Laser level/Photo/Rhino

From time to time I need items scanned for reverse engineering. This
is expensive and in some cases over kill for my scale model parts.

What I propose to do is get a rotating laser and shine it on the object
to produce cross sections. These cross sections will be photographed
and used as bit map background in Rhino. I have seen this done in
Canada with specialized software but beleive it can be done with Rhino.

I have no access to a cheap laser and am wondering about the quality of
the laser beam.

Does anyone have one of these lasers? I want to know the thickness of
the beam at a distance of about 3', 6', 12'. Anyone know how
accurately aligned the laser is?

Any insights on these cheap sub $100 lasers would be appreciated.

Jack