Whenever I throw any packaging into the re-cycling box I think ' now I wonder what I could make out of that', and so it was with the item in the photo below.

I thought I'd have a go at cutting one of these cylinders into a strip that could be used as a roof on a coach or wagon.

Now before you all jump on me and say ' you aren't supposed to puncture aerosol cans, yes I know what it says on the tin but if you are wary and you know what these cans contain you need have no fears. Some aerosols contain a plastic bag with the product in but in this case (deodorant) as it is a clean product there was no plastic sack, however you need to make sure all the pressure has been released before cutting into the aluminium can. I wore safety glasses throughout the operation as an extra precaution.

First I measured with my calipers, the width of a Ratio covered van that I'd just completed opened them a further 3mm and then locked them at that measurement, next I looked for a vertical line on the graphics, there is usually some vertical mark,in this case the edge of a block of text, I stuck a strip of masking tape along that line, put one point of the caliper against the tape and with a craft knife marked the inside of the other point both at the top and bottom of the can. I then stuck a second strip of tape along these marks and the section was now ready to be cut out.

I used a small coping saw I have with a very fine metal blade and made two cuts cross ways at the top and bottom of the section to be cut out, it's immaterial whether you do this first of last, it makes no appreciable difference. Next with a dremel fitted with a diamond slitting disc I gently cut along the inside edges of the tape, taking great care not to let the disc jam or jump about, at one stage it did judder and it caused a small buckle in the edge which luckily I managed to dress out with one of my copper bender slides and a light hammer. Just take it easy and don't force anything, aim to keep the revs at the same speed a when the dremel is free running. I set mine at half speed.

The section of can was just over 125mm in length, not long enough for a carriage roof so I had a look on wikipedia and came up with the GW Mink 'G' general purpose covered van, these were 30ft long, 120mm in 00 gauge, just right. I rubbed all the printed surface off with rubbing down paper, cut it down to size and was left with this

I cut a piece of plastic card to the inside measurement of the van body, chamfered the edges and stuck this with superglue on the chamfers up inside the roof panel. it is now ready to fit to the body when built.

In the next post I'll show you how I went about making the body.

cheers for now