Nearly a month since my last post, but this Christmas thing does interrupt modelling projects! Also the well being of the aged bodies of both my wife and I leaves something to be desired.

However I certainly should take time to acknowledge Nick's input about cadstd; sorry for the delay Nick.

I have used cadstd in the far distant past but was given a copy of CorelDraw X5 two or three years ago and I was directed to its use for producing drawings for an etching company who accepted .cdr drgs sent by e-mail (.cdr is the accepted CorelDraw std format).

As I have a good few etching drawings saved and backed-up, all in .cdr format and as my version of CorelDraw has become corrupted, I decided to buy the least expensive version of CorelDrawX7 - 'Home & Student', only to later find that it did not save to the .dxf format needed by my card cutter. It was returned as unsuitable and I got my money back.

However as all my etching drawings would be lost if I could not find a drawing program that opens .cdr files, (and that represents a lot of time and effort) I had some research to do. Eventually I found some one selling a genuine, and un-opened copy of CorelDraw X6 at a little bit more than I had paid for the returned disk.

So my drawing problems are solved; at least as far as having a program I know quite well; a program that can open .cdr drawings (phew, still got my etching stuff!); and a program that can save drawings in a format that my card cutter can read.

All I need now is to learn much more about the card cutter's abilities and to totally master how its program accepts .dxf files with no corruption.

I posted a picture of the huts but the drawing files had been produced by following tutorials on here, using Inkscape ( not bad) or Studio3 which comes with the cutter(not so good). As neither of these would open my etching files I think that getting a working copy of what I know, was the correct approach.

The first project with my new set-up is to be a styrene card body for a 6-wheel GCR brake van. Current position is:

.cdr complete; saved in .dxf ; imported into Studio3; all scribed and cut, - but not as well as I expect!!

Still a lot to learn.

May all your modelling in this New Year be good.

Dave