In 4+ years I have been in the hobby I have accumulated quite impressive number of kits. I have built some 30+. I surprised myself when I counted them all. It isn't the only thing I do, i.e. collect and build kits. I also collect reference material of various structures I hope one day to scratchbuild. The material consists of photos, plans from magazines, drawings from Library of Congress, etc. Once in awhile I get bit by the bug to do scratchbuilding project. I have started few of those and all of them are based on photos. I usually hit a roadblock when I need to figure the dimensions. Many of the structures are monster sized in HO scale. They need to be selectively compressed. I am not quite certain what is the best way to do it and this is where my interest vanishes. Because of that I am trying different approach this time around. I am using plans drawn by E.L.Moore and published in MRR. The dimensions have been figured out already. All I need to do is to finely tune up everything. I may add, remove or change features as I go to make the structure more interesting, to add a little more character.
I am using CAD software to do this. TurboCAD in particular. The maker of it used to sell outdated versions for very low price. They even used to offer one extremely outdated for free. It was limited to 2D. Not like I do much of 3D though. Actually I do non of it. Anyway, I know how to use TurboCAD and it fits my needs. One feature in particular I like is ability to load a picture and draw over it. The neat thing is that it loads the pictures in real size. That eliminates a need for measuring tools and is more accurate. I can scan some scale windows, load pictures, trace over openings and create templates for cutting window glass. Or use it for some other purpose.
So far I have traced the plans and have created three sided drawing. Next step would be to match all dimensions, make changes to the design if desired, and proceed to engineering part.
No comments:
Post a Comment