The future for when you get tired of T scale

[cteno4]

3D printers are now passé, you need to getcha a combo a dual scanning electron microscope/focused ion beam, a gas injection system and a tiny maneuverable robot. We can finally have micron gauge.

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-have-built-worlds-smallest-house-180969149/

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

You movin in?  

[kvp]

Interesting but not practical for modelling. On the other hand, there are static Tomy dioramas with 1:700 trains. Getting those to move (and be shuntable in the port areas) would be small enough for me. Some of the 1:700 ships are already remote controllable so imho it's time for the trains to move too.

[cteno4]

What do you mean not practical, I’m assembling a diy sem right now in the basement, just have to work on adding a forced ion beam to it.

 

jeff

[kvp]

3 hours ago, cteno4 said:

What do you mean not practical, I’m assembling a diy sem right now in the basement, just have to work on adding a forced ion beam to it.

That's a really nice project. By practical i meant the result is still visible to the naked eye. 1:700 to 1:1000 is what is still somewhat visible. At 1:1000 a standard 20 meter car is 2 mm long, barely visible.

 

ps: with a single ion beam you would need a 6 degree freedom head for complex structures like the linked house not just the standard 2D scanning fields with a fixed head, which is imho only good for 2D etching

[cteno4]

who needs the naked eye when you have a sem in your basement? 1/1000 is way to big to be a small layout anyway. n scale layout for the n scale layout is about right. 1/22500 is about right to begin with.

 

jeff

 

ps it was a joke...

[HantuBlauLOL]

i'd take virtual modeling instead, thanks lol.

[kvp]

6 hours ago, cteno4 said:

n scale layout for the n scale layout is about right. 1/22500 is about right to begin with.

ps it was a joke...

Yeah, i got it but taking it seriously allows some fully theoretical calculations. Also i played around with a small 2D scanning ion beam etcher back in school. (it's in theory usable for creating custom silicon chips or in practice recording data to metal cards) A crude variant is not a hard build for home purposes if you read the old Tesla patent, just shield the vacuum chamber. (Tesla didn't know much about radiation, my favourite is his experimental xray tube audio amp) A laser etcher is much safer but a much harder to control with precision.

 

To be serious, personally i would really like a 1:700 moving ships and trains layout. Something based around Yokosuka...

 

ps: The N scale on N scale was afaik already done as a working layout in a model modelshop window. (or was it N on Z?)

[cteno4]

Kind of spoils the joke.

 

jef