eBay score!!

Cool, well so long as you already have it that's the important thing

I was hoping your link was to a see-through Thomas engine... I am hoping and pondering the possibilities that the see-through Annie & Clarabelle coaches will have something released that is proper to accompany and pull them soon!!!

[Super]

I am not crazy folks...really I am not, I have been tested by my Psychiatrist. I had seen at least two different listings of a clear Annie on the Japan auctions.....really!

I was hoping your link was to a see-through Thomas engine... I am hoping and pondering the possibilities that the see-through Annie & Clarabelle coaches will have something released that is proper to accompany and pull them soon!!!

Sorry Muddy, although now I know you're after one I'll keep my eyes open for one whether they exist or not. It seems 3D printers are (finally) getting cheaper, maybe one day you could just make your own

3D printers won't be able to create see-through objects easily. If it could, it would have to be a special process.

-plarnold

Ok, I'll bite, why can't a 3D printer create see through objects easily? I know you can get transparent filament so unless the process causes it to change I don't see any reason why it would not work...

I'm no expert but this is what my friend had to say:

In general, plastic transparency is caused by structures that are non-crystalline. The plastic also has to be 'evenly spread' so that it appears as one piece.

There are many 3D printing techniques. Some don't result in 'even spreading' especially at the interface of layers. There are other techniques though that will get very close and the product will be transparent.

It is NOT impossible. It is possible because there is transparent filament available. However, the techniques/machines that allow the product to look more transparent are much more expensive than the cheap ones that are being sold and require a lot more knowledge to operate them. The cheaper machines will definitely produce semi-transparent/translucent models. Trying to get it look like transparent glass is difficult.

I hope the expensive machines get cheaper though! So even if we can't do it, the price of getting other people to print it for us gets cheaper!

-plarnold

[Super]

I had only looked into 3D printers a little but I thought they were quite affordable now and the plastic material that they use is pretty cheap too. What turned me off and what I think is the most important part of 3D printing for duplicating parts and such is a 3D Scanner which is much more expensive. Without a scanned all you can print would be something developed in a CAD Software program. To me, unless you have access to somebody else's scanner I wouldn't have a used for the printer. My use would be to scan a part and in a CAD program make some changes before printing like smoke box doors scaled down to fit perfectly on a defaced train or specially created couplers.

[ripley802]

So I was looking on Jauce. I saw 2 clear Clarabels, but no Annie's.

Ripley do you remember how many yen?