I’m curious that this thread has (as far as I recall) avoided mentioning 3D printing (apart from an aside I made in my tram-trailer contribution), or if it has not in great detail. I’m not sure why, it’s surely the present & future successor to old-school styrene scratch-building. Is it because we’re the Last of the Old Fogies?
Trundling that train of thought on to the next station, is there anything 3D printing can’t handle very well (if at all) yet? I think so – very fine/thin/delicate elements. For some time photo-etch brass has been the default solution, but only if a manufacturer provided it. Which is where my train of thought hit the buffers two years ago, wondering how to make a bunch of unique park railings for my aforementioned Operation Anthropoid diorama.
To my knowledge nobody else (in Kitmaker forums) has attempted DIY photo-etching, not even since I did. Here’s the link to how I went about it:
Anyone who is seriously interested should read that thread right down to the end result, because I learned a lot along the way. Initial outlay’s not so cheap but the materials will make way more than I needed. What’s possible is, as they say, only limited by the imagination…
