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
iām 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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Iāve got a 3D printer, itās 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 
However, Cool thing is, Thereās tons of Free and Paid models online, Like CMR Products and on places like Thingiverse in all scales!
I donāt feel like googling. Are 3D printers made in the US?
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Not really sadly. Mine is mostly Chinese.
One of the problems is that so much is made in China.
Jim
Welcome Back @jrbernier, and that is true, those top āluxuryā brands have their stuff made in China too and they claim their stuff is made in France, or Europe. But I still donāt understand why tariffs are in place all they do is just cause more problems.
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 Accurailās 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
I think there are many who see it differently, myself included. And model making hasnāt 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 arenāt steady enough anymore. But series assemly of freight cars like Proto 2000 I always found boring.
Hey Jim, great to see you back here! Please donāt be a stranger.
Regards, Chris
The way it should be. Seriously I miss the old Athearn āblue boxā and MDC kits and try to pick some up at train shows. Itās just much easier for me to work on weathering and detailing an unassembled kit.
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I know some 3D modellers that make some really nice shells for chassis. I think something like this could be done for even things like Road Locomotives, although they need a Chassis or Motors and trucks. Not to mention Resin 3D printers are about $200, although they are super detailed. Iām thinking of using a 2-Printer setup, with my main one also needing a $40 mainboard because I accidentally loaded unintended software on it.
Unless someone has run a business they never seem to have a grasp of the cost involved in running that business. Just like when someone talks about the cost of driving somewhere, most only ever think about the cost of gas, not the actual cost of moving that massive weight of a vehicle across the countryside. It is a case of not knowing what we donāt know.
Dwelling on the cost of things is a waste of time, we can either afford to buy something or we canāt. What someone else or a company charges for goods and/or services is their business, whether they stay in business and/or how well they do, time will tell. A corporation does not have a soul and those that run it are bound by corporate law on how they can run it. A little self education through cracking the books soon brings an understanding of how a business must and does work. It will make you realize that the fastest way to getting to where you want to be is through hard work.
People should focus on what they want their standard of living to be and work towards that goal. People do not plan to fail, but fail to plan. The earlier in life you set your goals and plan accordingly, the more likely you are to reach them.
At 68 with a high school education I have done very well in life, I never, ever dwelled for a second on what the cost of something was, just made a plan on how I was going to get the money to buy it, which usually meant cracking the books. For some reason people donāt seem to realize you can buy the same books that are required reading at University even if you are not attending University.
As far as 3-D printing goes, like the cars and gas thing, maybe someone can do a true cost analysis (everything included) of what it cost for the same quality of what a manufacturer has to offer.
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Is there an economist here who can explain the principles of supply and demand better than my one year total of Econ (semester each of Micro and Macro ~30 years ago)?
Until someone more economically sound than me pipes in, Iād say we canāt really beat the tariffs since so much manufacturing is dependent on international factors. Weāre well, well past the days when the US was the primary manufacturer of items used for trains. Outsourcing jobs, lack of demand for US goods, and tax incentives are three (of many issues to consider about the reasons we cannot outdo the tariffs). Iām not even mentioning the significant shortage of LHS and hobby shops with a very broad and deep inventory.
Perhaps doing more scratch and kit building vs. buying RTR would be a good solution. Also, there is a plethora of MR stuff available on Ebay, etc. that are sold from the US.
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is the primary cost of (RTR?) models today the cost of labor to assemble the models?
could kits be profitably manufactured in the U.S. if they were kits with injection molded and other (e.g. trucks) parts requiring less labor?
Iād say yes.
Also, an alternative to kits would be automating most if not all of the manufacturing process and/or producing āhalf-kitsāāthe train works and can be used out of the box, but most of the separately applied details are done by the modeler.
I remember reading in an interview that it takes Rapido 8 hours to build a model train. If that isnāt counting paint drying time, then something is very wrong. That sounds like it could be done more efficiently.
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Iād agree too.
Accurail produces their kits in the USA and Bowser produces most of their locomotive parts in the USA and sends the parts for assembly to China.
But you would need a market for kits. Although many in the forums advocate a return to kits, they are a minority. Otherwise the importers would offer more kits.
Railroad car kits were once a reason to switch from German to American model railroading.
But building airplane, truck or ship kits is more interesting than mass producing a fleet of Proto 2000 freight cars or Tichy ore cars. The latter eventually gets boring and I was happy to switch to highly detailed RTR cars and I wouldnāt go back.
Regards, Volker
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