[Bazzer]

As someone who enjoys carving my own slot car bodies, I watch, with great interest, the growth of 3D printing.

It's obviously a great way of getting bodies made at home and, obviously, offers the opportunity, like wot I have, to have cars not out there already.

But....most of those I see on the forums look as though they have been cast in rough concrete and painted with a 10 inch house brush.. There are also some that look superb but it have clearly taken a long time to rub down, fill and paint properly to achieve what I would consider a good finish. In wood, the basic shape is fairly easy and quick but it's the finish that take the time. Imperfections are all too obvious when the basic finish is smooth, maybe that's why some people don't bother.

I understand that the process is still developing and, no doubt, in due course, things will be almost as good as a professionally produced body but for me, for whom racing is more important that concours, putting up with such a rough finish would be impossible, I'd bin it or put it back on the bench for the hard bit.

No doubt others will have thoughts on this.

Gordon

I don't use 3D printing for slot car bodies but have made small under body components such as guide flags on Scalextric Juniors.

I was highly sceptical of 3D printing but saw a few good parts being made and decided to make the jump on manufacturing parts for my RC pylon racers.

3D printing is not magic and there are a lot of tricks to get really good results, most of this is understanding what the slicing software can do/is doing. My observation is that 3D printers can pretty well work out of the box, at least that is what my Dremel 3D20 done but to get really good results requires perseverance and understanding (no change there).

The 3D printing community is massive and there is momentum within it that will and does produce a lot developments on a regular basis.

My advise is keep a watchful eye but don't dismiss the process out of hand (not suggesting you were).

There is also a lot that can be done with the STL model to make it smoother and this has a very positive effect on finishes.

I will post photo's of some of the 3D printed work that I have been involved with but they are RC models so I will only post if there is a request.

B.