[m463]

When I read the title I thought of another IDEA that I've had bumping around in my head that would be pretty cool.

Put down two model railroad straightaways next to each other, with two locomotives, use them as a base to attach a 3d-printer arm across and "print" a model railroad diorama, incrementally moving the locomotives to print each slice.

In other words, a flatbed 3d printer where one axis is the locomotives moving across your railroad layout. I think it could rejuvenate model railroads if you could print mountains, towns, streambeds, roads, etc...

[dhosek]

A big part of the joy of model railroading is the building of such things, at least for some people.¹ It’s less about the product than the process. That’s a big part of why things like kitbashing and scratch building are popular. Finding a way to construct something out of nothing.

⸻

1. Yes, there are people who are more into the operations side of things, but I think for most model railroaders it’s as much about the building as the running.

[m463]

You could take this as far as you want.

Like you could put down the foundation of everything, then manually add the grass or the buildings or pour epoxy water.

or you could print the roadbeds and the buildings and just paint everything yourself.

I wonder if you could create those "standard sized diorama" things that people take to railroad conventions that people hook together with their neighbors who also have standardized layouts.

[inigyou]

You need a fairly precise movement mechanism for 3D printing.

[fragmede]

Good thing we have those!

[inigyou]

In your model railway? It can move the trains with 0.05mm precision?