Seriously, beautiful work!

---john.

Wow....that's so beautiful. My eyes teared up. If only there was a model kit in G-scale....oh how I'd love to build this in out lifetime.

Question...let's hypothesize for a moment...if you will. Seriously can this be marketed without the Disney logo on it and present this as a model kit of the CP 173?. I know it's really the CK Holliday but imagine if this could be. A kit would actually exist and up to the modeller's skill to paint and decal her as he wishes.

Men...we all have one life to live and few things to look forward to. We all gather on this website to escape from our condemned realities in exchange for a little shared magic. We're blessed with Preston's work but if we're really serious, really serious, we can make this happen. Think real hard and you'll see within yourselves this can be done. Anyone in?

I used to help market products. But oh how Id' love to give this one a try. Yes I'm dead serious!

Oh I forgot to mention.....just give you all some hope. I work with engineers. They're experts in CAD drawings, serious railroad hobbyists, and have converted their drawings into reality.

Preston....if I may, I'd like to show your work with some engineers and see what they think in terms of marketability

As part of marketing plan I learned years ago, create the product without suggesting Disney (as the CP 173). This way Disney can't put legal obstacles in the way (I have lawyer friends). The only thing that can be negotiated with Disney are the decals as model aftermarket accessories only.

Preston....what colors did you use on the domes and boiler of CK HOlliday?

Steve D.'s idea of selling any such model as "a narrow-gauge 4-4-0" is better. A G size model needs to be made of materials that will allow it to run outside. Would anyone be interested in an etched brass kit?

I'd buy a kit like that in a heart beat!!!!

I'm just brainstorming, here. Thinking in terms of what Burnsland could do, the first thing that came to mind was a downloadable paper model. If you have the right kind of feed on your printer, you could print the model directly on cardstock, or even sheet plastic or tinplate.

Then it occurred that, if someone was willing to design it, the patterns for photoetch resist could also be downloaded.

I have a question: can 3D printing create parts that have UV resistance?

Good point Roy......I too am brainstorming. What I was referring to was a plastic model kit for display purposes only like any scale model kit (i.e. Revell, Hasegawa, etc.). I know Revell Germany is looking for new subjects to model. They done a locomotive but it's not G-scale. The reason I wanted G-scale was that the bigger the model the easier to detail and of course the greater the eye candy.

There are 3D printing processes that print metal parts, stainless, bronze, should be
UV resistant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9VOwqtOglg

Wow! Thanks so much for that, Unfortunate Bystander. Lionel and Flyer both used sintered iron parts in their trains, going back at least as far as the 1950's.

Here's another neat piece, printed fully assembled!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eojAdYMT0g&feature=related

3D printing has advanced more than I would have expected, since I last looked in on it. Back then, they were already printing figure kits as aftermarket add-ons to injection-molded vehicle models. At this level, I won't be surprised to learn of folks producing custom kits, built to order.