Franksville Wisconsin N-scale modutrak module buildout

[Chris333]

How does the blade mount and does it swivel when it changes direction?

[MichaelT]

Here's a little bit of an overview...

[SkipGear]

$200 is cheap. I have a Roland that I use for my vinyl graphics side job that was $900 back in the day. I have been using it for scoring styrene for a while.

I used it to make this tunnel portal...


The scribe lines make good concrete form seam lines.

Just recently used it to cut up a bunch of the triangle bracing for a bridge I am working on...


Any tool that improves repeatability is great in my book, especially when you need 50+ of the same thing.



I also used it for the concrete bridge piers that this will set on and have some passenger car sides that I have experimented with.

The carrier sheet is an interesting way of loading it. How do you attach the styrene to the carrier?

[sirenwerks]

Jamie,

When you say "Window opening take a little more care, but it does work." does that mean it takes more effort to set the scribe (like doing corners in etching) or to snap the scribed piece out?

Bryan B.

[lashedup]

I cut some .040 styrene clapboard and the score lines are deep enough to work, but require a little more bending to get the score to split open enough to break it. Larger or simple shapes are easy. Single small window opens require a little more care. If you build your structures in layers using thinner styrene then it is even easier.

I'll try and put together a workflow how-to and see if I can get some video as well. I have to experiment more with different materials to get a better idea of the limitations.

- J

[lashedup]

Here is one incredible example of using the cutter in conjunction with The Chopper. Chris Brimley used it on his stunning Hudson Life n-scale building:

http://www.nscalelimited.com/tag/hudson-life-building/

[93cram]

There are times in this hobby when I told myself that I'd better stop everything and hide under my bed sheets for the rest of my life.
Then , I remember the saying 'you don't have to be Mozart to play some music'.
If there was comparison to be made between our hobby and music, the gentleman who built this structure is certainly nearer
from Mozart than he is from me.

[sirenwerks]

The think the trick to Brimley's structure is planning, repetition, and patience. Maybe that's where Mozart excelled as well, but it's a set of skills that is acquirable by anyone if they don't already have it. I think the hardest part in a structure like that is realizing the many depths it requires to create the effect. Once you see how many there are, you can sensibly plan for them.

[lashedup]

So I've been meaning to try using a Wahl facial hair trimmer to try and trim down static grass. I wasn't sure if there would be enough static grass remaining so that it still looked like grass or if it would get too spotty looking, but it does indeed work:



I'm going to put a house on this part of the module and wanted to be able to create the look of a manicured lawn that is closer to scale. This gives you a better idea with the house for perspective:



Moving along...

-jamie

[lashedup]

Another diversion of sorts...

So I mentioned the Silhouette SD craft printer that I bought to scribe/cut styrene. I am working on another building that I need screen doors for. This building also has metal screen/storm windows over the regular windows as well. I figured since there aren't screen doors available that these details wouldn't be easy or possible to do. However after giving it some thought I figure why not try and create these out of Evergreen's clear .005 material and try and paint the scribe lines similar to what Chris did on his Hudson building window mullions (I'm scribing the regular window mullions with the craft cutter already).

The prototype has a three panel design that looks to have metal ornamentation in the center section. I haven't told the guys in the group what I'm building yet, so I can't post prototype photos, but this is an example (but not what I'm specifically creating) of what I'm talking about:



So I drew the screen door out in Illustrator along with the windows and storm/screen covers. Side note - this is the revised drawing where I cleaned things up and changed the ornamental work to make it more correct/prototypical:



I discovered that the Silhouette SD Illustrator plug-in let's me adjust a number of print variables including printing speed and the amount of cutting force. It also let's me set up layers and allow different settings for different layers. So the black outlines above are all scribe cuts at the lowest cutting force so they only scribe the sheet but don't cut all the way through. The red lines represent the higher cutting force cuts where I want the pieces to be cut all the way through.

So all went well. I removed the piece from the sheet and first painted on some Pollyscale Flat Aluminum to work the paint into the scribes and then wiped off the excess with a clean cloth before it dried. This left paint only in the scribe marks. Then I quickly (and sloppily) painted the frames and lower section. This is what I ended up with:



And this is what it looks like in its proper location:



Other than my first attempt at the ornamental work not connecting properly (my fault) and the shoddy paint work, it turned out way better than I expected. So the next issue was how to make it look more like screen and not like glass. So I sprayed some matte/flat spray on it and that did the trick. Here it is with the screen/storm windows as well:



I think next time I'll probably use some flat light grey paint as I think the metallic in the Pollyscale Flat Aluminum is a bit too heavy and grainy. To be honest, no one is going to see that so it probably doesn't matter much, but it would be nice to know what works best.

You guys asked for a video of the printer in action so I cobbled one together. This is quick and dirty and was tough to get good focus on since I didn't set up a tripod and used a macro lens (!). Anyway, this gives you an idea:

You should be able to click on the You Tube logo and turn the resolution up to 720p (HD) to get better detail. I just uploaded the video so the higher resolution version might take a while for You Tube to process.

That's all for now.

-jamie

[DKS]

Really impressive in all respects. I think you're now in the process of selling a bunch of these things. I know I'm getting one...

[wcfn100]

As soon as I see brick, I'm sold.

Nice work Jamie.

Jason

[Dave Schneider]

I picked up mine yesterday on eBay at a good price from a buyer that considers Alaska part of the US! Can't wait for it to arrive.
Thanks Jamie for showing what it possible.

Best wishes, Dave

[lashedup]

As soon as I see brick, I'm sold.

Nice work Jamie.

Jason

Well, here is my first attempt at cinder block. Looks like it rounded the corners just a tad. This was cut with heavy force to score thicker styrene, so I'd want to run it again and try using a lower force setting to more lightly scribe the lines. I also haven't painted it and weathered it yet. At 2 feet it is probably fine. At least there isn't any over run issues:



- j

[wazzou]

That's really fantastic Jamie.  Thanks for sharing that.  Who etched the brass doors for you?