Overseer
Western Thunderer
While frustrated due to lack of modelling space and time, my business invested in a piece of equipment which could be useful for certain types of model building. It is a KNK Zing cutter, similar to a Silhouette but heavier duty. I have been doing a few trials to see what it can do. Basically I am testing to see if it can produce acceptable panelling for carriage building in styrene as an alternative to cutting and filing the mouldings out by hand. The construction method is exactly following David Jenkinson's method. This is to be a GWR V2 four wheel passenger brake van in 7mm.
It looks like this (the mouse on the left end is not part of it).
And cuts like this -
After cutting out the panelling is fixed to another sheet of styrene, in this case the mouldings are 0.25mm thick and the next layer is 0.5mm thick. I haven't cut the 0.5 with the cutter yet. The V2 has only a few windows so no problem cutting them by hand. A print of the cad drawing is in the photo below with the part finished sides and ends.
I had a problem with the sheet slipping for the last few cuts but decided to fix it and finish it. I am still working out how to get exactly the outcome I want. At present it is possibly a bit less accurate than cutting by hand but much quicker and repeatable. The V2 parts took less than 30 minutes to cut.
I have also tried a few other carriages, an 1850s four wheeler and an 1870s American bogie carriage, both in 1:48. These are 3 layers of 0.25, all cut on the Zing, laminated together to provide the relief detail.
All the sides will be assembled on substantial styrene carcases to provide strength.
So far it is working pretty much as hoped. There are some tweaks to the way I have produced the drawings which I want to try to improve the output, and lots of changes to speed and pressure of cut to be fiddled with.
It looks like this (the mouse on the left end is not part of it).
And cuts like this -
After cutting out the panelling is fixed to another sheet of styrene, in this case the mouldings are 0.25mm thick and the next layer is 0.5mm thick. I haven't cut the 0.5 with the cutter yet. The V2 has only a few windows so no problem cutting them by hand. A print of the cad drawing is in the photo below with the part finished sides and ends.
I had a problem with the sheet slipping for the last few cuts but decided to fix it and finish it. I am still working out how to get exactly the outcome I want. At present it is possibly a bit less accurate than cutting by hand but much quicker and repeatable. The V2 parts took less than 30 minutes to cut.
I have also tried a few other carriages, an 1850s four wheeler and an 1870s American bogie carriage, both in 1:48. These are 3 layers of 0.25, all cut on the Zing, laminated together to provide the relief detail.
All the sides will be assembled on substantial styrene carcases to provide strength.
So far it is working pretty much as hoped. There are some tweaks to the way I have produced the drawings which I want to try to improve the output, and lots of changes to speed and pressure of cut to be fiddled with.