monkeysarefun

And THAT is true too. What a fabulous world we live in!

For creating brickwork, windows, doors, iron lace and so on the emblaser 1 has been brilliant, and I am 100% happy with it and certainly an Emblaser 1 with the Emblaser 2 upgrades would be all you'd need for model-making. Its the addition of the Z axis on the Emblaser 2 that sold it to me (plus the intro half price!), 3D cutting and engraving should make a whole lot more items 'modelable' with the laser, for instance I'm thinking gothic windows in one piece rather than in layers. Of course that then brings up the necessity of mastering 3D drawing..

Darklylabs have just announced that the Emblaser 2 has been delayed by 2 months, but then again, I pre-ordered a Glowforge back in Sept 2015, and they too have just announced yet another postponement - until July 2017, so I'm not concerned by Darklylabs missing the target because I know they will deliver.. Also, in breakng darklylabs news.. they have announced a 15% discount on the Emblaser 1, which is a brilliant thing in its own right and is great for experimenting with - for example.. I know once I EVENTUALLY get the colouring and weathering right that I'll surpass even that fancy new-school photo realistic brickpaper. i reckon its the corner treatment and the flat surface sheen that spoils the realistic look of model buildings made with even this kind of brick paper.

I'm assuming that the screenshot you posted was how you want the final version to look ie its the successful attempt? I've been working on a similar kind of thing in order to achieve the raised text on the front of the building as per picture in post #656. Out of the 3 possible outcomes - text engraved so it was lower that the sign, everything engraved - similar to what you got - and the background engraved so the letters were raised, I managed to achieve all of them, depending on what vectors I selected.. In your case, I'd be trying to break it down step by step. For instance in Cut2D select just the outline vector and one of the text vectors, hit the calculate button and see what that results in. If the vectors are both closed you should get everything but the text embossed. If that works, try adding more vectors to see what happens and at which point it all goes wrong, then check that vector. My brick scribing file is a section of brickwork with the mortar joints as an engraving rather than vector lines and if I misplace a window slightly for instance so that it causes one of the brick joints to be cut it can cause all kinds of weird outcomes, such as the bricks being engraved rather than the mortar, or the whole material outside of the brick wall area being engraved instead of the actual wall. Luckily as in your picture, Cut2D shows a preview of what it is going to engrave before you actually make the mistake of starting the job.

Thanks Simon. I chose this building as a test, partly because its so close to where I live, but mainly because it is a bit 'clumsy', so any oddness in my modelling I can try to pass off as "thats how the real one is". For instance, check out the execution of "SOCIETY"" - Also, the door seems to me to be a not very good rendition of a 'rea'l one either:: Countering this levity though is the thought that just over 100 years ago this was the local militia drill hall, where our local contingent of ANZACS were recruited, only to be slaughtered at Gallipolli, and if they survived that, the Western Front.

So I'm experimenting with mortar now. Its been interesting to read up on what others use, because it seems like almost anything is fair game. From Giles using fire cement, to others using actual cement, tile grout, bicarbonate of soda, plaster of Paris, spakfilla, DAS, pastels, weathering powders both used dry and in a wash,and various kinds of thinned paint, ink or washes... No where though have I found anyone using pumice yet, so I thought I'd give that a try because A) its mortar coloured, b) unlike cement, grout, plaster of Paris etc if rubbed with a damp cloth it won't turn into some cenenty solution that will cover my wall, and c) I have a little jar of it on a shelf just here above me. Here's my first attempt. I managed to knock a couple of bricks off when I was brushing it around - the white bits that you might see, but I can glue them back on after this. When I finish off adding the concrete details to the wall it'll get a wash of grey or black to tone done the mortar a bit, but I'm happy with it so far, considering its just a test thing. Next up is trying the engraved signage, (I'm torn whether I should actually replicate the bad spacing of the letters... ) My model bricwork looks very orange comapered to the actual building in the photos but in real life its much closer, One day I'll get through the whole instruction manual for my camera, and work out how to fix that up. To be continued..

Hi again trend setters, Its a bit quiet here, , so I thought I'd put up an actual progress shot of a building I'm makiing because I'm starting to realise that it looks like I'm just mucking around here without actually posting up finished things, unlike everyone else. I guess partly thats because I haven't yet actually finished anything model railway-ish, ,but in my defence I did make a marquetry jewellery box in order earn enough brownie points to be allowed to pre-order an emblaser 2!... As someone who has been building model structures for 30 years or so, I've been more and more excited about the increasing abilities of computers and their 'attachments' - CAD packages, printers and laser cutters and so on - to aid in the precision of my model making. But I'm starting to realise that model making also has an artistic component. I can now programme my emblaser to score brick work to pinpoint accuracy, but its still up to me to then be able to paint and detail it in order to get it to look like an actual real brick wall. I think that is what I love about this hobby, its a combination of precision , and artistry. Kind of like our bowling attack in the long forgotten halcyon days of early 1990's Australian cricket. But, unlike Shane Warne, Brett Lee et al, its my artistry that is letting me down. I've ruined many panels of lasered brickwork trying to get the masonry colours or the mortar right. But, affter much experimenting with exotic media like 'taskboard' and 'laserboard', both of which cost a huge amount to ship from the US, only to be lost in the June flood, I'm finding cardboard from the local art supply place (mountboard) is a better proposition, Its 1.5mm thick, so is perfect for 4mm brick finger joints and it fills all my needs. It lasers really well, actually better than the above materials, and its much cheaper - plus theres no ridicularse US postage costs. And as a bonus, it holds paints a whole lot better too. Anyway, to try to overcome my artistic short-comings I've decided to build a model of our local A.H and I society hall in order to practice my paint skills. - mainly because its the closest interesting brick building to me, its stretcher bond which will simplify tjhings but on the down side, it has pretty eccentric brick colouring: Here is my first attempt at getting the raw brick colours, These bricks are exactly scale size, but without grout they look bigger for some reason. I was planning to grout the mortar tomorrow, but ;looking at these close ups i'm wondering if I need to. Opinions really appreciated. To be continued...

The wavelength of the diode is 445nm, so make sure you get a pair that blocks this frequency.

Hi Joseph, The repeatability of something once you've gone to the trouble of producing it in laserable format is what makes all the mucking about viable. Everything you make on the PC can be saved and used in other projects - windows and brick/stone patterns and so on. I've found that building up that library of usable textures / windows / doors and so on is quite time intensive, I could have hand scribed several buildings in the time its taken, but once I've done one, I can cut and paste stuff into other projects. I went to the Trotec head office today, and I have to say that my definition of 'Open On Sunday' is 180 degrees different from theirs. At least it was only a 15 minute ( yeah - ok , 16 minutes..) drive.. Back to the emblaser - it does make nice (4mm scale) bricks!

I'd be searching google for something like "tileable stone wall texture" and choosing one I liked. Open up Inkscape and import it: Select it and use the path -> Trace bitmap function. If the bitmap you chose is quite monochrome this should produce a quite sharp reproduction, otherwise you can fiddle with the settings in the box that comes up to try to get a good result: Then its a matter of deleting the original image and copy + pasting the path file to cover the wall: Depending on the compexity of the original image this can produce a path file with lots and lots of nodes, which can bog down your computer if you don't have a decent CPU. There is a 'simplify' function that reduces the number of nodes, though this can distort and round of the resulting elements in the path file, though for stone walls this isn't necessarily a bad thing... THen off to the laser cutter, set to 'fill' rather than 'cut' so it engraves the mortar joints. Again, depending on the complexity of the wall, the laser cutter software can similarly get bogged down trying yo calculate the fill areas. And, if you have open paths in the image it can produce unexpected and weird ideas of which bits it thinks you want engraved and which bits you don't!

I'd be searching google for something like "tileable stone wall texture" and choosing one I liked. Open up Inkscape and import it: Select it and use the path -> Trace bitmap function. If the bitmap you chose is quite monochrome this should produce a quite sharp reproduction, otherwise you can fiddle with the settings in the box that comes up to try to get a good result: Then its a matter of deleting the original image and copy + pasting the path file to cover the wall: Depending on the compexity of the original image this can produce a path file with lots and lots of nodes, which can bog down your computer if you don't have a decent CPU. There is a 'simplify' function that reduces the number of nodes, though this can distort and round of the resulting elements in the path file, though for stone walls this isn't necessarily a bad thing... Then off to the laser cutter, set to 'fill' rather than 'cut' so it engraves the mortar joints. Again, depending on the complexity of the wall, the laser cutter software can similarly get bogged down trying to calculate the fill areas. And, if you have open paths in the image it can produce unexpected and weird ideas of which bits it thinks you want engraved and which bits you don't! It sure is a learning experience.....

Hi all, Thanks for the information on the trotec materials, I have been checking out laserable plastics online on and off but was not sure which one was the correct one so thanks for the product names. In a rare case of the universe aligning I have just checked out where Trotec are in Australia and was amazed to discover that in a continent 7.6 million square kilometres big, their head office and showroom is literally 15 minutes (ok, 16 minutes..) from where I am sitting: And, they are open on Sundays... so I'll be able to go and be astounded at the price in Au dollars. (Might check out the lasers too, just for fun..)

A few months ago I discovered you can buy rolls of half round wire - here is my Australian supplier, I guess the UK would have similar sources - try craft/beading websites. I bought 18gauge which works out at 1.02mm wide, ie about 3 inches in 4mm scale. At just under $7.00 Australian dollars (ie about 20p) its cheap considering you get 7 yards of it to a roll. Here is their complete range, it comes in various gauges and materials including 12 Karat gold for that extra blingy look to your buildings! I did buy some of the black, intending to try it for guttering - thinking I could paint the curved side and leave the flat as black to represent the channel. But then the great June flood happened here and in between evacuating all my hobby stuff from my slowly submerging hobby room and stocking my ark with animals two by two, I've mislaid it!

Hi somon, I agree fully with what you are saying - and it is wise counsel! Just reminiscing here on a Sunday evening, but I remember back in the early '70's when backyard incinerators were part of everyones (at least here in Australia) childhood. Meant for burning leaves and so on but back in that innocent time well before hazardous information websites so much other stuff got thrown in - plastics, aerosol cans, paint tins.... and we kids would sit around it , especially when weird plastics and aerosols got thrown in because the flames would be amazing colours Also, the guy flying the crop duster plane dusting the crops across the road from our school would apparently find it hilarious if we were out playing sport when his crop dusting run was scheduled because he'd open the taps right on top of us, and we'd wonder, as we were standing around on the softball field, where the funny tasting rain was coming from. If I now come down with a weird tumour, I won't have any idea who to sue!

And 3mm ply! I appreciate the hazard information, for those reasons I've always used the emblaser outside, preferably when the wind is a nor-wester to disperse anything toxic towards the neighbour I don't like!

Hi Dave, I've not had any luck with plasticard/styrene. I had a quick go and all I ended up with, no matter what combination of power/speed and so on that I tried was just a rough-cut smoky mess, covered in black soot. I was worried what effect it would have on the lens cleanliness so abandoned the attempts. As I said early on in the thread I don't use plastic in my 'normal' modelling so it was no great disappointment. One material that I have found to be great - and which I willl use for things like window frames, iron lacework and so on - is a kind of 'metalized; or 'plasticised' card, available from art suppliers or Ebay, A local (to me!) example is here. It seems a great compromise because it has the ease of cutting that cardboard has, but it also lets you snap out bits that aren't quite cut through - like plastic - and doesn't leave little tufts or tear like normal card. PVA/spray glue glues it fine and it comes in a variety of thicknesses, not sure the imperial equivalent but basically from photocopy paper thickness to thin card of 0.4mm. The darker colours seem to laser better in that they can be done at a lesser speed and power, but the light colours are fine too. I haven't tried painting it yet but imagine should hold paint ok after spraying with primer - say Tamiya or similar. Gaz, those coaches are brilliant!

Allan, I've always considered your windmill as your "Yellow Submarine", compared to all the other "Sergeant Peppers" that you have created. I'll always remember eagerly waiting for articles from you all those years ago, , and am still enjoying your input here on this site today, and I know that many others will join in thanking you for the enjoyment you have and are still giving to us all. ..( Do I get a free building now!)

Dry stone walls made from cat litter (or in my case aquaruim pebbles), I also remember a church made from budgie grit? I wonder if pet shop proprietors noticed strange surges in demand for certain products at various times and if so, if they linked it to the publishing of your articles in the Railway Modeller just prior? Of course, canny ones would have and thus would have been able to gain a commercial advantage over their opposition - "Better triple the Hedgehog order this month dear, Allan Downes has just published a new way of making fence posts". It is a strange quirk of memory (but more likely a tribute to your writing) that although the 70's were my school years, I now remember very little of what I was taught back then. Quadratic equations -completely forgotten; Huygens principle - no idea any more... But, I can still remember the titles of most of your articles from the same years, - and what they were about. 'All of a Twist" - an article about curved station platforms; "Whats his names yard" - All about building one of those mysterious forgotten junk yards that are dotted in back streets. "Budgie grit string and so a church" - ok, I forget what that one was about. How crestfallen was I when 'Mastermind' was canned and my dream of cleaning up with my special subject "articles by Allan Downes" came to naught. In fact, my crest has still not recovered from that fall. Actually, such is the effect that your articles have on my memory that it often spread to any other articles that happened to share a page with yours. I remember your windmill article shared the page with one asking "Whats wrong With That Cow?" and still remember that it was to do with bovine regional differences - something to do with their antlers or whatever their pointy bits are called. The only other thing that comes back to me from the past in a similar way are advertising jingles. I'd always thought that if Kirchoff's Law of Electric Circuits had had a snappy jingle I'd have done a lot better at exams, but now I'm thinking that an even better result would have come about by reading an article written by you on say Newtons Three Laws Of Motion, preferably with a sharp punning title, set to a toe-tapping jingle. Result - Total Recall!

Wow, thanks Allan - that's very humbling considering it was you writing in the Railway Modeller back in the '70's that sparked my enthusiasm for modelling buildings. Dad got it on subscription and when ever it arrived in its buff envelope in our leterbox (3 months late - the Christmas issues with the model layouts covered in festive snow we would get in late March) I'd straight away search through for an Allan Downes article. If it wasn't there it would be a long wait for the following months delivery. Some of my attempts to use your ideas have become family stories, two that pop up are 'borrowing' the pebbles in my dads aquarium to mix with PVA and pack into wooden moulds to make some peanut brittle style dry stone walls, and 'borrowing' the expensive wool that mum had bought intending to knit a fancy jumper to use as thatch on a cottage. So if in any way I've been able to return some of the entertainment you gave me back then then I am really happy. Thanks again!

G'day Allan, The link is to a page of a website by an awesome Spanish bloke who makes up plans intended for cutting out with a fretsaw/srcollsaw. The link itself is to his plans that you can buy if you want to saw out 12000 or something little parts from thin wood in order to build a model of Milan cathedral. . The first three photos in the link are of a model by an Australian - Ken Field - that I saw way down here at the Sydney Working With Wood show a couple of years ago, He cut it all out from timber, with a fret saw, amazing stuff. If you scroll down in landlords link you will see similar models by other crazy people using a variety of materials - acryllic, timber and possibly Colron wood dye, whatever that is. I have since bought the plans - here they are arranged dramaticaly on my floor - all 71 pages of them! I bought them originally to cut out over my entire life a bit at a time with a fretsaw, but have since bought a laser cutter so am hopeful of scanning them into the laser cutter programme and getting it to do the work while I lounge about drinking beer. Regards, Chris J

I have found some madness too..... http://www.finescrollsaw.com/milan-cathedral.htm Actually it has extra madness, considering its intended to be cutout with a scrollsaw rather than a laser!

9am - do tax return. 9.30 - Realise that I get back enough to buy 3.5 Emblaser 2's. 9.30.05 - 9.45 - Yay! (I only ordered one though.)

My insurance claim came through this week, now the dilemma - new carpet or Emblaser 2..? If only the bare concrete floor wasn't so cold, though with the payout I COULD get an emblaser 2 and thicker socks!

Got this link on my pinterest page today. Don't know too much about it. http://mr-beam.org/

It would be easier to laser tattoos off I reckon, which is how this Emblaser thing all started, way back when in post #1!