Imperfection

[finescalerr]

Last month I posted a photo of one side of an On3 caboose I made from printed card. For the past couple of weeks I've slowly and meticulously been cutting and assembling printed paper detail components and I have posted this image to show the limitations of a sharp knife and steady hand.

The side wall is about 3 inches long so the 0.015-inch thick paper window and door parts are tiny and fragile. I threw away about three pieces for every one I considered usable. Each double window frame on the cupola took about 45 minutes to cut out and, despite my best efforts, none has fewer than two or three flaws.

I use surgical knife blades because they are sharper and more precise than hobby blades. Even so, they are clumsy and crude when cutting out such small parts. The width of a cut is about three scale inches wide!

If I continue work on the model I will have to discard what I have built and use either styrene or laser cut Strathmore Bristol Plate paper. Either way, I doubt I could use printed card for anything because it has a different appearance than painted card or plastic.

I like the photo-realism of printed card but I guess it just won't work for some things.

Russ

[Chuck Doan]

Still, that is some nice clean construction.

[Ray Dunakin]

I agree with Chuck. It may not be perfection but it looks pretty good to me.

[1-32]

well there you go russ.when i first saw your post i thought russ has finally flipped out and is getting into blotting paper.but no you have made something of your effort.great.the only thing that really caught my eye were the glazing bars in the door.but that is myself i go for shadow.
cheers

[Bill Gill]

I use surgical knife blades because they are sharper and more precise than hobby blades. Even so, they are clumsy and crude when cutting out such small parts.
Would a plotter cut cleanly?

If I continue work on the model I will have to discard what I have built and use either styrene or laser cut Strathmore Bristol Plate paper. Either way, I doubt I could use printed card for anything because it has a different appearance than painted card or plastic.
Could you laminate the printed card on a suitable substrate?

[finescalerr]

I've done that and it works well for larger parts. The problem is using a knife to cut the trim pieces -- doors, windows, fascia; a laser is the right tool for that job. The second problem is coloring and weathering them to match the printed paper car sides. Paint and photo inks have different refractive qualities and the effect can be a little jarring. -- Russ

[nk]

Russ that looks pretty good to me. And for small scale where the texture is less of an issue, I think its a great solution. You could probably induce a little texture with a sharpened bamboo skewer and making dents, lines, rounding edges of boards etc in the paper. I would not be complaining if I had made that.

[Design-HSB]

Russ,

perhaps could print cardboard and then cut with the laser a solution. There are lasers that can recognize passports.

If the problem is the printing ink unfortunately only conditionally long light is and then faded strongly.

[finescalerr]

I think you are right, Helmut. After I thought about my choices for a while I thought about printing "painted wood" on a sheet of card and sending that, along with CAD drawings, to a laser cutter. It would be an interesting experiment. -- Russ