Hi Dawn Is this not a duplicate of an earlier post https://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/index.php?threads/guide-to-laser-cut-buildings-pros-and-cons.6514/ I can delete this post to avoid confussion Paul
I will have to question the weight difference between laser cut wood and plastic (styrene)...? I do a lot of scratch building, in both heavy card and styrene and I can say there is very little difference in weight. In fact, I would say styrene is much lighter in weight. Also the beauty of styrene is that you don't end up with those horrible gaps were the laser cut kits piece together. Yes, you can go around with filler and patch that up, but only if you don't paint the model parts first... Styrene is far more versatile than laser cut wood. I find that with the laser cut kits I have used, I have had to go over the model and add styrene details that are not present in a laser cut kit, such as down spouts, gutters, window detail and more. In my view, laser cut kits have their place, but they also need a lot more work to bring them up to exhibition standards. Cheers, Gary.
I like laser cut kits, have used quite a few on my layout. Not sure what you mean by horrible gaps Garry. Perhaps it depends on they make of kit. Brian
Most of my buildings are made from plastics, mainly kit bashed, a few items scratchbuilt, I find that is my preferred construction medium in 4mm scale, I don't really get on with card, printed paper overlays or laser cut building kits. Some laser cut kits are finely made but some are just very crude, e.g. my low relief warehouse frontages, wood grain is fine for a timber building but for a brick, stone or concrete building it is not a good starting point. But to each their own preferences Jim
It's interesting actually because of the accuracy you can achieve with a Laser cutter. Possibly the drawing that the machine worked off was not up to scratch. I've seen a video produced by Julian at Station Road, where he designed and built a curved multi storey warehouse. The drawing was sent to his laser cutter and produced the parts from laser board, like grey card It went together beautifully So the building you've shown,in my opinion, has design faults. Gormo
Noted, I had these problems with my warehouse frontage buildings too, hence I replaced the original roof panels with printed sheet covered card supported by foam board. The corner interlocking I was able to improve on partially because the corners of the walls were stone blocks so the interlocking teeth were 'paint tweaked' as blocks, can't remember their technical term off hand. The other issue I had was the laser cut ends are typically black from burnt resin which was difficult to disguise and blend without a thick primer, it was too much to sand off. So, not a great fan of laser cut, certainly not for non-timber structures in 4mm scale. Jim
Rather fiddly though, I can't do that in 4mm scale any more, so I just go for as narrow a gap as I can see with glasses, I don't notice it after a week or so, only in my middle age did I say "well I can't see it but I know it's there", older and wiser, well older anyway, "if I can't see it without an eyeglass don't waste time doing it" Jim
Bit late for me Brian, although 7mm really appeals, I'm heavily commited now, trouble is for me it was a trade off when my layout was started some 15 years ago, I preferred a smaller scale so I could run longer trains, I also had Dublo and British Trix bought in the 70's I wanted to run. No going back now, I just reduce the detail of what I build now, it's bad enough when I only notice some detail on new rtr stock when something makes a cracking sound. Or the bits found lying between the rails after a running session that fell off which get added to my lost and found box in a hope to reunite them with their owner someday Jim
I thought it was a bit late to change for me as well. I had over 100 locos and countless amounts of rolling stock but got up one morning and thought I’m going to go for it. 2 locos and half a dozen wagons was the plan. 12 locos and 49 wagons later things didn’t go as planned. 75 in June so perhaps it is time to change to G scale.
Yes, my planning went wrong too, it went from enough Dublo/Trix stock to populate the railway to the reverse, I got seduced by modern stock and now the railway is a display for a sample of my stock of all ages, nevermind I only bought two second hand locos early last year, and none so far this year so I may be getting a grip at last Jim
Then again, the gaps are there because the individual parts don't marry up properly to one another... If the model suppliers wanted to provide a good kit, they should make sure it has all the necessary items in it to provide for a decent kit. This here is just a shell that needs a lot more attention. Imagine buying a locomotive that didn't have hand rails, bells, rivets, cab details and big gaps between the fitted parts. You simply wouldn't buy it ! Hence why I wrote in my very first reply in this thread.., "I find that with the laser cut kits I have used, I have had to go over the model and add styrene details that are not present in a laser cut kit, such as down spouts, gutters, window detail and more." Cheers, Gary.
Perhaps the 6' rule should apply... I know that with your scratch built models, you don't leave big gaps in the structures. It all fits very well, seamless. The way models should be constructed ! Cheers, Gary.
The 'three foot rule' is regarded as the average distance you are viewing the model, from eye level to track level.... Cheers, Gary.