Neon Noir Designs

[Kamome442]

@Martijn Meerts once you give it a go it can be very addictive! Accurate dimensions for rail would be tricky, I am working on some wheel rims for rolling stock, to get the dimensions for the recessed part pushed a wheel into some Blu tack to get a negative that I could measure. I don't know if that would work for rail?

 

Also I got a notification the tactile etches should be here tomorrow. 

[Kamome442]

First set of etches have arrived.

I am going to spend some time checking them over, once I am happy I will take some product photos and create an Etsy listing.

For now here are a couple of pics.

 

 

[Kamome442]

Tactiles are now available, I have added a link to the opening post on the first page. The listing won't currently be visible in Germany as I do not have a LUCID Id set up yet, I need this to be allowed to sell items through Etsy. If you are based in Germany please message me and can arrange a payment transfer. 

 

I paid for the second etch on Tuesday so they should be here in the next 3-4 weeks. 

[Kamome442]

I had a little time today to do some more drawing work. 

I have started work on fencing, at the moment it is just researching the dimensions and get the basic designs fleshed out. I will need to do a lot of testing on these find the best thickness and materials to use.

 

One type of fencing I would love to make is portable fence used during roadworks etc. There are some quirky designs in Japan, they will be tiny (around 5mm high) and I would probably have reduce some of the detail but would something like this be of interest?

 

I have also been working on platform edging for Yurakucho, I will ordering some for the layout once it arrives I will share pictures. I could always add this to a future etch if they are of use to anyone.

 

Finally, I finished two more manhole cover designs, I will probably test etch these early September.

 

[cteno4]

Wonderful Joe! I played with making some fun construction fences from Some very small paper punches to make fun figures but they were just a tad too big. Other fun one was human outlines like a line of cut out paper dolls.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[arkh]

Just saw the tactiles were up. Definitely will pick some up but was hoping to grab them along with the upcoming signs. They look like they have a bit of a thicker connection to the frame. Are they pretty easy to pop out or will it require a tool like some nippers? I haven't actually ordered any metal accessories like this yet as all the materials I've used thus far are plastic, wood, or cardstock. 

Love the fencing and would be interested in those portfable fences as well - those would be fun to create something around. 

How long does it take for you to get the etches back once you've sent in an order? Just curious about that aspect of the design process as I'd love to give this sort of a thing a go myself in the future for some other types of projects. 

[Kamome442]

@cteno4 good to know I am not the only one that wants some animal barriers!

 

@arkh That is a very good point about the tabs connecting them to the frame. They are 1mm wide at the frame, the recommended thickness with the company I work with, I did taper them down to 0.8mm where they connect to the part. It would certainly recommend flush/etch cutters, but it's not impossible without them. For the fist etch I made I didn't have any so had to gently bend the parts back and forth until the little tab broke but I does mean a lot of careful filing. I have had plenty of issues trying to get snips into little tight corners so for these etches I tried to make it as easy as possible. On the back I added half etch fold lines so that you can bend the frame to reach the tabs easily.

 

 

I will keep working on the frog design (and others) I am thinking these may need to be a folding etches that you get detail on both sides. 

 

The time it takes to get etches back really depends on the company used. I chose PPD because they were reasonably priced and outlined all their costs clearly on their website. A lot of the companies, I looked at initially just said call or e-mail for a quote 😒. It can also depend on how busy they are at the time, currently they quote a month for orders, the tactiles arrived after 3 weeks. There are some companies that will send you an etch in around 24 hours but you will pay for the privilege. To give an example I contacted a company with 24hour turnaround, for one of my designs, they quoted £120 that compared to £40 with the company I was using. 

Joe

[cteno4]

Nice little details of the fold likes on the frame! Cutting the fame away is always a pain when trying to use nippers or etched metal shears to cut parts off the sprews. 
 

i usually find each etch and part size and shape has me doing a different cutting method. Bigger stuff my go to is the shears as if I can line them up I can cut off sprews without almost any flashing left to deal with. Nippers work on very small sprews but usually leave a little flashing due to the pressure, then don’t shear off like you can sprews with single edge cutters. Last is using a scalpel blade which is a challenge as they tend have issues on cutting mats sinking in with the pressure needed to cut the metal sprews. I’ve used hardwood piece as a mat and that better and still protects blade edge some. Folks say they cut in glass with scalpels for etched metal but never tried that. One challenge with cutting etched metal with scalpels is the part has a tendency to fly so you have to hold the part down with something, I use the little wooden cuticle pushers (basically a 1/4” softwood dowel cut off at a 45 on one end) as they have a nice edge to hold down parts but are a bit soft.

 

great work Joe!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Don’t forget the bunnies https://japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/bunny-barrier

 

Duckies and pandas https://guidable.co/culture/cute-animal-barricades-at-japanese-construction-sites/

 

And dolphins! https://muza-chan.net/japan/index.php/blog/cute-japanese-roadside-barriers-1

 

you can skip the hello kitty ones and avoid having to decals and getting sued!
 

i was looking at the human shaped ones that were about a meter high and zig zagged hand to hand like a string of paper dolls. The paper punch ones came out more like 4.5’ tall bit too big. The nice thing on them is they were solid color and very simple.

 

jeff

[Kamome442]

Thanks jeff, that should keep me busy for a while.

 

 

[Kamome442]

@cteno4 I totally agree I am staying well clear of Hello Kitty and Pokemon for that matter! I will have to look up the paper doll style ones they sound interesting.

 

Well, it's time to meet the team, for now I have copied the designs reasonably faithfully, there is no way I will be able to to get all the details in but I will work on selectively removing some elements while trying to keep to the sprit of the design.

I get the feeling my next etch will the animal barriers and manhole covers 😄

[cteno4]

Wow, well done! I take it these will be like 5mm tall? 
 

are you planning on recessing the design bits? They may show up without contract painting with jsut a bit of ink wash on the base color and then some black dots for the eyes. I think you are right removing many of the smaller details will also make the ones left pop more.

 

ohhh this is just too fun! 
 

im actually very surprised that sankei has not lasercut these as it would be very easy to do with their material and cutting as no singing. They could even singe a few details in. They’ve done several road construction sets and barriers.

 

jeff

 

 

[Kamome442]

@cteno4 correct they are all 5mm to the point where the upper pole connects, basically the top of their heads. The rabbit and frog are sightly taller because of their ears and eyes respectively.

 

Yeah I will recess as many of the little designs bits as I can so parts like the eyes and paw detail will be recessed. I think you are right with the base coat on it will be a case of carefully adding colour to the recesses with thinned paint or ink.

 

I am also surprised these aren't ready a thing, I have seen plenty of keyrings and of course there was a Gachapon range while researching them. 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Those etches are most certainly impressive, looking forward to seeing these if they do become available!

 

Talking of manhole covers, I saw this one in Tokyo - pretty much next to Hamamatsuchō Station.

 

 

 

[Kamome442]

Thanks @Claude_Dreyfus the next set should be ready in about 3 weeks and then fingers crossed I can get some more designs up to a standard that I am happy to share.

That cover is a beaut, thanks for sharing. It would be tricky to scale down but I do like a challenge!

 

Joe

[maihama eki]

I need to dust off my 3D printed bunny barricade. I think I did a second version a little bit smaller.

 

Photoetch might be a better way to do them.

 

 

 

[cteno4]

I thought I we had discussed this before! Thanks for linking that in.

 

Yeah it does seem on the edge of 3D printing to get them to scale at around 2-2.5’ tall.

 

jeff

[Kamome442]

That's awesome @maihama eki your 'officially cute' cabinet is too cool for school!

[cteno4]

My tactile plate order just showed up! Only took about a week to fly over the pond! These are awesome! Printed on very thin metal so should not stick up much on sidewalks and such and be very attractive. Joe, you are off to a great start! Thanks for doing this.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Kamome442]

Thank you Jeff, good to hear that they arrived safely.

[Kamome]

Another fence design idea for you courtesy of Kyushu railway museum. Thought these were quite attractive.

[Kamome442]

Ooh that's a good one @Kamome, thanks for sharing. I managed to find the company that gives accurate dimensions. A rough draft below:

 

They also do versions for an E5 and E7/W7. I am pretty sure I saw an SL version too while searching a while back?!

It would take a very steady hand to paint the roof and cab details. 

 

I also made up a deer for all those Nara fans out there and a giraffe holding a shovel for fans of giraffes and/or shovels.

[Kamome442]

The second set of etches arrived today, as before I am going to spend a day checking them over to make sure all the details came out ok. After a quick inspection they seem ok.

 

For the road signs I was able improve the level of detail. Now the brackets on the back are two thinner lines with a gap to represent the slot they slide the clips into.

 

I want to create a printable sheet of markings to go on the front of the road signs scaled to fit them perfectly. Most of these are drawn up I just need to organise them onto a .pdf. I will try to get them up for sale at the weekend. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Kamome442

[cteno4]

Joe,

 

wow! They look fantastic! Interested to see how your fine detail tests came out. These look like the could go righ into a road as the darker etched areas and shiny top surface contrast really nicely! 
 

kudos dude!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Kamome442]

Thanks @cteno4 they could easily go straight on a road, there is a noticable contrast from the shiny top layer and matt etched areas. They are very silver in colour so I  tried burnishing one of mine to see how they look. I quite like the grungy finish (ball point pen for scale).