John,
There is no design or manufacturing advantage, hence no lower retail price
reduction either, when dealing with flat castings vs. 1-pc design. It takes
me just as much time to design a kit comprised of flat castings as it does a
1-pc body.
You're missing the entire point to producing a kit, regardless whether it's
done via 3D CAD/RP or by hand: the pattern maker still has to MAKE the
patterns. Because so many parts are mirrored or otherwise symmetric, the
use of a CAD package makes the most sense, aside from the obvious MUCH
higher quality and investment of money and time to buy/learn the software.
The body, details and underframe still have to be made. The trade-off
making patterns by hand, which NEVER turn out right the first, second, maybe
ninth time due to human error, is countered by speed and accuracy of CAD.
Yes, patterns cost less going the "by hand" route versus stereolithography,
but there still an expense associated with development. If someone is doing
this as a hobby, their time is considered "free" . I'm doing this to make a
living so, by necessity, I'm MUCH more selective about what I will and will
not produce.
Bottom line is this . and I'm DONE discussing this subject . unless a person
has true manufacturing experience, NO ONE really understands what is
involved in converting a bunch of black lines on a drawing to a 3D kit,
regardless of whether the patterns are made manually or using
state-of-the-art technology. End of discussion.
Jim King
Smoky Mountain Model Works, Inc.
Ph. (828) 777-5619
<www.smokymountainmodelworks.com>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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