Royal42

Thanks Emma, I shall have a look at that. I am scratchbuilding a couple of ship models in 1:350 scale and they will need masts, similar to gantry style pylons or footbridges etc. The last one I built had the mast (on the right of this image) done in plastic but the detail wasn't very fine, therefore I would like to have a go at making some in etch. I am retired so I cannot afford to send stuff off to be done commercially. cheers Mike

Ah, Lone Star models. I used to get them in the late 1950's and had great fun with them. I would have thought they had all vanished by now. I'll have another search on this ebay thing and see what turns up. Thanks again Mike

Hi Ian, thanks for that. I did a search on ebay and found a body shell for a Prairie tank, for only £3.99 plus postage and have ordered that. I'll have a go at scratchbuilding a chassis for it and that should look just fine. Thanks again for the ebay suggestion, I don't normally look on there so didn't think of that. Mike

I am of the opinion that if people don't know the answer, or cannot add any more information, then they shouldn't answer. I seem to suffer the opposite (fortunately not on this forum, railway modellers seem to be more helpful) in that some people feel they have to say something, even if they cannot contribute anything. Probably the most common ones I seem to get for queries on other forums is: "I don't know the answer to your question but ......" another one is: " have you tried Googling it?"

Thanks Mike, that looks to be a nice kit and I'll look out for them. cheers Mike

I like to build small dioramas and they would sometimes have a rail line in the background. The setting would look better with a Prairie tank or Saddle tank loco on it; currently I just use rolling stock. I can't afford a working N Guage loco, just to sit on a board, so wondered if there were less expensive kits of loco's available? Mike

Thanks Richard, I shall look into that; I'm sure there must be someone locally who does that. Mike

H Cal, I give this supplier a call; I spoke to Stuart and received some very helpful advice on what I needed. He advised me that, as I was only etching brass, I would not need the whole starter set as this comes with PCB boards etc. I found his advice to be very helpful and have placed an order for just the items I need to etch the brass. These basically consist of an Etch pen and some Fine Etch Chrystals. He does not sell the brass itself though, does anyone know where I can buy thin sheets of brass? I am looking for a thickness of around 0.15mm to 0.2mm, at least as a starter to see how I get on. Thanks Mike

Thanks Cal and Gordon. Those look to be just what I am looking for and I'll go and investigate them further. Many thanks Mike

Thanks Cal, I had heard of PPD but they are a service providor and very good at that; but I am looking to do some myself. I'm sure that there are model enthusiasts in Britain who do their own photo-etch but it is those that I am looking to for advice on sourcing the materials. cheers Mike

Can anyone here help me find a supplier in the UK that sells virtually all the items needed for one to make their own photo-etch? I have looked at loads of youtube tutorials on how to do it but they seem to refer to US suppiers, with some brands we can't get in the UK. I now feel I know enough about how to do photo-etch but don't know of a good on-line supplier in the UK. I live in the South West and don't think there are any real shops down this way, hence hoping to find some on-line. I would really like to find an on-line shop that not only supplies the materials but perhaps also has a help-line, to discuss what and types I need etc., such as brass, etchant and toner transfer paper for example. Evidently you can get a starter pack in the U.S. , which contains all you need to do a first time etch but I haven't heard of anything similar here in UK. I would be grateful to hear from anyone who knows if such is available here Thanks in advance for any helpful information. Mike

Hi Jason, I don't use very thick styrene, mainly as the scale is so small, so I only use 0.25mm (10 thou) or 0.5mm (20 thou) sheet. I made a mistake in my info above, the oil rig is to 1:350 scale and the Mulberry Harbour will be to 1:144 scale. The thickest sheet I have used so far is a piece of 0.75mm but that needed the biggest blade and highest settings, plus quite a few passes. As already mentioned on here, I find the best way to get the detail and strength is to make two, or more, pieces and laminate them together. In the case of the tower I have made an external frame (green below) with horizontal cross-braces as the first piece; then I made another external frame (blue below) but this time I added the diagonal cross-braces. Laminating the two together (blue behind green) gives a more 3D effect with one set of spars positioned behind the others. here is a view of the two frames, drawn in layers in Inkscape, which make a single side. The great thing about using a cutter of course is that you can produce as many as you want! cheers Mike

Hi everyone, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything so thought I had better give an update. I bought the Silver Bullet and have been learning and practicing how to use it for most of the time but without attempting much. Now I have started on two little projects: updating my Mulberry Harbour, plus building an Oil Rig/Platform. It is still very early days however I am achieving some results (which need fine-tuning) with the cutter. Here is a test run of the tower gantry for the oil rig, which is to 1:144 1:350 scale. The tower scale height is 5 in (12.6cm). Thanks to JCL, and everyone who has contributed on this thread, because without this I would not have known about cutters - or be able to construct something so intricate by hand. Mike

The cutter has just arrived so I have amended my vote to "Yes I have a cutter". Thanks to everyone who has contributed helpful information on the subject, I am continually re-reading this thread as it contains so much relevant data. cheers Mike

Thanks Allan, that is good information for the future. My cutter is due here tomorrow or the next day so I have been looking up some items to experiment with. The bridge span section, image below, has been attempted by me on a few occasions using a knife but each ends up unevenly spaced. Having seen some of the excellent bridge spans for the railway dioramas on here I would like to ask how would be the best way to prepare something like this for cutting? I understand, from some of the comments on this thread, that I shall probably need to build up layers for laminating but I'm stumped as to which parts would form layer 1, 2 etc. Again, I would be grateful for any helpful advice here. The great thing is that I am learning stuff here which seems not to worry about which cutter is being used. cheers Mike The actual bridge length is 80 feet and I have two projects on the go which could do with some of these being cut to 1:350 scale and 1:144 (or N if easier) scale.

Hi Allan, I have ordered mine but have gone for being delivered as it would be uneconomical to drive all the way up from Somerset for it. I spoke to Dawn and she was very helpful and explained a few items which clears a few points. Just have to sit and wait for the brute to arrive! Mike

Hi Allan, thanks very much for your helpful response, I am just about to order a Silver Bullet (my wife has become exasperated with my pleas and said "Oh go on then..... anything for peace and quiet"!). I just have a couple of additional questions which you may be able to help with: a. what is the maximum thickness of styrene sheet that can be cut without causing overload (I've checked the videos and demo's but they just discuss card). b. there is a choice of machine sizes, with obvious higher costs, and was wondering whether the 13" (the max I think I can afford) was adequate for our scales of OO and N gauge? Thanks again Mike

Thanks Ed, I think that I am fairly resigned to sticking with plastic ('scuse Pun!). There is plenty of strength in styrene as long as I frame the gantries correctly etc. I have been searching around the sites and looking at a few videos, on YouTube, on the features and benefits of the various machines and now think that I shall go for the Silver Bullet. A few reasons; one was mentioned on here by Allan about line cutting etc., plus the videos of the Cameo make it sound clunky and noisy. A lot more money for sure but I am thinking long-term, of having a quality machine which will cover most of my scratchbuilding requirements for quite a while. I am now going to climb into the loft and dig out all my kits in the stash and have a "need a Silver Bullet sale" ! Sorry guys, the kits are all airy-planey or boaty things. Thanks Jason for starting this thread, and everyone else who has enlightened me on the subject. I have been truly amazed at the ideas and suggestions on how to cut this and laminate that and I am in awe of all your workmanship. Most of your suggestions, although obviously railway oriented, can easily be utilised for scratchbuilding in other genre's, such as ship modelling and vehicles etc. Thank you. Mike

Hi Jack, sorry I missed your question earlier. Truth is that I dabble at this ship in between other modelling subjects so it has been on the go for over a year. I suppose in actual time it has taken about two months, but that is mainly down to my lack of knowledge on scratchbuilding. I would start to cut or fit something and think "I'd better just check those measurements again" and so off I go on a tangent, looking through plans, books and searching the web! thanks for the compliment, I hope that I will eventually get it finished and be able to display it in a nice case. Mike

Thanks Joel and Dennis, I suppose I was only looking at metal/brass for strength however plastic is my main medium so it could be that I stick with that. The model ship is approx. 65cm long by 13cm high but apart from the flight deck I don't think any other item is over 10cm in length (just lots of them, especially the inner deck sections etc.) I usually make sections for the hull, upperworks and inner sections in .5mm or 1mm thickness styrene, at about 5cm by 1cm pieces; plus strips for masts in .5mm thickness and 2 or 3mm wide strips. This is where the tedium and inaccuracies kick in for me, when I need to hand cut lots of same size pieces and this is where I believe a cutting machine would help. I do have lots of packets of styrene strips of all sizes and shapes but, just at the critical moment, I will find that I have run out of that particular size or shape and have to wait until the hobby shop opens the next day (and it is 35 miles away). To overcome this, I can cut strip sections from A4 styrene sheet but sometimes getting two lengths to stay exactly 2mm wide can be a problem for me. Thanks again and I'm still hoping to hear from someone who may have experience of using a Bullet, just to confirm my thoughts. Another question, in case I do go for the Cameo which sounds like it might be the case, is does anyone know who/where they can be obtained most economically (cheapest)? Mike

Hello everyone, I've been avidly reading through this thread, since I first came across it a couple of days ago, and now feel I need to join and learn more. I am an amateur scratchbuilder and like to build ships, amongst other transport models, and I noticed the discussions about plastic/metal cutting machines. I would like to invest in one of these cutting machines as I am hopeless at hand cutting multiple lengths of fine styrene; such as the mast on my model of HMS Hermes below which is entirely made up of cut plastic sheet, and I really would like to try doing it by machine. Could I ask a question here (having read your discussions on the Cameo and Silver Bullet cutting machines) - does anyone know if I could cut the mast sections out of, say, 0.5mm brass sheet with the Silver Bullet? Or would I be better off sticking with styrene and just purchasing a Cameo? I realise that there is probably no definitive answer but someone here may have gone through similar problems and found a resolution with either machine? The model ship is only about 3/4 complete but already has approx. 1000 separate plastic pieces, all cut by hand with ruler and scalpel blade, so you can imagine how my hands and wrists feel after each cutting session! Many of the parts are same-size section cuts so is very tedious and repetitious. The model is to 1:350 scale which makes the mast approx. 5cm high by 1.5cm wide at the base and assume would be similar to cutting out and constructing a signal gantry and hence why I am hoping for some helpful advice here please. Thanks for reading this and I would be grateful to receive any helpful advice on this. I've already learned so much by reading this thread through a few times. Mike The side-lift, gantry underside, is placed vertical on the deck for show Centre section showing mast detail