I am stunned by the quality of those prints! Granted, still a pricey tool, but a tenth of what a printer with a comparable output quality would have cost a few years back!
The Three-Engine Blockade Runner Project
- Thread starter DaveG
- Start date
star-art
Sr Member
That looks amazing! What I worry about when combining acrylic and metal parts like this is the possibility the metal can expand/contract at a greater rate than the acrylic and cause it to crack (this has happened to me before). I've tried to find different ways to create a sort of "buffer" zone to allow for expansion and contraction of the metal relative to the acrylic.
That's a valid point but I'm not all that concerned about differential expansion problems. That area gets covered by large tubes and there will a fair amount of styrene plating as well. I seriously doubt there would ever be a catastrophic failure. Worse case, maybe a crack or two in the tube might be visible. Battle damage!
yes. I'm blown away by the quality of the prints at what works out to about 1/8 the cost of Shapeway's highest detail plastic. What sold me was seeing Jason Eaton's stunning concept Y Wing parts in person last year.
Stunning prints. Played with the Form2 a bit at CES (they had a whole wall of them... wanted to just carry one off, lol). Starting to see these are pretty darn worth it, I think, the more and more I see actual prints from folks using them. That's a pretty good savings rate, too. Project looks awesome!
This is a great picture because of what it represents. True multi-tech/multi-media 21st Century modelmaking! A combination of CNC cut acrylic, 3D printing and styrene panels cut with a Silhouette Cameo. And later there will be the addition of some resin castings of vintage kit parts. The best of all worlds!
Right on! That's the way it should be done! Using the right technique/tool for the each part.
Flixen
Well-Known Member
Love the use of the "universal greeblie" three times on the lower section from the Anzio Annie that was used liberally "like pepper" on the ILM models.
Dave, do you have a recommendation between Silhouette Cameo vs the Cricut machine? Cameo looks cheaper, but also looks "flimsier" while Cricut says it can handle heavier/thicker card/stock materials -- I'm asking because the ONLY use I would put either one to is the same as you've shown - the cutting of template pieces no thicker than .030" styrene plating. Are you happy with the Cameo? Or do you wish you'd splurged and gotten the Cricut? I'm on the cusp of one or the other, and would value your suggestion or your overall review of the Cameo's strengths and weaknesses.
Dave, do you have a recommendation between Silhouette Cameo vs the Cricut machine? Cameo looks cheaper, but also looks "flimsier" while Cricut says it can handle heavier/thicker card/stock materials -- I'm asking because the ONLY use I would put either one to is the same as you've shown - the cutting of template pieces no thicker than .030" styrene plating. Are you happy with the Cameo? Or do you wish you'd splurged and gotten the Cricut? I'm on the cusp of one or the other, and would value your suggestion or your overall review of the Cameo's strengths and weaknesses.
You mean the "Universal Nernie?" 
I've only been working with the Cameo for a little while now and have not really put it through it's paces. Also I do not have any hands-on experience with the Cricut so I can't speak to that. Looking at the specs, neither machine is going to cut all the way through .030" styrene. It's not a function of cutting range, on both the range is adequate, it's knife pressure, and both are similar in that spec.The machine basically scores the material and then you go back over with a razor and snap. That was expected. Styrene is a really dense material. I know from reading some of the model railroading forums the guys are having good success cutting all the way through .010 and .020 styrene. I have a friend who has the Cameo and loved it. And the price difference is a big factor, the Cricut being almost twice as much money. I did find a couple of comparison videos on YouTube between the two machines and they tended to lean slightly to the Cameo, though they were not cutting styrene and the differences were pretty minor. It's also not entirely clear if the Cricut can be used without paying a yearly subscription fee for their cloud based access, but I could be wrong there.
So far I am happy with the Cameo.
Graphtec (who make professional vinyl cutters) make a cutting knife that works in the Cameo and I've gotten better results, deeper cuts, using that.
With either machine you will need to be able to draw vector artwork using a CAD or graphics program. I use Rhino and Adobe Illustrator.
I've only been working with the Cameo for a little while now and have not really put it through it's paces. Also I do not have any hands-on experience with the Cricut so I can't speak to that. Looking at the specs, neither machine is going to cut all the way through .030" styrene. It's not a function of cutting range, on both the range is adequate, it's knife pressure, and both are similar in that spec.The machine basically scores the material and then you go back over with a razor and snap. That was expected. Styrene is a really dense material. I know from reading some of the model railroading forums the guys are having good success cutting all the way through .010 and .020 styrene. I have a friend who has the Cameo and loved it. And the price difference is a big factor, the Cricut being almost twice as much money. I did find a couple of comparison videos on YouTube between the two machines and they tended to lean slightly to the Cameo, though they were not cutting styrene and the differences were pretty minor. It's also not entirely clear if the Cricut can be used without paying a yearly subscription fee for their cloud based access, but I could be wrong there.
So far I am happy with the Cameo.
Graphtec (who make professional vinyl cutters) make a cutting knife that works in the Cameo and I've gotten better results, deeper cuts, using that.
With either machine you will need to be able to draw vector artwork using a CAD or graphics program. I use Rhino and Adobe Illustrator.
TazMan2000
Master Member
You can import bitmap drawings (at least for the Cameo) and use the trace feature, but the software is interpreting the chunkiness of the curves, so you better use a higher resolution bitmap. Vector is better.
TazMan2000
TazMan2000
yes, if you're going to do any kind of precision cutting, especially that will need to fit up against other parts, you'll need to use a CAD or other 2d drawing program. Keep in mind that these machines are really intended for "crafters" and precision modelmaking is stretching their capabilities a bit. But that said, it's a nice tool to have. I am also looking forward to using them to cut paint stencils.
monsterpartyhat
Sr Member
You can use it to cut anything you create without any subscription - the subscription is just for a lot of pre-supplied artwork, most of which looks like you'd expect to find all over Etsy.... I build my patterns in SketchUp and export directly to SVG from there, which can be imported directly into Cricut's software.
Really nice work on this model! I love seeing the combination of techniques you're using here.
