LASER CUT 50'/60' ERA CAFE' - (ALTERNATE TITLE) - WHY DOES ROBERT RAY GET TO HAVE ALL THE FUN?

Thanks Scott / Rob. But I tell you, this interior was a time consuming animal

Many things to consider, and a few oversights that turned around to bite me. For example, the ceiling is slanted a few degrees from the front to the back for water runoff. That necessitate the interior walls also have to be cut with the same angle. Unfortunately, I overlooked that and therefore had to tape over the tops of the back rooms of the café to prevent light bleed out. You don’t notice the .05MM gap between the upper edge of the wall and ceiling, but it’s a mistake I will not make it again.

I’ll post some pics of the lit interior and the roof on shortly. Just trying to get the lighting right for the pics.

 

Wow! What a inspiration! Your walls are made in three layers. So you won´t have problems with shining through lights at night, which occurs with these very thin laser cut walls quite often , even if you are painting the inside several times. The interior is marvalous!

 

Thanks Texrail. Actually, it’s only two walls but that was out of necessity. In order make the aluminum window frame look believable, as they are normally set back from the main wall, i had to use a second wall panel to duplicate that. I tried a single panel and using the laser to cut the window frame, but it just did not have the realistic effect I desired. Two walls was the only option.

Also, light bleed through has not been a problem if you are using dark brown laserboard. Under the walls and around the edges is where I generally get light bleed through.

This little café would qualify for a Texas-based layout due to the fact that it’s actually located in New Mexico. Plus it’s “friendly western” interior theme and Steaks and Mexican Food on the menu!!! It certainly exemplifies the Southwest in the 1960’s.

 

I will preface this next post by saying that I am still learning how to properly install lights in buildings, and I am still making mistakes through experimentation. Light bleed-through is the biggest challenge, and the second is learning to mute the lights so they don’t have an overpowering affect. Two lessons learned yet again in this cafe’ build.

My initial concept (if you scroll up) was to have drop down hooded lights over each booth at the front of the cafe’, using fiber optic cables. I abandoned that debacle and should’ve listened to Rob Ray earlier, who suggested I simply go with 0402 LEDs. Fiber, optic cables do not like to be bent too many times. OK lesson learned and YES, fiber optic cables do have their use in specific applications and locations as you will soon see.

So in the pictures below, this is what I came up with. I used 1/8” Evergreen plastic tube and hand drilled with a pin vice approximately eight holes around the circumference. I tried to keep the holes as lined up as possible. I inserted one fiber optic strand completely through the tubing to the other side and then the rest were pushed in as far as they could go. Everything was glued in using CA glue, and then trimmed. YES, I did employ fiber optic cable for this, but there was no bending required in the process. Next I painted the white tube portion using to TAMIYAS clear turn signal signal amber paint.

Yes, these look like some kind of sea urchin, but they’re actually going to be dining room lights hanging over the dining room.

There was also one small light needed to hang over the cash register station. To do that I used a smaller 3/32 tube, and inserted, a piece of fiber optic side lit cable that Evans LED sells. Next I covered this tiny assembly with aluminum tape and punched a bunch of holes in it with a needle to give it that star light affect that was common of fixtures in the 1950s and 1960s. I also painted the tip end with the same clear turn signal amber paint.


In the next photo below, an 0402 LED was inserted through the back end of the light. The camera does not do the overall assembly justice. It has a nice yellow glow about it, yet the fiber optic ends glow white like little lamps. Also light shines through the hole on the bottom. A rather cool effect.

And lastly, here are the assemblies inserted into the ceiling prior to roof and ceiling install.

 

Well it’s the start of a Saturday evening in Vaughn, New Mexico (circa 1964) and the locals are making their way to a handful of restaurants in the area for an evening meal, or “date night” for a lucky few. A local trucker is wrapping up the day and stopping in for an enchilada plate with all the “fixens”….

 

…..and as the sun fades away into the distant Western horizon, the cafe’ lights take on a distinctive amber glow as only they could in what is now a by-gone era.

 

Thanks Mike!!! Oh and those figure walking in are only 6MM tall — you know Z-scale….LOL. I should’ve probably staged a dime or 9 V battery somewhere in the photo at least once.

 

Wow! That cafe is so realistic! The brick work is just perfect! Too cool!

 

Lance,
Nice pictures! I like the couple walking in.
The correct era vehicles really help.

Scott

 

Thanks Joe. It was a fun little project, although not finished either. I still have a few things that need to be added such as the rooftop AC unit, which was an old evap cooler, and the road sign. If you refer back to the original pic on the first posting you’ll see what I mean. More to come on that…

Thanks Scott, and I think the couple walking in add a degree of believability to the entire building. Plus the era specific cars as you well noted. And as you can see they are unpainted. So many projects, so little time.

 

Spectacular work Lance! Some very creative scratch building methods on the booth tables, those really look great. Really nice.

I am also very impressed with the detail of 3D printed cars. Did you print those yourself? If so what printer and software did you use?

 

Thanks Gen --- As for the 3D printed vehicles, those are the work of the venerable Carlos Pinto out of Portugal. You can access his products via Ebay. Search Z-scale semi trucks and you'll find all sorts of offerings from him and another seller kw_k100e --- who is a member of this forum. There is some offerings from a vendor called Outland (outlandish) but the quality is nill compared to the two I have recommended.

 

Hey Lance,

Thanks for the plug (kw_100e). I have nothing against Outland except most of the models don't seem to be 1:220. Once I learned 3D printing I decided I didn't feel the need to purchase their items. I'm looking forward to following your 3D printer experiments! Never hesitate to ask for advice.

Steve W

 

Nice job!

 

As promised, I am circling back with results of my 3D printing adventures, and all I can say is WOW!!!! But for multiple reasons. 1) the technology is breathtaking, 2) the learning curve on designing parts is maddening, 3) but the results are stunning.

Obviously for the café to be complete, it still needed two things, which was the street sign and the evap cooler for the roof. I created both using my 3-D printer with the sign frame being my first effort. Here are some pics of what I created and the end result:

This is a tight shot of a frame still sitting on the 3D printer plate. Not sure how many I’d need for experimentation, thus I printed a bunch. Cracked a few taking them off the plate as well - just a learning curve.

Taking a page from Rob Ray’s tricks by printing the actual signs on standard white paper, then applied clear Scotch tape over them. I tried the glossy finish first, but the sheen revealed inconsistencies when lit. I opted for “invisible” Scotch on the final and it looked much more realistic.



Note the vintage American Express signs in this pic. The original cafe sign had a two sided one affixed to it, so it was a must have. These were simply made on a standard ink printer, cover with glossy Scotch tape. They are 3MM tall by the way.

The sign pole needed a base, and if you refer to the first post, there’s actually a pic original one on the second post card.
I used my standard laser cutter and whipped one out, with the brick color and size mimicking what was on the front of the cafe’.

Now an interesting occurrence took place as well with the sign frame. Although using gray resin, the frame was thin enough that when painted with red enamel, the LED light penetrated it, giving it an opaque effect. Although this not the way I wanted final sign to look, my wife concurred that it looked much better with this effect than without. You’ll see this in the next post.

 

Here’s the completed sign tentatively installed. Although it’s mounted a bit close to the cafe’ for the mock up pictures, I wanted to demonstrate the lighting essence of it.

 

Really outstanding!

 

That’s so sweet!!

 

Turned out AWESOME!!