Toni's Model Train Adventures

[cteno4]

I bought one of these for my Silhouette. Works well. Still need to play more with styrene though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Graphtec-CB09U-silhouette-cameo-craftrobo-cutting-plotter-blade-holder-10-knife-/181413605762?hash=item2a3d17f182

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

Same one I got!

 

Jeff

[cteno4]

Toni,

 

Great,mi can see the gears turning in your head now!

 

Try a craft store that has the very stiff but thin cardstocks they use in scrapbooking. It's really not very expensive and I think you will find a lot less fraying happening and also nicer scale on the mullions and such where the finer cutting is as well. The other nice thing is that there are some with textures and also colors that you can use straight away w.o painting like a sankei kit!

 

I've used these scrapbook cardstocks for many years when doing stuff by hand and it cuts far better on details than cheap cardboard/pressboard does. Also glues and paints better as I think more binder in it as well.

 

Another cardstock trick is to clear coat it with jsut plain clear lacquer first lightly a couple of times as it tends to seal the cardstock up well once assembled. When you spray or paint first with pigment paint you usually end up applying too much early on (tendency is to try to get the color to cover) and it can soak in a bit and puff up the cut edges some and this accentuates any fraying as well. Also clear coating the interior can help prevent warping later with large changes in humidity.

 

Pick up a sankei kit, actually most of the neat joint ideas are on the edges, they don't do a lot of slot and tab. It's how they do their layering of the walls to make nice wall details and great rabit joints at the corners that I find cleaver.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Nick_Burman]

Thank you for the explanation on narrow gauge trains Nick! I have no idea bout this very much, as I'm new to it all.

 

 

You're welcome Toni. Another thing to watch out for is equipment length. If you intend to run equipment like the Tochio (Echigo Kotsu) motor/trailer sets, watch out - they are long and on sharp curves have a lot of overhang. On the 33mm Kato spacing they might end up sideswiping other equipment on curves, in which case you might consider using Tomix track (which has 37mm spacing) for those extra mm around the curves. If your interest is on the shorter side of things like the older Kintetsu motors, Kubiki, Igasa, Numajiri, etc... equipment, then you might just get by with the 33mm spacing.

 

Cheers NB

[ToniBabelony]

@Nick: thank you for the insight on narrow gauge trains. If I'm going for HOn, I'll be focussing on feldbahn type trains, so that means short and simple rolling stock. Maybe the occasional bogie passenger coach, but that's about it. I don't think overhang will be much of an issue :P

 

@Jeff, that sounds like some good tips. The coating I will certainly do, as it can get VERY humid here in summer (99%). At the moment, I'm very busy with other things, but luckily enough, I had some time to visit the supermarket, which has a handicraft oriented 100 yen shop on the 2nd floor. The selection is about the same as Daiso, but has more high quality paper available. There I found a black cardboard with unspecified weight, but with 0.4mm thickness. The added colour already implied a ticker density and quality, so I bought a pack and cut out the same model as this morning. Quickly assembled it, without the addition of a roof:

 

 

The material is thinner, but has almost the same strength, doesn't warp and cuts much finer. Yes, there is still some fraying going on, but much less than the white cardboard. The thinness of the material also helps getting cleaner cuts and when glued together, feels also sturdier than the white cardboard. I think, with this material I'll experiment a bit more, as it looks like I can have thinner window partitions as well.

[cteno4]

Toni,

 

Try hitting it with a couple light clear coats of matte clear then using a fine fingernail file (cut it into a slim stick) or fine metal file to clear out some of the corner fray. Also very sharp hobby knife can also cut out the lacquer fixed frayed bits. Doing fine clean out is the one thing that the new xacto Z series ultra sharp blades worth.

 

Jeff

[ToniBabelony]

Hi Jeff, thank you for your input! With this in mind, I've sprayed primer, instead of a clear coat, on my newest design:

 

 

This time, I went for a complete model of a small village house as built in the 18th century. The prime coating really helps getting rid of the fraying and layering! Thank you so much for that tip! It's really motivating to see this come together like this.

 

A slight downside is that this cardboard isn't suitable for detailed engravings, such as a brick pattern, so I'll be looking into styrene for that. Bricks are essential for these kind of buildings, but take up a LOT of time to engrave (lowest speed for the best outcome). I think cutting this basic structure alone already was 15 minutes or so. xD

[cteno4]

I can't wait for the thread to load each time you post on it now!

 

Great job, lovely. Who is getting married?!

 

I think there are some engraving tips you can get from memory.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Darklighter]

I can't wait for the thread to load each time you post on it now!

Hey great you beat me, ive been too snowed to get mine going here saddly.

 

Same here. 

[ToniBabelony]

Thank you for the motivating comments! Next week I want to start working on some more serious buildings for a standard size T-Trak module (25mm spacing). Just some different classic designs, no fancy things geological in particular (maybe a channel).

[kvp]

Imho it looks like you are almost ready for commercial production of your house kits.

[JR 500系]

It looks great Toni!

 

Perhaps you can use brick patterned paper to stick on the wall of the cupboard building?

[tossedman]

Looks great Toni. What software are you drawing your buildings in?

 

Cheers,

 

Todd

[ToniBabelony]

Imho it looks like you are almost ready for commercial production of your house kits.

 

Not completely ready just yet! These are still a bit simple and quick designs and for a commercial release, I'd like to have them a bit more elaborate.

 

It looks great Toni!

 

Perhaps you can use brick patterned paper to stick on the wall of the cupboard building?

 

Thank you! I was thinking about that, but I would like the bricks to have a little feeling to them. I should try it though. Maybe it's not a bad idea.

 

Looks great Toni. What software are you drawing your buildings in?

 

I'm using the basic and free software that came with the machine (Silhouette Studio). It's a bit dodgy at times (some hotkeys are really weird), but good for non-organic forms.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Kabutoni (a.k.a. Toni Babelony)

[Mudkip Orange]

I feel compelled to model Netherlands tram/commuter rail now.

[ToniBabelony]

Okay, no more experimenting with brick patterns on cardboard...

 

 

I think a next step in designing houses would probably to go for plastics. Let's try some 0.2mm Tamiya Pla Plate I have laying around next!

[JR 500系]

Nice texture! I think you can have a cultural village in your city with these buildings!

[ToniBabelony]

The texture is okay at some places, but it's not what I was looking for. This is more like it:

 

 

Plastic sheet is more fit for detailed engraving, but not for small window details like this, as they seem jagged. Cardboard oddly enough has no issues with these short straight lines. Hence, the next design will be a case of combining plastic for the facade details (brick pattern) and the base made from cardboard, as well as the windows...

 

However, the suggestion to go for a brick pattern JR 500系 gave is also attractive, as it would save time and painting on the models. Lining up the paper for the cutting however would be a bit troublesome, but not impossible.

[cteno4]

Toni,

 

Nice with the engraved styrene.

 

I think the idea of finding the best material for each layer is the trick. Windows need something that is thin and can handle smaller cuts so that the window mullions are both clean and not 1' scale wide. Also can get braced with acetate behind for the glass. The walls themselves can be thicker and or etched materials. The layering also can add nice 3D effects and even structural stiffness and better fitting and more hidden joints. This is what I see as the plus to the 2d building cutting method of construction!

 

Jeff

[ToniBabelony]

Jeff,

 

Thank you for the input. I've just now thought of another method to do the windows, which is drawing the window mullions on clear plastic instead. Cuting them with the current tools I have isn't going to do anything below 1mm width, so the mullions will always be fat. I'd have to purchase a pen holder for that purpose, but I think I could also do this by hand. However, I don't really mind the fatness of the mullions, but I do mind the straightness. To get more perfect mullions and details, I guess the best method is to combine it with 3D printing to get the finest level of detail.

 

Tomorrow I hope to find the time to put together a building with two different materials. The plastic alone makes the building flimsy, so combining it with cardboard will probably produce a winner combination!

[cteno4]

Toni,

 

Yep printing onto the acetate is a great idea. I've laser printed lines onto clear plastic for this. You may find you can do sharper and tanner lines than with the pen attachment. I looked at the reviews of the pens for the silhouette and they were not great for detail if memory serves me right. Downside with printing is you can't do white or silver which so many mullions are! But pens may do that it's just going to be if the lines can be small enough with the pens.

 

Layering is the trick for stiffness, making plywood basically! Do seal the cardboard as laminating different materials leaves you open to the cardboard layers expanding and contracting with humidity while the stryene does not so warp! I'm now going to hit all the large wall and roof pieces on sankei kits on both sides with dull coat before assembly as I realized humidity could get into the inner sides if not sealed as there is a gap there and all holes not sealed potentially.

 

Jeff

[valkyriepm]

Toni, that's a great work! A nice solution to the windows frames would be to design and make them laser-cut on a 200g or 150g color cardboard like Sankei kits. I'm currently making them on very fine strips of either plastic or 120g paper with nice results (0.5mm width). As you have done so far, it's all trial and error. Keep it up!

 

Martin

[kvp]

The frames are skewed and have burr on them. This means the material is not rigid enough and way too thick for the blade. You could try a more easily cuttable (thinner) plastic that is less stretchy and a much sharper blade. At least the machine has enough power as it still managed to crave them out this way. For etching a pattern a different knife (with a wider blade) is better than the very thin cutter one.

[ToniBabelony]

Thank you for the tips. After reading them I felt compelled to visit the local art shop (Sekaidō) and browse a bit for a more appropriate material to use. I think, for cutting, I would have to go for thin and strong. In my search, I found something called Kent Paper. I've seen this before, but never bothered about what it was, as at that point I dropped my use for analogue artist materials. It's 180g/m² and the touch of the paper alone sold me on using it for cutting (fellow artists/paper users can probably relate).

 

This type of paper is called Construction Paper in English and is a little coarse, but very dense. This allowed me to cut the window mullions at a thickness of 0.5mm instead of 1.0mm I did before! The sturdiness of the material also helps with the embossing/engraving at a later point. It just needs some smart planning on behalf of the cutting order and line length:

 

 

I think I've found the perfect material and is only a little bit more expensive. The upside is that there is a plethora of colours to choose from, though mostly pastels. I'd have to inquire for a few more earthen and darker tones. Not to worry, as the outer layer can be made out of a different material and/or painted before cutting.

[beakaboy]

Really nice job Toni on that last photo. The windows look great

[valkyriepm]

Wow! That looks great! Congratulations!

 

Martin