We knew the CubeX Trio 3D printer was worth checking out when we heard the size of the models it’s capable of producing. Sure enough, a 3D printed basketball was waiting for us at the 3D Systems CES booth, with several CubeX Trio printers ever so slowly producing other designs. The company tells us that the printing time will vary depending on the complexity of the model, but some of the bigger printouts take around five hours. Anyone hoping to use more than three colors for a model will have to look elsewhere too.

The resulting models are impressive, to say the least. A 3D printed cathedral had a wealth of intricate detail, and overall the models were surprisingly solid. They didn’t feel fragile at all, and pieces that would you expect to snap off - the tooth of a lion, for example - were firmly attached. Still, the CubeX Trio is expensive gadget at the end of the day: it currently runs $2500 and will begin shipping worldwide on February 8th.