there is a certain irony to me complaining about having to spend $75 on a single prebuilt that I decided I had to have and then ten minutes after DHL driver has left I'm already hacking at it like a brisket
and no, am not doing anything crazy to this one - will of course add some stuff inside the two ground shopping levels to spruce it up someday, but for now just needed to trim the curbs so it would fit where I wanted it. Took a skoch too much off that right side (oops!) so am thinking is a great place for a rain gutter now. I mean, Gunny Highway was always saying to 'improvise, adapt, and overcome', right?
Hello payDAY, goodbye payCHECK Just sent off two big orders from oversea shops (and then two unnecessarily expensive autos I've been oogling forever but figured was just about time for someone else to buy - it's only money, eh? HAHA) If all goes as planned this will be the last of the buildings I'll be buying for my city. Still a few empty spots left, but they will be built by me, not Tomytec/Kato/Outland/Greenmax etc. Of course I'll need traffic lights, tons more autos and people, street lights, etc, and am sure the scenery details when I get there will be crazy and time consuming, but I won't have to search for days for what can fit where and redo an entire cityscape over what gravel and grass to use. Most of my original ideas are the same, but this place is going to look so different now, all because of one staircase lol Am almost happier with how it's all going to come together now than I was before the overpass kerfuffle, but WOW did that dork up my original plans. And wallet!! hahaha
Been downstairs last night and all of today fighting with my new task, and I have to admit defeat. Wood sheets = no go. Shapes fine, dries quickly, splits when you cut into it. Heating plexiglass = no go. Refuses to bend evenly all four different tries. I chalk this up to not having all the right tools and experienced technique, because the guys on YT sure make it look easy Last resort has always been bisecting a length of PVC, which would be by far the easiest for shape, but that also means I have to cut into it anywhere that I want to light behind it, and PVC isn't exactly hobby knife-able. I'm going to have to cut out sections with a hand saw, stick it with balsa for framing, sand sand sand then paint paint paint to get it to look decent. It will work, I always knew it would, but always knew this way was going to be the *most* work, too. Bleh. Also means ima need a favor from someone at work, because my table saw only has a 8.25" blade and can't cut a 4" pipe because it's cheap junk with a blade height that just barely cuts a 2x4. Good for finish work, pretty useless for most things you need a table saw for HAHAHA Back to Lowes tomorrow!
If you can rip a trough to cradle your pipe the side of a piece of 2x, or assemble a cradle from 1x or plywood, with parallel sides and open end(s), then you can attach the cradle to your miter gauge face. Clamp a stop in the miter gauge slot so the miter gauge/cradle is over the top of the blade when the miter gauge bar hits the stop. Now, clamp/screw another scrap of wood to the cradle so it acts like a length stop for the pipe you want to cut. Finally, pull the miter gauge/trough forward of the blade, insert pipe to stop, slide miter gauge forward to the stop in the slot with the saw running and cutting. Once at the stop, rotate the pipe in the trough to cut all the way around the pipe. If you need to cut lengthwise slices out of the pipe, you can use a similar cradle sled to hold the pipe steady while you cut one side of the pipe at a time, sliding sled and pipe against the rip fence. You may want leave a little pipe intact at the tail end of the cut, so the pipe does not separate completely and slide down in the trough, pinching the blade and kicking back toward you (stock pinching against the blade is the leading cause of kick-back). This technique doesn't need a big saw to cut even large diameter pipes, assuming the pipe wall is not too thick. It will work fine for PVC pipe, which cuts like butter with a sharp carbide tooth blade.
saw a video where you hot-glue gun the pipe to a piece of wood that serves as a slide, then you just center your blade, set your gate, cut it, and remove the glue with solvent, or even hair spray. Looked pretty ezpz so will try that tomorrow.
...not at all the plan when I walked in here, but have needed one for a while and was a really good price. Even though am pretty sure this is as basic as base models get, Metabo has managed to keep the Hitachi quality after the name change and this one has many good online reviews. It will see plenty of use. Won't be help much with cutting this here pipe, but -oh- the uses for everything else! Need to make an impromptu trip to Columbus for my folks so won't be able to play down in the lab this afternoon. Am sure one evening after work I'll jump back into this mess.
I see it's a 10" blade so it will just drop through that plastic pipe. The big issue will be a back support high enough. At least half the pipes diameter. Do to loss of space I just sold mine and the 10" table saw. In 2005 I had to sell the 12" blade radial arm, etc. Have fun with it.
I need to cut an 8" piece of it lengthwise, though - not a 90deg so I wouldn't try it for that anyways. I have it figured out, will just be a few days before I get the time to tinker with anything. Miter saws are just so much handier for any kind of finish work so have wanted one for a while - I only have one of those flat-blade saws and the plastic box, is such a pain. Saw binds up all the time, tends to splinter when the blade passes all the way through, etc.
I have done that with the big table saw and radial arm. Make a cradle for the pipe and clamp it to it. Then slid the cradle over or under the blade to cut half way through. One side at a time. This hold the pipe so it doesn't turn or bind. Only one side at a time and not full length. This helps keep the cut off piece more stable. I would go with a band saw to go all the way thru. They don't kick so hard. Place a wedge in after the cut to keep it open. Have fun.
I would go through all that hassle, but I have a coworker with the Kwisatz Haderach of rip saws, thing is bigger than most of our layouts with all the conveyors and handwheels and such. Totally worth the cost of a 12pk to me
Been waiting for the reserve/pre-order of the new Busch N scale Smartcars for most of the year, still has not come out yet. Just found these on Ebay and took about 13 seconds of thinking about it to hit 'buy now'. Different colors, same car. I'm perfectly ok with that!
the same shop had several different N scale BMW Isettas, but haven't seen that one in 1/160 yet. In Konagai they have fruit-shaped bus stops. Totally random and hilariously whimsical, lots of bright colors - have considered doing the same somewhere on my layout if I can find a good spot. That car would be perfect for such a scene!
I bought that same Smart car set a few years ago on a whim, just saw them at the hobby shop and just had to have one! Ridiculously small
Got the pvc cut, sectioned, and all the saw marks sanded off. Not the easiest evolution I've taken on by any stretch, but anyone who has been building things out of the air for more than a day or two and says 'at least the hard part is done' deserves whatever is coming to them lol Still an insane amount of work to do, and I don't really like that I now have 3 projects going (slowly!) at once, but I can get to work on framing this bad boy out now finally. Like I said, this solution creates the most overall work, but at least the... nope. Not saying it.
I have no fingerprints left! I super-glued my fingers together so many times trying to get all of these 3/4" long pieces of balsa to set in a manner that at least appeared straight. OYE. Still, after about 3-1/2hrs I've come up with this, and am rather pleased if am being honest! I think I may need to either plastic wood fill or bondo the sides and sand it all again, though - where the pvc and balsa allllllmost but not quite line up will really show when painted otherwise.
