Laser cut fire bodies

[Rich]

Here is a project I started on this past summer. I sent drawings for 4 different crew buggies to my laser cutter. They do a really great job, but the cabinet lines are very fine. I think I will lose them when I primer and paint. But it was an experiment. I have another sample that the panel lines are thicker and deeper. I am looking at traveling this spring to a company that builds laser cutters, and see theirs in action and use it. They are not all that cheap, so I want to be sure it will do what I want it to do. I will probably offer fire body kits later in the year. There is a learning curve with lasers. This particular body is cut from .060 styrene. There is some sanding to do on the edges, as they tend to bubble up a touch. But its a very straight cut. The windows require very little clean up. I use one of the magnetic jigs to hold the parts at a solid 90 degrees while the glue is drying. I use regular Testors tube glue for these. My experience with liquid glue is that after time, it draws the corners in and makes all the flat surfaces bow. Most fire, rescue, ambulance or in this case crew carriers are basically boxes. I have drawings on the board for a TV Satellite truck body, and a bomb squad body. There is no limit to the amount of bodies I can draw, as they are mostly boxes. Its not going to happen overnight for sure.

[Chariots of Fire]

I'm assuming these are 1/25 scale?? Also try superglue for bonding the panels. I have used it on just all of my builds and they are as straight and true today as when I put them together. Laser cutting sounds interesting for sure. I built a model ship with laser cut thin plywood sheet parts for the hull and it was very well done. Parts were easy to remove with a single edge razor blade.

[Rich]

This particular truck is 1:64 scale. I like tube glue because of the way it dries. I will reinforce the joint with super glue before I start sanding.

[Sirentoys]

I like this. I wonder if a few overlapping lines would work to create a wider gap for the doors, etc.

There are a lot of laser kits in HO scale. For holding the parts for gluing Micro Mark even has a clamp made for that.

https://www.micromark.com/Long-Right-Clamp

Jeff

[Troy]

Looks awesome...Here's an idea.