We Have The Technology

We've made the giant leap into 3D printing - albeit just buying in a model rather than designing or producing our own.

In this case it's a Robex model of Lilla, the Hunslet tank which has long been on our wish list.

Himself's first impressions are not just how light it is - which is not necessarily a good thing on a layout with a hill - and how it feels a little fragile. (Although to be fair he's more used to working with brass or white metal so that's not surprising.)

I have not inspected it myself yet but I know that some people have created very fine models using one of these prints so I'm very much looking forward to seeing what he does with it.

It's worth remarking, though, that once you add in the cost of buying a Minitrains 0-4-0 chassis for it to run on it doesn't work out that much cheaper than the projected price of the RTR Baldwin 4-6-0.