“Home 3D Printers will have come of age when they’re able to print any LEGO block you want for 1/4th the cost of the brick if you actually bought the damn thing from LEGO.”

been doing that for decades friend… used to make whole armies of 1:300 scale microtanks using nothing more complex that liquid latex painted onto the originals to make the moulds and two part clear resin to cast the repros with. Also did a fair job at reproducing scenery items in the same manner…

this was back in the early seventies as well… on my pocket money, there was no way I could afford loads of micro tanks or 1:1200 scale WWII & WWI battleships

Unless the finished product is steeped in a lifetime’s blood and sweat of hundreds of desperately poor peasants, some of the emotional valence is lost. Automated robotic labor just doesn’t have the same charm.

Unless printed on one of the fancier metal or ceramic rapid prototyping machines, it is highly unlikely that this model cathedral will be dense enough for a satisfactory impact with Silvio Berlusconi’s face.

Those caveats aside, it rocks.

Which is my way of saying: “I’m jealous, I want one too! me me me”

At present, though, they don’t have too much to fear. Rough terrain elements and generic ruins and things are already fairly commodified in the modelling hobby market and anybody who is willing to be a real cheapskate can always just use bits of paper, or little wooden blocks, or something, of appropriate size, with labels, if they aren’t concerned about a fully detailed model experience.

What are already floating around, in unknown quantity, are unauthorized 3rd party casts, made by conventional casting techniques with moulds based on original figures. This takes some skill and equipment; but is cheaper and produces better results than rapid prototyping, for lots of reasonable size. There is a lot of forum chatter and so forth about how to recognize these, and whether or not they are a delightful budget option or an evil parasitic phenomenon.

I saw Amiens Cathedral done in chocolate once–Easter centrepiece.

Both very yummy ideas.

but what i really want is a 3-D printer that takes the stuff you’d regularly put into your compost pile as input, and spits out biodegradeable output. when you’re done with your toys? back to the compost pile.

until then, it’s cardstock and exacto blades for me.

There are times when church and state should meet. Forcefully.