Digital Die Cutters - User Updates?

[SAH]

I’m going to need acres of N scale brick walls for the tire plant buildings along AC&Y Spur 4 (Layout Engineering).  Awhile back there was some buzz about, and good work presented, using digital die cutters to cut building walls.  The Black Cat brand comes to mind.  For those of you with experience using this type of tool, what have you learned?  Do you consider it a good purchase?  Has the price of better technology fallen to the point where you would consider some other tool for the job?  I usually draw building facades with a CAD program to test the fit for the scene anyway.  Some type of computer driven cutter seems to be the next logical step.

Steve Holzheimer

[chessie system fan]

I've got a Silhouette cutter and I consider it money well spent.  Haven't done brick yet but it's on the list.  I have done wood-sided freight cars though, and I think I think brick would turn out well.   It'd be very simple to draw too.

[Dave Schneider]

Steve,

Perhaps you have seen this long thread? https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=23354.0

I love my Silhouette, although I haven't done much on it lately. It mainly scores styrene, rather than cutting through anything much thicker than .010 or maybe .015" material. I never found a good styrene product (with good brickwork) that it would cut. Great for scoring window locations for snapping out. I did some modest amounts of concrete block, but again, you are just scoring it rather than cutting a groove.

My favorite brick is from Monster Modelworks. It is highly detailed and surface "etched". They offer a laser cutting service for just $5 a sheet, which is a bargain in my opinion.

An N scale building with a zillion window openings in styrene that I scribed and snapped. A bunch of work.


An N scale building with Monster Modelworks brick produced using their cutting service. I added the brick lintels.


Just for fun. Some N scale storm drains I made using the Silhouette to cut mylar drafting paper.



In summary, I like the Silhouette but it's not a silver bullet (as if anything is). Maybe it would work for your application. Hard to say one way or another. I love the Monster brick, and will use that almost exclusively moving forward. I have switched to HO, which makes the little details like brick texture and mortar lines stand out.

Best wishes, Dave

[SAH]

I did review the thread you referenced Dave and wondered what your current thoughts on the tool were.  My usual procedure for cutting building sides these days is to stick glue a print of the drawing onto the siding material and use the lines on the print as a cutting guide.  Eliminating the print and glue steps from the process would be a win.  I think the cutter would do a better job at scoring the material than I can manage too.

The material thickness limitation concerns me a bit.  However after seeing several of you folks use a wood box as a base onto which the sides are glued - That's the answer. 

Thanks for the comments fellas.