Kind words everyone
I really appreciate it and will definitely get back on the horse and give this another shot.
The coin door looks fine.... I bet it took ages to make! I wasn't too sure how exactly you were going to make the coin door but of course now we can all see. What are the dimensions of the door? It looks really small on your fingers there. If it really is as small as I think it might be then you can ignore my suggestion below as it might not be practical.....
I do have an idea to make the same coin door if I was gonna do the same thing. I'd take some 2mm aluminium sheet and drill holes where the curved indents are. Then I'd cut out the straight parts and file smooth. Time consuming yeah. Then stick that when it's finished onto a flat piece of 1mm perspex. Spray black and then add the fake hinges.
It's just an idea I thought of. I've tried carving stuff before and to be honest I'm really bad at it. I like to put smaller pieces together to make up a larger piece.
Gotta say that artwork looks really good. Especially the sideart!
This is gonna be one unique little cab when it's done.
I have about 4 hours in this latest version. The coin door is roughly 88mm by 30mm, which is fairly close to the 1:6 scale I'm working with. I could simplify the design a bit and get rid of most of my problem but I think this style of door is so much more visually interesting.
Your idea is pretty much right on the money, I'm going to hand cut it out of aluminum but pre-drill all the corners like you said so they're uniform. Then it shouldn't be too much to just stay on line with the jeweler's saw. Once I get it all sanded up I'll probably mount on Aluminum also with some JB weld and may even bevel the edges with the sculpy again, just more better this time. As for the coin drops I'll try to do those out of metal as well and cut in the slot and area for the insert. I don't think I'll get so far as to light them but who knows, I'll shoot for the moon and try to hit not half bad.
Thats more or less how I created my last batch of mini coin doors. Basically I got a 1 mm thick sheet of flat smooth plastic and cut the pattern out of it. Then added the other bits on top. You get a very smooth sharp finish without the woodgrain or rough crooked edges you get from using wood. Once I was happy with it I then made a mould using silicone moulding material.
Technically you can also use the moulding clay to make the coin door mould , but you need to have an artists touch for that.
I took a molding (one thing I actually know how to do) but it's garbage in garbage out right now. I can make exact copies of my current crappy coin door.
I know it's not awful but I think my next try will be a marked improvement.
You need a milling machine. I'm sure you could make some really kick ass mini coin doors on it.
Brother don't I know it. I would be milling all my own mini yoke pieces as well, and the shroud and... well the whole thing would be aluminum.
What about an engraver for the straight edges, can you run use one with a ruler?.
Or you can get those mini dremel routers, I have not used either personally but keep lusting after the dremel.
Looking excellent by the way.
I have the dremel router attachment but was getting a chewy line for some reason, I think a lot of it has to do with the scale and material, once I got to a larger scale everything smooths out.
Man! That cab looks sweet!
I would have layered 2 sheets is styrene to make the coin door
Styrene is nice you can cut it with an xacto knife then sand it
Looks pretty sweet they way you did it though
What kind of buttons did you use there?
The buttons were a $3 radio shack find, tucked away in the momentary pb drawer. They come in a two pack of one red and one black so that worked out really well for me. I haven't wired them up yet for testing but they seem nice and springy so they should work really well for this application.
Amazing work dude!
A scale stormtrooper figure standing next to that would look sweet!
Not that you have a thing for stormtroopers or anything...
Already been cruising ebay for a 1:6 character to play the cab when I'm not
Just can't decide who should be at the helm, Luke is a natural choice but there is irony in having Vader or a Tie Pilot rocking the controls as well.