How we could lower the costs and beat the tarriffs

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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What if (big if) some 3D program designer could make a program for say a USRA box car or gondola. Individually we could invest in a 3D printer that are now approaching $200.00 and print our rolling stock. Want 50 box cars? The cost of filament for the printer, cost of a program, decals, paint and trucks should be far less then the current pricing. I envision a library of cars on the order of the old blue box cars by Athearn, structures and miscellaneous items available to the modeler. Perhaps a fee system to use the programs could be worked out. Perhaps the NMRA could spearhead this.

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what about other things

  • wheels & couplers
  • track & turnouts
  • electronics
  • structures
  • scenery materials
  • miscellaneous building materials
  • tools

i’m surprised by how much is made in America !

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3d printed box car. I guess less than ready-to-run.
brings modeling back to the hobby

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I’ve got a 3D printer, it’s pretty tricky to use. I also recently was dumb and loaded something into it that has turned it into a cool looking desk ornament. I might need a new mainboard :man_facepalming:

However, Cool thing is, There’s tons of Free and Paid models online, Like CMR Products and on places like Thingiverse in all scales!

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I don’t feel like googling. Are 3D printers made in the US?

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Not really sadly. Mine is mostly Chinese.

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One of the problems is that so much is made in China.

Jim

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Welcome Back @jrbernier, and that is true, those top ‘luxury’ brands have their stuff made in China too and they claim their stuff is made in France, or Europe. But I still don’t understand why tariffs are in place all they do is just cause more problems.

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In a perfect world, no tariffs would exist between any countries whatsoever. This is not a perfect world. I am also going to shut up before I start rambling about politics and economics.

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The issues I see are:

What does it cost in machine and materials to match say Accurail’s level of quality?

What other model parts must be bought at what cost?

Cost of paint and decals to decorate the model?

Alternatively what are the costs for higher quality like Rapido?

Paul

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I think there are many who see it differently, myself included. And model making hasn’t disappeared because of the highly detailed models that have been built.
Modelling still takes place in other areas of the hobby.

I have done my share of kit building, kitbashing and scratchbuilding. Not anymore, my hands aren’t steady enough anymore. But series assemly of freight cars like Proto 2000 I always found boring.

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Hey Jim, great to see you back here! Please don’t be a stranger.

Regards, Chris

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The way it should be. Seriously I miss the old Athearn “blue box” and MDC kits and try to pick some up at train shows. It’s just much easier for me to work on weathering and detailing an unassembled kit.

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