In terms of 3D printing it depends a lot on the quality of the model (which usually is pretty good in projects like this, unlike some thingiverse models) and the quality of the printing service. A reputable service will basically always produce good results,only the hole in the wall private garage services are sometimes problematic from my experience.
With soldering you are absolutely correct, it is far easier to learn with more expensive equipment (but this is still far cheaper than 3D printing, decent soldering stations go for less than 120 bucks these days), but it's still comparably cheap - but not easy to master. Takes a lot of time.