Tucker Bro's Machine Shop - Starting Something New


Odd question: do you buy fresh herbs from your grocery store? They usually come in a clear, clam-shell like container. I've used the material for windows in the past.
Not odd at all. And I've been trying to figure out what I could buy that would be in a nice thin plastic box. I do need some fresh rosemary, so there ya go! Thanks!
 
Wow I’ve tried that before and it looked no where near as good, two thumbs up!
Thanks. I was surprised how well it turned out.

The original image was only 518x1000 pixels at 72 dpi.

The process I used was to import the image into Gimp (free Photoshop) and then resize it, keeping the original size, but up sample it to 600 dpi. Then I resized it to the width I wanted (3/16") and printed it on photo paper. I think the key to making it look so good is to up sample it and print it at 600 dpi. You can get away with that if you know you are going to shrink the image a lot. The final image is only 112 x 223 pixels.
 
Spent a little time on this one today. I got some glazing in the windows. It will do, but it's not the best job. It's hard to glaze windows that will be seen from both sides.

Anyway, got that done and then glued up the building. We'll see how well the glue holds.


Next is scribing and cutting the floor, then painting it. I can also start working on the roof while the floor is drying.
 
Well that was disappointing but not unexpected. I had glued the walls together with gap-filling CA but when I picked it up to get ready to cut the flooring it fell apart. I don't know what it is, but my experience with CA has always been hit and miss. Sometimes it never hardens, sometimes it instantly glues my fingers to the part.

Anyway, just glued it up for round two with some five minute epoxy. Hopefully I can move on to the next step in a bit.
 
The epoxy seems to have done the trick, it's staying together. So I moved on. I cut out the floor and stained it. After that I hit it with some black powdered pigment.


Next I faffed around with the roof for a while, but I wasn't happy with how it was going, so I decided to move on to something else. I want to install lights so I noodled around a little with how that might work and decided that I'd glue in a beam to attach them to.


I'm going to glue two small warm white LEDs to the bottom of the beam and run the wires down the corner of the building. They should be pretty well hidden. I think I've run out of brain for the evening though, so I'm not going to attempt to solder the leads right now.

I cut a piece of .040" styrene to make a base for the model and glued the floor to it. I'll hit the floor and the styrene with some dull cote tomorrow to seal up the pigment and then paint the styrene with the tan latex I'm using everywhere else and eventually add some dirt, grass and detritus.

After I let the floor glue dry a bit I thought it would be fun to lay out the tools on the interior to see how it looks.

Top view


Looking in the doors


That's it for tonight.
 
Just so you don't think I slacked off all weekend... Though I didn't do much modeling.

Yesterday I soldered the two LEDs together and then glued them onto the beam.


Today I'll route the wires down the corner of the building and glue them in place. Waiting for the glue to dry is the worst part. :)
 
Glued down the wires at lunch today, and after work I soldered on some leads and a plug. Drilled a hole in the styrene base I'm mounting this to and then went ahead and glued down most of the interior details.


I also cut the roof panels out of some black styrene and hit the underside with primer. I'll let that dry for a while and then paint the underside edges. I think a grey to look like weathered wood.

I need to decide on a roof material. I might just go with roll shingles because it's easy, but I don't know yet. I have a couple other buildings with corrugated sheet metal roofing, so I think something different than that. We'll see.
 
Glued down the wires at lunch today, and after work I soldered on some leads and a plug. Drilled a hole in the styrene base I'm mounting this to and then went ahead and glued down most of the interior details.


I also cut the roof panels out of some black styrene and hit the underside with primer. I'll let that dry for a while and then paint the underside edges. I think a grey to look like weathered wood.

I need to decide on a roof material. I might just go with roll shingles because it's easy, but I don't know yet. I have a couple other buildings with corrugated sheet metal roofing, so I think something different than that. We'll see.


for windows I have always heard that micro scope cover glass worked pretty well. I have yet to try them . They're cheap like 2-3 cents a piece and .17mm , .007" thick.

Also 1000 grit sandpaper makes a decent asphalt shingle or roll roofing or black thick paper for tar paper roof.
 
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for windows I have always heard that micro scope cover glass worked pretty well. I have yet to try them . They're cheap like 2-3 cents a piece and .17mm , .007" thick.

Also 1000 grit sandpaper makes a decent asphalt shingle or roll roofing or black thick paper for tar paper roof.
I have some .015" clear styrene now, the issue is really cutting them to fit and making them look good from both sides. I might knock out some of them later and replace them with KristalKlear (assuming they still make that.)

I've done the sandpaper asphalt roof on a different building. It turned out pretty well, I might do it again.
 
Well, minor setback tonight. I got half the roof glued on, and also glued the building to the base. Then after the glue dried for some reason I lifted up on the building but managed to hold down the base and this happened.


Peeled the latex right off the base. So.

I didn't prime the styrene last time, so I found a new scrap that will do, sanded it with some 220 grit and then primed it. Tomorrow I'll glue down the floor again and paint the rest with the tan latex. Hopefully it will stick better.

Oh well. It's a learning experience. :)
 



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