Regardless of price or whether the figures are indeed real, why not paint them yourselves? What’s the point of having a hobby when things are built-up? I’m not saying to scratchbuild everything, but there’s satisfaction looking at a layout and seeing your hard work in building structures, painting figures, laying track, etc.
Just my thoughts.
While I feel the same way… I paint all my figures… the last time I made a comment like this a serious insult-fest was thrown my way.
I cannot paint plaid patterns in HO, so I would buy a pack of figures just for this, but repaint everything else.
Painting figures is a challenge, and people that obsess with accurate paint colors and decal placement have a hard time painting something organic and bringing out life and personality.
-Kevin
You can already get yourself scanned and printed. I saw this being done at the last Timonium train show, and I believe that it will also be offered at the Amherst train show end of January.
I don’t know if it is the same outfit, but see minimefactory.com.
Glad to see someone else producing figures that are equal to or better in quality to Preiser.
A few years back I shared my email to Woodland Scenics, on this and one other forum, that me and a number of 1960’s-70’s era modelers were hoping to see the production of locomotive crews from that time period. In pleasant weather crews tended to dress casually: Blue or dark coloed jeans, Polo shirts, short sleeve collared office-type shirts, plaid shirts, baseball caps, work boots or work shoes, and occasionally Fedora hats! I railfanned SCL regularly and the photos nicely sum up what I saw most often: (photo credits: MorningSunWestRails and Walt Edward).
I never saw the traditional striped bibs on SCL or Amtrak crews.For some odd reason, I was blowtorched by a few modelers on this and one other forum for that suggestion.
Yes, there were some casual dressed figures already availabe but very few that were seated or standing in the right position for locomotive or yard crew scenes.
Hi WilmJunc,
These guys are already able to do that, and apparently all you need is a scanning app on your phone.
Cheers!!
Dave
Lindsay O’Reilly, who owns WestEdge3D, sent me some pictures which will give us a better idea of how crisp the details are on his figures. The photos that have three of the same figures in them are of N, HO, and O scales.
Here is a view of part of the collection:
You can see that the details are not absolutely crisp, but I think they look pretty good.
By the way, the website prices are in Australian $ so the price for HO figures in USD would be about $5.00 ea plus shipping.
Cheers!!
Dave
Hi all, my post responding to some of the questions here has finally been approved, albeit appearing way back in the list where the post was that I originally replied to. [:)] If anyone has any questions about how we create our colour 3D-printed figures, ask away. They’re printed on a Stratasys J55, a very cool 3D polyjet 3D printer that operates very similarly to a CD player! See an intro here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv5mSaH1hc8&t=13s
Note that, at about US$100,000 this is not a hobbyist’s home 3D printer! We sent figures today to Wisconsin and Utah, and earlier this week to Germany, California, New York State, a military base in Maryland, Canada (Dave!) and Colorado, so our little people are really getting around.
Like your figures, but wondering if the ‘frosted’ appearance some of them exhibit is due to the printing process or the material?
Thanks, Peter
Hi Peter, yes the ‘frosting’ is a reflection off the edges of the printed layers. It’s most apparent when the figures are lying down flat in our light studio to be photographed next to the ruler for the shop photos, because they’re lit from behind the camera, for maximum reflection!.. We’ve recently discovered that 20mins in Isopropyl Alcohol microscopically “rounds off” those layer edges (which are only 19 microns high!!) and the effect is much less apparent, and we treat all our figures this way now. It’s also proportionally more evident in a photo of an N or HO scale figure, but it is virtually absent when the figure is standing up on a layout - see Luke Towan’s video that Dave linked in the first post in this thread.
Sorry Peter, couldn’t see the link to Luke Towan’s video above, so it’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL4U_rv0Cf0. Our figures look especially good in his scene (there’s even one of me there - look for the older guy in the light grey jumper with a red backpack on one shoulder. 
You can also search YouTube for “Paper Kits have never looked so good - Realistic Scenery Vol.35”.
Linday,
Thank you for your posts! The figures are amazing and hope that you are willing to consider what I wrote in my post above.
Hello Lindsay) Welcome to the MR forums.
I’m pretty impressed by what you folks are doing. I think your products look great. I can only imagine what your sales catalog will look like in say… 5 years.
I think the secret of your sauce is the scanning. The detail in your prints had to come from somewhere. Its immense! Ofcourse, the multi-coloring at such small depths - raises the bar again for 3d printing too.
Count me in on one of those who would like to see ‘steam era’ figures made (of all kinds). And feel free to up your post count by threading your experiences of producing such fine looking 3d models. Details preffered!
For me personally, what you offer is a good thing. Some of us (not all… yet), either dont enjoy detailing figures, much less can even see how to do so. Couple that with the shaky hands at the older ages and yeah, somebody else needs to paint smiles on my little peoples.
Good Luck!!
PMR
My set of four West Edge 3D figures arrived today, and I am fairly impressed. Here is what they look like. The pictures are not perfectly clear. Sorry about that but apparently that’s the best my camera can do.
I will note that the HO figures are extremely delicate. I managed to break a foot off of each of three figures just by giving them a slight push to get them to stick to the clear tape I was using to hold them upright. If I was going to use them with Woodland Scenic’s Accent Glue, I think I might try using a bit of gel CA to fill the gap between the legs/feet before gluing them in place with the Accent Glue.
Overall, I’m quite impressed. I will invest in some more once they come out with some 1950s figures.
Cheers!!
Dave
Which one is you?
Better than the pictures on their site!
The figures look great. Thanks for the update.
-Kevin
I remain skeptical, maybe even more so after seeing and reading your latest post, Dave.
Is it is really you camera or is there a problem with the figures. I can read the lettering on that boxcar behind them quite clearly.
And then you give the figures a slight push and the feet break off. I see nothing impressive here.
Sorry, but that’s my take.
Rich
The faces need a repaint, and the clothing needs shading. Other than that, the fact that plaid patterns are possible in HO scale is amazing to me.
I remain optiistic.
-Kevin
Well, maybe so, but I just think that the plaudits are premature.
Rich
Hi Rich,
I think that the boxcar may be part of the problem. I suspect that the camera is focusing on it instead of the figures.
The fact that the figures are so delicate is a bit of a problem, but I think it is easily surmountable with a little gel CA applied between the legs. I’ll give it a try and let you know how well it works.
Cheers!!
Dave
Okay folks, here are two of the WestEdge3D figures. The one on the left has the gap between its legs filled with gel CA, and the one on the right is as received:
The CA is barely visible even when I hold the figure up close to my eyes. There is a very slight reflection between the figure’s feet but IMHO it is hardly noticeable. Problem solved!
Cheers!!
Dave