Ericboone:
Thanks for sharing your knowledge about this very interesting topic. To me it seems like a repeat of the Texas Instruments calculators phenom where we are just barely seening the tip of the iceberg. I read recently where some pundits are suggesting that 3D printing could become a multi billion dollar industry in the not too distant future.
It will be interesting to watch where it goes, and to see its impact on the model railroad industry. There have already been a couple of posts that I have seen showing what can be done. Here are a couple of recent threads related to the topic:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/216454.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/216454.aspx
Here is one current source for information (thanks Ulrich for the lead):
Dave