With the groundbreaking detail of the machines and other interior details combined with your usual masterful structural work, this build is honestly going to be the first example of a whole new category of model.
Your chance mention of making the sign in the context of 3-D printing caused it to dawn on me that there is a huge potential for using these printing techniques for producing signage. Making high quality signs is one of the hardest modeling tasks, at least for me. It looks to me that applying the techniques that you have been teaching us to sign making could be a killer technique. One could imagine many different approaches, such as (a) printing the whole sign as a single object; (b) printing each letter separately; (c) printing stencils; (d) making negative plates for gravure or pad printing....
Since I am free-associating tonight, your mention of illuminating the sign makes me wonder how effective the transparent resin might work as a light pipe. If one could easily produce such pipes, it would have all kinds of modeling applications. Lionel used some very elaborate light pipes--the one in the bay window caboose comes to mind. Just a thought.
