Thanks for all the information and encouragement. Interestingly I have 3 major hobbies. 3D "art" (I don't consider myself and artist, but that's what people call it.), model railroading, and naval wargaming. Oddly people in both the latter hobbies are starting to use 3D modeling programs and 3D printers to produce models. (Shapeways is apparently the current leader, but there others, and other systems that yield better results.) Odd how such dissimilar hobbies come together. There might actually be some money in the future for people who know 3D modeling. But I'm not in this for money.