Bagshot station build

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
Steph, your advice as ever is sound, but I have additional news for you :)

The Cricut Maker machine in the video is a full CNC plotter, that works from YOUR artwork.
In this respect it resembles a Silhouette Cameo, which moves a swivel-knife.
Both close up and fit in a sideboard drawer or in a canvass carry bag.
Both are descended from industrial vinyl cutters of the type used for signage and sign-writing road and rail vehicles.

Unlike the Cameo, the Maker comes with both a pen/scriber holder and a rotating blade holder.
This blade, (which can either be a pizza-cutter disk for delicate fabrics and papers, or an Exacto type) can be rotated by the program to head in the right direction, avoiding the swerves and tears inherent with a passive swivel-knife a.k.a. drag-knife.

This contrasts with earlier Cricut machines that only worked to other people's designs, published and sold on expensively collectable solid state cartridges.

The specialised driver CAD app has good and bad points:
- while one can draw in units of 0.001", I suspect the cutter has a step resolution of 1/72".
- it's on Cloud, which has pluses (works on your phone) and minuses (dead without broadband).
- it's simple to use.
- it can upload files created in either 'soft' graphics programs like Inkscape or 'hard' draughting programs like AudoCAD.
- it can do a great deal simply by optical scanning -

The Cricut Maker isn't yet available in the UK, as far as I know, but its predecessor the Cricut Explore is about £240 these days (plus a bit for accessories). And it's that that made the card H0 building I posted.

For anyone allergic to computers altogether (how come you're reading this?) Brother (the sewing machine geezers) have a range of scanner-cutter machines that can draw, score or cut out any (suitable) scanned line image without involving a computer or cartridge of any kind.

There's much more to be said about these machines, for example they will cut paint-stencils and etching masks, and score thick styrene for snapping-out. I've watched a Cameo cut G1 carriage beading from a cereal packet. There's plenty of food for thought online, including reviews, comparisons and eGroups.
But I'll zip it until I've tried it.​

David

(Regarding the 'sexist' teases, it would have been genuinely sexist to say that the kit was dumbed down for girls. Exam results repeatedly demonstrate that such a move wouldn't be necessary. Worrying, innit, Guys?
I once did an art/craft exhibition stand divided between Macho Tools for Girls and Girly Tools for Blokes. Stuff like cosmetic-counter aids for railway modelling and tool-shop aids for crafting. Teamwork. )​
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
(Regarding the 'sexist' teases, it would have been genuinely sexist to say that the kit was dumbed down for girls. Exam results repeatedly demonstrate that such a move wouldn't be necessary. Worrying, innit, Guys?
I once did an art/craft exhibition stand divided between Macho Tools for Girls and Girly Tools for Blokes. Stuff like cosmetic-counter aids for railway modelling and tool-shop aids for crafting. Teamwork. )​
[/QUOTE]

Actually I reckon that's nearer the truth. It's noticeable that many engineers, particularly civil, are ladies. In fact the most senior engineers on Crossrail are, I seem to remember from the several documentaries on the subject, ladies (except some old guy of 70 odd who'd been brought out of retirement). I also remember that the girls were always better at exams than us chaps.........

Girly tools for blokes - a great idea. I use board nail files quite often, and sometimes when I'm model building as well.:)) In fact the majority of exhibitors at dolls house exhibitions, usually assumed to be a craft hobby for the fairer sex, are men. Only just the majority perhaps, but certainly the majority. There are some very notable exceptions, but our hobby does not seem to attract the ladies in the same way. I wonder why.

Your thoughts on Girly Tools for Blokes will be well received by this chap.

Brian
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Before Tom replies:

He bought me a notebook last Christmas - he even made a nice cover for it - so that all my reminders would be in one volume.

Sorry Tom, I put it somewhere perfectly safe...

...It will come to the surface some time soon...?!

Pete.

S'long as it's not become that for-mentioned swear box... ;):thumbs: Haha

Mind you I think I've got to get myself one for research material for my little project!
(don't think I'd be doing much computer designing ether, I've very little practice with using software other than a bit of a photo manipulation).
 

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
Your thoughts on Girly Tools for Blokes will be well received
You mention nail boards, Brian, and many will be familiar with traditional rough card emery boards. These days we also have foam-backed fine abrasives, both in block form (often with a different grade on each side) and large double-sided 'tongue-depressor' type sticks. The trick with them is to peel the foam off one side and save it. That gives you a better grip on the stick, and a second abrasive to apply when the first is used up. These are very good indeed for compound curves, like buffer faces, which tend to go faceted when attacked with a flat stick.

There's a wide range of roller mills, ranging from tiny Die Cutters to hefty ones and even motorised ones - not every Crafter works-out. These are great for printing and for embossing. Paper, thin card and soft aluminium up to say 5 thou can be embossed, so that a single expensive sheet of etched brass or moulded plasticard chequer-plate (for example) can be turned into acres of the stuff.
A Die Cutter has infeed and outfeed tables (often folding) and a straight-though path, but needs a stack of plates, shims and tympans for pressure adjustment.​

A Pasta Machine is similar to a Die Cutter, clamps to the bench and has roll height adjustment, but it doesn't have a straight-line work path, making it more limited in terms of usable area. However it's brilliant for softening and mixing resins and putties, for example Fimo-type oven-bake PVC, silicone putties used for mould-making, and epoxy putties like Milliput. Clean it every trip!

Before roller die cutters there was the Sizzix, a mighty lever-operated press with a plain up and down motion. Not as much pressure as a vice but, with its sliding horizontal table, a whole lot easier to set up for squeezing things, and capable of press-forming small shallow parts from copper sheet.

Various thicknesses of annealed Copper sheet are available from Crafters suppliers, along with a wide range of embossing tools, mostly balls-on-sticks. I used to do an Embossing demo for the 16mm mob, making nameplates and bas-relief components by working the metal from both sides, like miniature panel beating. I showed them both die-formed and hand-embossed parts, which led to my best compliment.
As the spectators passed round a maker's plate with 1mm tall writing, a voice piped up, "Can you show us the die for that one, please?" to which I exploded, "You've just stood there watching me write it out! Backwards, direct on the metal, with this tool in my hand!" Laughter all round.​

Then there's Alchemy. Chemicals used to patinate metal for card-making are just as effective as gunsmiths or modellers fluids, and often cheaper.

And there'll be more. In the recent past there were tiny Japanese silk-screen machines. The nearest equivalent seems to be the Silhouette Mint which converts a computer image into a little stamp-pad - that certainly merits exploration.

My present Holy Grail is to find a simple way to make white carrier-free transfers at home. Ideally with less investment than Decal-Pro Fx, itself worth exploring as a way to make one's own rub-down transfers (Letraset).
So my Girl Antennae are kept constantly tuned - with Chocolate :)

David
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
I'm not sure that's really a relevant comment, but yes, there are a few of us here who have die-cutters (which is what you're referring to). The problem with the simple ones (including, I think, the Cricut you linked to) is that they tend to be able to produce only pre-loaded or purchased designs. If you want to produce your own stuff you really need some form of CAD or other illustration software to drive them.

And you actually need to spend a fair amount if you want it do things to sensible thicknesses or sizes of material in a repeatable fashion. @Rob Pulham has made good mileage from a Cameo (is that right Rob?), but it would find producing something like a G1 carriage hard work. For the bigger machines you may be better off with a laser cutter - or sub-contracting that work out, as you say.

But you'll still need to be able to do some form of drawing on a PC to get the most out of it.

As such, it's the same issue as 3D CAD and 3D printing; far better investing in practise and software rather than buying a 3D printer and expecting to turn out masterpieces...

Steph

Hi Steph,

Yes, mine is a Cameo (Cameo II to be precise since there is now a Cameo III available).
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Some great suggestions there, David. I've looked at the rolling mills several times and considered them for corrugated iron and such. They remain on my reserve list at present.

However, the use of foam backed boards is of particular interest to me. I use Flexi-Files reasonably often, so these may be a substitute for those too, I wonder? I'd not thought of stripping them from the backing, but I'll give 'em a go.

You've encouraged me to try some of the things I've seen and wonder whether they might be worth a try!

Brian.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I've found it always pays to look for tools, materials and ideas used in other fields rather than be conditioned/blinkered into the traditional ones used in railway modelling.
 

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
the use of foam backed boards is of particular interest to me. I use Flexi-Files reasonably often, so these may be a substitute for those too, I wonder? I'd not thought of stripping them from the backing, but I'll give 'em a go.
For clarity, one reason for stripping is for better handling, and the other is that if you use both sides you get fine filings in your skin. Anyone with an iron will can use just one side, then peel it off before using the other side. Some sticks have different grades on the two sides, while others have differently-graded sticks in a pack. Many are printed ith colour or patterns - sweet! D
 

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
I've looked at the rolling mills several times and considered them for corrugated iron and such. They remain on my reserve list at present.

Corrugated iron is of course made by a rolling process, and simple machines of this kind can be found in every corner of the world, turning imported flat sheet into a strong, durable and beautiful material. Someone once challenged me to come up with an all-corrugated rail vehicle and I found these, apart from the doors:

Millars RIP track 6.jpg MoretonMillWorkCar_zpsdlx3jjga.jpg


There is a specific type of corrugating mill used by jewellers to form annealed metals. Very strong, very expensive, pretty narrow, and only one pitch.

There are little lightweight corrugators for thin card - pitch varies between versions.

The old Fiskars card corrugator is wide, very strong, and can deal with thicker metals. Some people clamp it in a vice and use soda-can aluminium (not steel) but it's a painful and not very successful process: annealed is better. It tends to crimp soft thin metal too much, so I put a sheet of paper each side of the metal (typically 5 thou serving platters) to reduce the depth of crimp to a typical waveform. Of course the Fiskars only has one pitch, and it's a bit wide for 1:32 scale.

Sometimes people try to make corrugated by pressing between two form tools. Always pleased to see people's successes, but in my experience the metal simply doesn't stretch enough to make a deep enough wave to satisfy me.

However, I have found a surefire way to making corrugated sheet in a wide range of pitches, either flat panels or curved panels (for roofs) but it doesn't involve Girl stuff - or catfood tins!
More later when I've found some photos. David​
 

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
Still looking for pictures, meanwhile a couple relevant to the above.

First, an Olde Tyme Sizzix press plus a mighty Fiskars crimper.
Corrugations too wide for ordinary wriggly tin in 1:32 scale but OK for modern industrial building cladding.

Sizzix + Fiskars.jpg

But here is one suited to 3" pitch in 1:32 scale:

PaperPress Crimper.jpg

It cost £2.95, probably from The Range. Although light and flimsy, it's plenty adequate for 5 thou aluminium, though it needs a sheet of paper each side to give a decent wave-form. There is no free lunch: the rollers are only 3" wide, which makes the max sheet size 8' tall.

Finally for now, while looking for these data I came across this related thread on the Electric Rat side of WT:
Wriggly tin in 7mm scale - supplier or how to make?

David
 

Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Some views of Bagshot now. Still a lot to do with Pete's masterpiece, particularly furniture to be obtained/fabricated but we will get there eventually. I've discovered that the military modeller's have plastic kits in 1/35 for office furniture circa 40s/50s so i will be pursuing that.


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Yes I know the map in the waiting room is upside down. It has now been corrected!



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Podartist79

Western Thunderer
Absolutely wonderful modelling Peter!!
I am so glad I stumbled across this thread.
You are a genius!!
I really look forward to catching up with you again at some point.
My very best wishes,
Neil.
*My Wife got a little wearisome of me showing her every picture of your wonderful build in this thread, as it was interrupting Love Island , BUT she smiled at each one on seeing it!
 
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