I've always used these things in my model building, though far smaller machines. During my second career especially, I've used toolroom size machines quite a bit to fabricate parts I might have needed in my profession, so old-school manual machining is something with which I have a comfort-zone.

Not only little bits for modelling, but the cars out back sometimes need a part repaired or fabricated, and that's becoming even even more important what with Trump's rather disastrous (both for the hobby industry and for the vintage automotive parts trade) tariff policies.

Already, I'm making modifications to the mill and upgrading the tooling for the lathe more oriented to the range of parts I have to work with, which in itself is a fun exercise. Ultimately, though this won't be a hobby for me onto itself as it is for many people, thankfully they are out there for there are ranges of tooling and bolt-on modifications on offer in support of the hobby machinist.

For me, these are a means to an end, like all the tools and tooling in the workshop. I do admit being a bit neurotic about the notion that, if you are going to actually use tools rather than collect them, they should be the suited to purpose and the best you can afford.