Friends,
What do Joe Holdeman’s, “The Forever War,” 3D printing and scale modeling have in common?
If you are not familiar with the novel, you should really consider reading it. It is about the futility of war, but also about the price some people pay for ‘technical advancement.’ In the novel, a group of space warriors sign up to fight a war that uses worm holes to travel great distances and, as a result, they experience time-dilation. Every time they return from a mission, hundreds of years have passed on earth. Eventually, those warriors who signed up closest to the start of the war get left behind and cannot adapt, so the ‘modern’ humanity sends them all to their own planet to live as they did when the war first started. Well, IN MY OPINION, 3D printing is having the same effect on scale modeling: it is leaving some of us behind.
I have been on the inside of 3D printing since it began. This is when I was still working with Motorola USA. But, even from the start, I had a sense for where the technology was going to take the hobby I love so much, and it was not what so many believed. I have resisted switching to 3D printing because I suspected that 3D printing was never going to replace me, it was going to replace the plastic model company! Well, that day is neigh at hand:
I could be wrong, Lord knows I have been before — many times. But I think this is a precursor of things to come. If I am correct, it will put the plastic companies out of business, but I suspect — as long as some of us “Forever War” survivors still exists, there will be room for me and others like me. The sad part is, we old warriors are dwindling in number, and there are few replacements to take our place.
Where I have seen the hobby going these past few decades seems to align well with where 3D is going: guys do not so much want to build as paint. So, these new 3D kits will be just what they want: highly detailed kits that print out on your bench in less that a dozen pieces you just snap together and start painting. Perfect — if that’s what you want!
However, I consider myself to be a modeler, and I will never accept the new 3D kits as models. I suppose it is like we old iron-sights guys listening to the red-dot crew boast about how they can shoot just as well or better than we could in our day. For me, modeling will always be about the build; about correcting and adding detail by my own hand. If this makes me a ‘has-been,’ then so be it.
But I offer a word of caution to these companies thinking of heading in the direction I suspect Dragon wants to go:
A guy with a good computer and a high-resolution scanner or even a good cell phone camera will soon put even you out of business. All he needs is access to a tank museum. Just scan or take a walk-around video of the tank, give it to your AI program and have it make a 3D STL file. Poof! Instant model company. Eventually, we will all be able to do this from accurate plan view drawings. AI will change so much, I doubt most people even realize it (note: if you haven’t read that novel I mentioned, you should).
So, for the rest of you first-wave model warriors, I will see you on our own little planet, where we will continue the real art of scale modeling until the last of us fades away. Heck, the way I see it, I have a good reason to hold on to my stash now. Pretty soon, the hard plastic kits will become true collectors items. That is, until the last of us passes away. But, until that time, TMD will remain.
Until next time, stay safe and model on, Garth!
Joe