michael mott
Western Thunderer
Inspired by Mike's early GWR carriages in G3 and then seeing his work in 1/32 and having a simple dog-bone garden layout with no points I thought I would have a go building a panel parcel van in card as accurately as i can without the aid of CNC (I stopped at hand operated machines) and not having read Jenkingson's work about Carriage building I started some experiments with some letter size cardstock that i can print on.
First task was to begin drawing the Basic details of the van in my old Autocad Lt 2000. I still have an XP machine that runs it. In the meantime I made up a new silver steel punch to pop out the corners first. then punched holes in card and some 16 thou styrene.
My thinking was about how the real panelling might have been fabricated using long strips and small sections for the radius parts. Economically a better way than cutting out of sheet on the full sized van.
The fist picture shows the very first tests with an existing .25" punch notching some 20 thou styrene strip to create the corner sections, which would facilitate using the various plastic strips made by a number of companies, I happen to have loads of evergreen strip in dozens of sizes, from my commercial modelmaking days.
The punch worked well making the half circle cutouts but was more difficult punching a full hole, so the test on the left was done with the teas box. and worked very well.
Next I printed up the end panel to test my methods the letter cardstock is .0085" or .22mm. The new punch is .07" diameter I use the pick to remove the button of card each time, 2 taps of the mallet seem to be the right cadence for me.
Next I decided to chop out the middle section as a single piece, I was thinking about what Mike said about having a solid about of material behind the cutter, often the same principle hold with hand work.
The hole was trimmed out to the edges. and the corresponding openings for the outside panels and window areas were trimmed.
Next working from the outside edge so that the rule was clamping the delicate extensions I cut the next line with three strokes of the knife trying not to curl the piece I was cutting.
It was successful and I stopped the blade after each cut (well it worked for the old time barbers) Next I picked up the piece with the beeswax stick and placed them into the opening.
I followed the same process for the three strips in the middle.
Then placed them.
Time for a cup of coffee. and think about next steps. by being able to print up 4 copies I can lay the cut parts over the full print.
Michael
First task was to begin drawing the Basic details of the van in my old Autocad Lt 2000. I still have an XP machine that runs it. In the meantime I made up a new silver steel punch to pop out the corners first. then punched holes in card and some 16 thou styrene.
My thinking was about how the real panelling might have been fabricated using long strips and small sections for the radius parts. Economically a better way than cutting out of sheet on the full sized van.
The fist picture shows the very first tests with an existing .25" punch notching some 20 thou styrene strip to create the corner sections, which would facilitate using the various plastic strips made by a number of companies, I happen to have loads of evergreen strip in dozens of sizes, from my commercial modelmaking days.
The punch worked well making the half circle cutouts but was more difficult punching a full hole, so the test on the left was done with the teas box. and worked very well.
Next I printed up the end panel to test my methods the letter cardstock is .0085" or .22mm. The new punch is .07" diameter I use the pick to remove the button of card each time, 2 taps of the mallet seem to be the right cadence for me.
Next I decided to chop out the middle section as a single piece, I was thinking about what Mike said about having a solid about of material behind the cutter, often the same principle hold with hand work.
The hole was trimmed out to the edges. and the corresponding openings for the outside panels and window areas were trimmed.
Next working from the outside edge so that the rule was clamping the delicate extensions I cut the next line with three strokes of the knife trying not to curl the piece I was cutting.
It was successful and I stopped the blade after each cut (well it worked for the old time barbers) Next I picked up the piece with the beeswax stick and placed them into the opening.
I followed the same process for the three strips in the middle.
Then placed them.
Time for a cup of coffee. and think about next steps. by being able to print up 4 copies I can lay the cut parts over the full print.
Michael
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