artizen

Still thinking of something appropriately witty and nonsensical to stay about the photo of you with all the safety clutter on!

10mm/s is slow but I hope to be doing mostly kits using 3mm MDF etc so 60W is feasible. I have had quotes from a cutter in Sydney for some garden scale carriages at only $45 for two kits (six sheets of 300x450mm each) which I consider remarkably cheap and almost too good to be true. I need to redraw the plans before I commit and it will be a good learning exercise to see what I get back. If the quality is good and the cutter is happy to do retail quantities it might be easier and cheaper to go that way instead. But nothing beats having your own tools to do the job - that way you can experiment and learn.

OK - the linked laser isn't as big as I thought. I have been looking at 600x900mm lasers in the 40W to 80W range and I seem to be able to get one from China for around $5000 (including exchange rate differences, 10% GST, customs duties, etc) landed here in Australia. Provided I have the workload to justify the cost, it is a feasible business plan at this moment (spending some of my inheritance money). Good to see that you are getting very high standard results from your machine which is all good news for my plans for the future!

I have been looking at buying my own laser cutter. This project just doesn't help at all!!!! I need one right away!!!!!! I particularly like the automatic closing doors on the cassettes and the fact the fiddle yard is a traverser at right angles. Lots of serious thinking going into this design. Always good to see an update. I think you do need sides on the cassettes as the length can end up twisting slightly when handling although 600mm is surprisingly short for stock storage?

Clouds like in the first shot for me, please.

You are pushing ahead much faster than I seem to be. I shall have to extract digit and get more work done on one of the three projects currently cluttering up the garage!

The mag should be in the Australian newsagents about January then!

Now you have opened a can of worms with video. It makes the layout look spectacular. You really do need to go and enjoy your layout of a lifetime.

Good to hear. If your world has clouds in it, better to see them from above!

Gordon - twelve minutes is OK by me. I would make one suggestion though - can you use backgrounds that incorporate some sign of life such as buildings low on the horizon instead of sky right down to the model each time? It would help place the location better? Not trying to give you more work at all!

I'm still reading this thread! Keep up the good work Gordon.

You deserve to be on Buntbahn.de! Here is some inspiration - http://www.buntbahn.de/modellbau/viewtopic.php?t=6691&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=120

I spent $70 for two sheets of 12mm plywood cut to 1190x590mm (total eight panels). I need 10 panels. If I go with the foam sandwich the cost is $21 per 25mm sheet (provides two panels). 3mm plywood would work out at around $22 per sheet (four panels). So I would need five sheets of 3mm plywood and five sheets of foam. Total over $200 v $70. So OK only three times the cost but at this point the 12mm plywood exists here in the garage so it will get used regardless. I expect it to be troublesome though and if finances allow, and the concept of the CKD shop I am building for shows actually works, then I will reconsider for next year's round of shows which will start around April (end of summer). Before then I would really like to incorporate a flat screen TV and overhead LED lighting. I am willing to trial the sandwich method on the next railway layout though. My current foam base with timber underneath, weighs less than 2.5kg for a module of 1200x600mm. I would imagine the ply/foam/ply sandwich would be much stronger, allow wiring through it and be less susceptible to damage as I am finding the current boards get damaged when leaned against things or something falls on the foam. Even so, I will have to cover the top surface with cardboard as it can be glued to the foam with PVA. Then I can glue scenery formers from rigid PVC sheet which needs superglue. Interesting times!!!

I saw you with a cardboard tube but those towers look suspiciously like 90mm stormwater pipe!!!! Looking good.

Getting back to the idea of a piece of foam laminated both sides with thin ply............................ I purchased 12mm plywood yesterday for bench tops but they already have a slight wave in them ---- so I thought about what set this whole thread off and I am now contemplating using foam with ply as a bench top as the weight of any object placed on it is minimal, only big bruisers at shows knocking it would cause damage. Food for thought but damaging to the wallet --- about four times the cost of 12mm ply and I need 10.

Dave Krakow at VectorCut will also cut letters to your design if the paper cutter idea doesn't work out - http://www.vectorcut.com/letters.htm

Are the cutting machines capable of doing such small letters though? If so, it would open up a world of opportunities for you.

I lurk on Buntbahn regularly for inspiration but had not seen that thread. Thanks for posting the link!

Nothing beats well-made, hand built track!!!!!

So there was really a Hobo Railroad?

I'm aiming at light at strong as you are but in a layout that is capable of hitting the exhibition circuit. Luckily, over here, the standards aren't as high as the UK, so my bodgit style of modelling will get by!!!!! I build my modules at a standard 1200x600mm dimension as that fits with the building industry for timber, plywood, extruded stuff, etc. Plus I have a friendly local plywood supplier who cuts sheets to accurate dimensions on request (and no extra charge on the invoice either). As my boards rest on a separate support structure, they don't have to be uber strong - only strong enough to withstand handling and storage under the house. In other words, I like what you are doing and will be copying it!

Getting back to the cobbles - I think the present colouration of the stones is too yellow. Maybe more greys and odd stones picked out with other colours as per the photo of the real thing? Plenty of room between the stones on a Redutex sheet for moss anyway!

I would need to take out a mortgage to afford Kappa board over here. That is why extruded polystyrene sheet was the answer. A better result would have been to skin both sides of the extruded polystyrene with something rigid like 3mm ply instead of building a wooden frame underneath. I have two boards built but no track glued down yet so I might just redesign them to a sandwich which would make their placement on the trestle boards much easier as well. I like experimenting with ideas like this and then lifting a fairly large baseboard with just one finger (really for the reaction from the older modellers in the room). I might also try the standing on it test - good for casual conversation around the table later!

Cool - the sandwich concept really works well. I have gone too far with the boards for my current layout but I am adding a cardboard/PVC sheet over the top so I can lay track and have something to lock the scenery down onto. Your idea is better as it does away with the wooden frame altogether (almost the same cost as the polystyrene for each board). The only down side I can see over here is the 25mm sheet is around $11 but the 50mm sheet is of course twice that price but the timber costs are around $9 (fixed cost) for each module. That makes each of my modules using 25mm sheet worth around $20 + fixings and the 50mm bases worth around $22 + plywood. I would imagine the sandwich you are using is actually even stronger than even a 50mm sheet on a timber frame as my sheet is totally unsupported in the centre until you cover it with something. Definitely food for thought here. (And as for the tennis shot, I had that as a poster in the 70s. Not sure where it is now...)