siltec

I hope everyone realises that if this series really takes off then model railway gear will be on the shelves in your local supermarket. Evidently Lakeland, a specialist supplier of cooking items is suffering as many of the products that only a specialist stocked are on the shelves of the Supermarkets. As a show it is good effort. My other half enjoyed it with zero interest in model railways. I know it might not appeal to rivet counters, but it is certainly going to promote the hobby. Not sure if Peco will be on sale in Tescos, but Bachmann and Hornby train sets???

I thought it was a competition for a layou using a Cameo Cutter for buildings and rolling stock - evidently not. Cameo cutter discussion is ongoing still by the way.

I sent off f I sent off for something similar a while back. Blade holder and some blades. Works fine and a lot cheaper than the 'genuine' silhouette. Not sure how this buying from China direct works but all the low cost items I have bought have been delivered pretty quickly. Old story, do not spend more than you can afford to lose. Interestingly I have had no bad deals using eBay, ie money taken and no product. A few not up to scratch, but at prices so low not worht hasseling over. Just remember Caveat Emptor - buyer beware; but in practise no worse than a Boot fair purchase.

Check out this site for small layout ideas: http://www.carendt.com/

The Cameo 3 has just appeared. Biggest difference seems to be two pen/cutter holders rather than the single one on the Cameo 2. As there does not seem to be any changes to the software, yet, I am not sure how it will work with two cutting heads. Mechanically I suspect it is much the same. Basically it is an X-Y plotter where the X plane is the sheet moving. Old style plotting pens actually fit in, although the old one I had knocking around was a dud. Paying for the extra features on the paid for software is probably worth it if you want to import images created on other software, especially as .svg files. The Silhouette software is not that brilliant, but works. Biggest bug I find is the inability to import .dxf files layers. I tend to draw my originals on a CAD programme for precision , import the CAD programme into a drawing programme and fill in the layers. I then export as an .svg file to the Silhouette. If the Silhouette software accepted the.dxf layers then I could use it as the drawing programme for colouring in. So long as the card being printed on is white I have found that it cut very precisely around an image printed from the silhouette software with the registration marks. Other situation that can be a nuisance is cutting out letters. make sure they are solid and cut around the edge. When plotting, even for small letters they are all plotted by the pen/cutter following the outline. Larger model takes A3 OK and there is an attachment allowing longer lengths of rolled media. This is meant for vinyl so if you want to produce your own go faster striped it is a good machine to have. It cuts vinyl pretty well. I am making some new stuff for my motorbike fairing.

I have gone down the freelance route in a big way. It all started with a thought on using an inkjet printer to print tinplate and quickly realising that the answer was card bodied models. Not being inclined to spend hours getting the number of rivets right on a model I realised that this was a quick way to produce models, especially recycling exisitng chassis. Now it has turned out that Bo-Bo chassis of various types are cheap to acquire. My first try out was trams and this interested directed me towards urban railways. Anyhow to speed things up I decided on my own simplified card models rather than try to copy existing rolling stock. This decision wa influenced by the fact that none of my powered chassis actually fitted on any known tram or railcar design, past or present. Moving on to increase productivity and eliminate the boredom of cutting out lots of windows I acquired a Cameo Silhouette cutter. Basically a plotter with a knife head. Works as a plotter too. The Avatar is a combined effort. Anyhow some examples to date: Firstly my gallery of some of my tram efforts. And the latest efforts urban trains.

My latest effort with the Cameo Another three ready to be made up Actually also checking how inserting gallery image works.

With our usual summer i have had an opportunity to play with the Cameo. I have discovered some new things, well to be, about how it works. I have been cutting out prints onto glossy photo paper of about 220g. For some reason no setting would get it to cut through the card. I tried everything, changed all the settings but to no avail. One problem was the that the speed never seemed to vary. I normally print to the outline but tried printing to the colour fill, and had some success. I then noticed that against each colour when selecting the colour to print around, or colour line to use a material was listed. In all cases copy paper. I have always been setting the paper when setting the cutter. I realized that the paper set against the colour now has to be the same as that for the cutter, in my case card stock. Once i did this then the cutting followed the settings. Slower speeds than default. Also the cutter went through the card. I am not sure if this is part of the software upgrade or whether at first it never really mattered as I was no cutting really thick card. Also for the first time I have tried out the Chinese metal blade holder and blades bought on eBay. The blade holder is made from aluminium and is beautifully made. Once I worked out how the blade fits in, easy actually, it is easy to adjust and obviously works as well as the overpriced silhouette offerings. I think I learned about these holders and blades from an earlier posting so thanks to whoever was responsible. i actually bought them a while back but as the Silhouette blade was still working never got around to trying it out. Finally when refilling ink cartridges they definitely need to left a while, 24 hours or so to settle down. Recently refilled the black and noticed that the paperwork for that ink suggests this wait. And to show my efforts - nothing fancy, this is prototyping at its most basic a short movies, made on a sunny day at the weekend. Bit of a rarity at the moment; it is raining outside. https://youtu.be/FHuWHzxb65M David As someone will always ask the music is from a CD of copyright free music that I bought around 1990, pre internet days. It was then sold for adding as a sound track to videos. It came from BVG, or Burgess Video Group. BVG have not been involved with video for some time but actually still exists as quite a large company involved with logistics. Bit like Birmingham Carriage and Wagon who morphed from rolling stock manufacturing into a finance company of some sort.

Hi Never had any problems with my Cameo Silohuette. Now a question. Has anyone used an A3 printer with a Silohuette? My existing printer is getting a bit long in the tooth and the latest Micro Mart has a review of some A3 printers. There is a basic HP which will take up to 250g card so OK for printed models. I have found a few of my models have needed modifying to fit within the A4 parameters so am thinking an A3 machine would certainly cope. I suspect I will need a new longer cutting mat, software obviously copes OK so just wondering if anyone has gone down this road. Printer is HP7110 about £130. (I always value printers relative to the first one I ever bought. An Epson FX-80 with a BBC computer in the 1980s. A 9 pin dot matix that cost, then, £399!!!!!!!!!!!!!) David

The Airfix models I bought from Home bargains are, I think, models for export that have not been exported. When in a model shot I could not find the same models at all, well I found the same models but with different markings. Those I bought one is a Spitfire V with one of the decal sets being for a US Army squadron in the UK in late 1942. No long after the US entered the war so I assume it was a quick et up using UK aircraft for experience. Something I had not come across before so I have learnt some history from a reduced price model from Home Bargains. Other model is a Mustang with one set of USAF markings but the other set are for the Domincan Republic. A pretty minor interest this side of the pond I would think. At least when I make them I can use the unusual markings for interest. Maybe Jouef or Electrotren will turn up in the budget shops!! David

My problems were due primarily to me not using the machine for over six months and then based on experiences from this forum deciding to have another go at using .svg files. Interestingly .svg works fine, it was that pesky dimensional difference that caused all the problems. Now that that is solved I was able to get going and found the printer was running out of ink. It is an HP Photosmart 8150 and other than the pricey cartridges prints quite well. Anyhow as the last colour cartridge was a new one when it ran out I decided to re-fill. This I managed Ok and ir sort of worked. Unfortunately the efforts I printed for cutting had varying colours and banding. this was yesterday. Today I popped into my local computer store and bough another non HP cartridge. Anyhow before sticking it in I thought I might as well run a test print or two where the colour etc. did not matter. Well blow me down the thing now works perfectly. Seems that leaving it to settle overnight was the solution. so if you try a refill leave it a day or so if it is not iniatially up to scratch. worked for me. I even entrusted some expensive glossy photo card to the printer for cutting out on the Cameo. All worked well. It looks good, just like the glossy appearance of Hornby Dublo tin plate. However, I decided to trial bending this card by the usual partial cut method. Not a good idea so it will have to be a crease in future. Has anyone ever tried creasing glossy photocard for bending? As to the compound curve problem. i'm afraid I chickened out. One reason for going freelance on rolling stock design is that I design it to made from card from scratch. David

Visited our local Home Bargains yesterday. S gauge scalextric on sale but I came away with a couple of Airfix models at £2.99 each. Spitfire and Mustang. Made in India but nicely packaged and a quick look suggests well made. So are these unloaded stock or the real pricing for Indian made stock? In Hobbycraft the Airfix quick builds which I think are made in the UK were reduced to £7.50 each. Not a big reduction so maybe just a summer promotion. If you have not tried one of these kits I suggest having a go. They are very well made and certainly superior to foreign made offerings also claiming to be quick build. Declaration. A few years ago, against the advice of the building society financial advisor I bought a unit trust base on Indian companies. While it has had its ups and down generally it has been up and over the time period is well ahead of the units bought on advice from the building society.

That looks good. Another line of experimentation. My big problem of CAD dxf to Drawplus and then svg from DrawPlus to SSD3 has a solution. For reasons unknown the svg file from DrawPlus arrives at SSD3 6.25% too large. Drawplus only allows coarse resizing but the CAD programme is more precise. So I prepared my line drawing in DeltCAD, measured it at 240.09mm x 101.05mm and then scale it down exactly 0.9375. Saved it as a dxf file. Loaded it into DrawPlus and coloured it in. Then saved it as an svg file with the inkscape option. I loaded this into SSD3 and checked the dimesnions 240.09 x 101.05, spot on!! The difference is actually 1/16 exactly which suggests it is a software aberation due I suspect to different interpretations of the svg standard. Not difficult to live with. I must just remember to check if there is an upgrade in any of the software involved as it might all change again. Certainly beats matching a dxf and a png file which was the previous method. David

Why I use the Cutter/plotter I am not a traditional railway modeller. Scenery really is not my thing other than as a photographic back drop. However the tec and design does interest me. As i am interested in the overall design just copying exisiting railways past and present I do not find fascinating. I am also a impatient and again spending weeks producing one loco is not my thing. So I hit upon card as a way of producing lots of bodies quickly. Now visiting various model railway shows, toy fairs and budget stores I have acquired quite a few powered chassis of the bo-bo variety. Initially with the idea of making trams. Now trams seem to be included with urban light and heavy rail such as the DLR, Underground, Tyneside Metro etc. Historically I also discovered the long gone Liverpool Overhead Railway. Obviously not catered for by the trade to any serious degree. So at present I am producing the bodies for a sort of updated version of the Liverpool overhead. They were three car units the centre car being shorter than the two outer. I think because it was the maximum that would extend the original two car sets. On the original this centre car was not powered. However the short wheel base means that bo-bo chassis from old diesel locos, and especially old Underground Ernie are just about the right scale size. For ease of production my first effort uses cars all of the same length, short. Chassis is from and old Jouef diesel loco. I have five of these. Two bought with their original bodies for £15 and three, without bodies acquired for £5 for the three. So 5 three car sets means 15 cars. So you can see why I am into production lines rather than scenery. The avatar is an early effort of a tram body. Windows are OHP acetate of which I have plenty of from before I retired. It is a plot and cut rather than print and cut model. I think I might have posted some others into the gallery as well. By the way I am not adverse to buildings of the Hornby Dublo free standing variety and hope to use the cutter along with a jig saw to produce some replica style buildings. David

Direct dxf to SSD3 today with no dimensional problems. using coloured card so plotted out lines before cutting. I bough some of the silhouette pens and some adaptors for normal pens. I am not impressed with the silhouette, but I am with the adapters. I bought some really cheap metal tube tipped pens to try out the adapter and they work perfectly. In fact most pens I have tried plot better than the ones supposedly made for the machine. Decided that the best way to use the svg files is to reduce them by 0.9375 before sending to SSD3. When arriving at SSD3 they return to the correct size!!! DrawPlus only permits 94% but the result was near enough. Next time i will reduce the CAD image before sending it to DrawPlus and see what happens. David