO scale.
The key will be to find something that I can print and sell.
I've also worked a fair amount with 3D printed parts and none come off the printer ready to use. If it is a small detailed part, there is always sanding involved. They are getting better but any defect is magnified by the scale. A feature that is .010" on the part is just under an inch in HO scale.
How did you get the dimensions of the part into the printer?
Summary
This is a HUGE model of the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy, an American steam locomotive used by Union Pacific Railroad from 1941 into the 1960s. A special project commissioned by MakerBot to test limits of 3D printing, it was created and assembled by Paul Fischer.
Fischer spent between 700 and 800 hours drafting and another 1,000 hours 3D printing the locomotive on a MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer.
The finished engine is six feet long.
Not a project for the faint of heart or short of time!
Instructions
Follow the "'Big Boy' Assembly' instructions in the PDF under the Files section. Sanding to fit pieces together will be required. The amount of sanding will depend on how many shells you use in MakerWare. Parts were designed without tolerances. Sanding to fit will be required. Pieces will likely need to be replated in MakerWare before printing.
How did you get the dimensions of the part into the printer? To print a cube would be easy, just program in N" x N" x N" but for say, a monopoly token, like the tophat, the shoe or car, or a red hotel, how do you get the machine to understand the 3-D outline? Unless you can place the item in the printer, and have the machine duplicate it, sort of like a xerox copier? But what if you don't have the original part? The samples I see on the ads for these printers seem to be non-utilitarian, unless one appreciates weird "artwork".
Even scanning the original is an imperfect process that mostly provides the basics for redrawing it. The sum up, parts for the printer need to be done in 3D CAD and exported in a format the printer will understand. There is another step where the printer software slices the item into the layers it will print but that is mostly software processing. I hope that helps.