...Speaking of pretty things like that Rivarossi, I'm sure we all must have all noticed the Barret cattle trailers in the September MR "Hobbyshop Window." I know that they don't quite ride on rails, but jeez, those things were nice! It's amazing how much better something looks when the detail is that indepth--notice you could see right through the walls to the other side! You could actually put some cows in there! Now just imagine if we could all have etched brass auto-racks that looked like that! The Walthers ones are nice, but you can't quite see THROUGH them, like on the real ones. There are so many things that could make models better, one of the greater things is being able to have that see-through, transparent, delicateness. Like when you can see the the blades on a diesels cooling fans(image them being able to spin, too!), or the interior of a dining car(complete with silverware)or a tunnel motor that you can see right through the radiator grills!!! Oh, just thought I'd share my thoughts--that damned trailer blew my socks off-- Derek
Acid etching has been around a long time. All you have to do is prepare a master at 5x over size, and take it to a PCB maker. You will have to pay for a full mat, so you can group several masters photographically all over the brass sheet. You only have to allow .020 between parts for separation. When the parts become separated, they wash them, with a soda solution to kill residual acid, rinse, then your parts are either tumbled, or put into a vibratory bin for deburring which removes the ultra sharp edges, then if you want a shiney surface, they can nickle plate your parts. I have included many valve gear parts along the edges of PCB's, then had the copper parts nickle plated. It can be done at home, but is dangerous, so not reccommended. It isn't that expensive, especially if you work for a company that does that sort of work. I just used their scrap, see?
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Derek: [QBNow just imagine if we could all have etched brass auto-racks that looked like that! The Walthers ones are nice, but you can't quite see THROUGH them, like on the real ones. Derek [/QB]<hr></blockquote> We won't have to imagine much longer...I can hardly wait! http://www.planomodelproducts.com/frames.html
