I love scratch building, except for the most tedious part- cutting everything out of styrene. Anyone who's ever cut window after window out of a sheet of styrene knows exactly what I'm talking about! It's especially 'painful' in Z scale, since everything is so small.
So, I decided to 'cheat'. I have been experimenting with using a silhouette cameo to do the cutting for me!
I made a quick, simple house using AutoCad, then cut it out to test things. This trial is just cardstock-
It did a GREAT job, so next I tried a more complicated design using Styrene sheet (.020)-
It's kind of hard to see, but this is right off the cutter. The machine scribed siding lines and ridges in the metal roof, then did all the cutting, including some INCREDIBLY small details. It went together pretty well-
With 0.020" styrene, you still have to use a knife to do a little cutting here and there to release the parts- But it works pretty well. I decided to do something a little more complicated, so I drew up some plans for a diner, and cut it out of styrene. This time, I used 0.010", which is thin enough to cut all the way through-
The exterior of the diner is almost done, then it'll be time to do the interior, and paint it!
the silhouette saves me HOURS of cutting time! Once I make the drawings in AutoCad, I can cut them out of the styrene in whatever scale I want them in- And make as many as I want, too!
My wrists are already thanking me
-Andrew
So, I decided to 'cheat'. I have been experimenting with using a silhouette cameo to do the cutting for me!
I made a quick, simple house using AutoCad, then cut it out to test things. This trial is just cardstock-
It did a GREAT job, so next I tried a more complicated design using Styrene sheet (.020)-
It's kind of hard to see, but this is right off the cutter. The machine scribed siding lines and ridges in the metal roof, then did all the cutting, including some INCREDIBLY small details. It went together pretty well-
With 0.020" styrene, you still have to use a knife to do a little cutting here and there to release the parts- But it works pretty well. I decided to do something a little more complicated, so I drew up some plans for a diner, and cut it out of styrene. This time, I used 0.010", which is thin enough to cut all the way through-
The exterior of the diner is almost done, then it'll be time to do the interior, and paint it!
the silhouette saves me HOURS of cutting time! Once I make the drawings in AutoCad, I can cut them out of the styrene in whatever scale I want them in- And make as many as I want, too!
My wrists are already thanking me
-Andrew
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