The arrival of viable 3D-printing creates a bit of a challenge for a modeller.

On the one-hand, isn’t creating a model entirely from raw materials what being a modeller is all about? So how can 3D-printing be modelling?

So, I’ve already said that I get my pleasure in the hobby from taking a basic model through a process to a detailed, finished product that truly represents a piece of real-life.

For me the 3D printer that I have can never make me a finished model.

But the 3D printer can do many things, notably:

  • The printer can make the same thing, time and again, with accuracy and without getting bored or clumsy. I could buy the detail parts and that’s considered acceptable. With the 3D printer I have to sit down, work out a design, program the design and then program the machine – then go to bed and leave it to print for me… I see myself using skills in that process, just as much as wielding a sharp modelling knife.
  • The printer allows me to do repeated test prints, shaving off 0.1mm here, 2mm there, until I get an item that fits perfectly. Again, it does them accurately. Called ‘iterative design’, this process allows me to test fit items to achieve an accurate design and fit. I could do the same with plastic card but how long would it take me?
  • It works tirelessly overnight, while I’m out at work and continues producing one item after another without complaint and allowing me to use my modelling time to do things that bring me pleasure.
  • Finally, it allows me to produce bespoke items for every aspect of my hobby – bridges, tunnels, walls, building ‘kits’, locomotive and rolling stock parts.

I have a public Gallery in Tinkercad with some of my designs – some quick and dirty, some developed over weeks. Go to