LASER CUT 50'/60' ERA CAFE' - (ALTERNATE TITLE) - WHY DOES ROBERT RAY GET TO HAVE ALL THE FUN?

Zscaleplanet Feb 22, 2023

  1. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    Starting a separate thread on this one -as I figure this project will be a few weeks in the making, and I will be posting updates with my progress.

    As for the title - I do not have the million dollar laser cutter Robert has, I'm not retired yet with endless time on my hands like Robert does, I do not have the previous structure creation experience Robert has, and I am not as good looking as Robert (sounds like a commercial for Dos Equis beer - "stay thirsty my friends...". :rolleyes: But why should we stand idly by watching Robert have all the fun -- come on people, get busy with them projects!!!:D

    Now in lieu of Robert himself mentioning on the other post that we Z-scalers are not really seeing buildings we want, such as era specific grocery stores, hamburger joints, hardware stores, etc., etc., I thought I had better push this project forward. Plus I have been planning this one for quite awhile, but finally made some headway, as I will explain.

    THE PROJECT:

    The CLUB CAFE' was located in Vaughn, New Mexico, and is still standing today, although hardly recognizable as the era iconic building it was back in the day. I estimate this pic was taken in the late 1950's or early 1960's.
    IMG-2698.jpg This above photo of the cafe' came from a Post Card, like so many other businesses that were featured this way during th(dang, I miss that era). (I just ordered this actual postcard off of Amazon because of this project).
    IMG-2699.jpg Below is another pic of the cafe', most likely taken in the early 1970's based on the green 1972-ish Datsun pickup in the photo. We lived in the 4-Corners area of New Mexico during this era, and bought a green 1972 Datsun pick-up around 1976 -- could it be the same truck?? Doubtful, as Datsun made a million of these in green, but maybe.... (dang, I miss this era).
    IMG-2697.JPG
    I will attempt to build this to represent the late 50's/early 60's version. I chose this building as my first major laser cutting project, due to it's simple, yet iconic design that represents the era I am modeling on my layout.

    THE BUILD:
    OK, buckle your seat-belts, and keep all body parts inside the ride at all times.

    Sooo, it took me literally a month to get my el-cheapo ORTUR 15W DESKTOP LASER CUTTER to the level it needed to be pull this off. I demand near perfect bricks, and this building is a combo of cinder block on the sides and back, and regular brick on the front. Getting 'them's' bricks exact kicked my backside, but I overcame....

    So the four walls are cut. Also, I cut an inner piece out of card-stock that will represent the aluminum window border/trim, and painted them using TESTORS SPRAY - Bare Metal Silver. These will be glued to the walls, thus giving windows a degree of depth.
    IMG-2685.jpg
    Below are pics showing the various walls and brick work prior to painting. I have overlayed some of the walls to give you and idea of what I am trying to pull off with the second wall. These are just loose fitted together, so any alignment issues will take place at final assembly.
    IMG-2689.jpg
    IMG-2686.jpg
    IMG-2690.jpg
    IMG-2691.jpg
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    Like many other projects, some artistic licenses are taken. In this case, I adjusted the front windows to represent 5 panes, not 6. Plus I had to guess at a few other details, but that's the beauty of freestyle model building.

    Next comes the paint matching, which has already been started and is a challenge.

    LOOKING AHEAD:

    • Paint walls
    • Cut roof pieces, roof trim, various building trim
    • Sidewalk, planter near front door, planter main street sign
    • Design, cut, install minimalist interior
    • Plan lighting
    • Signage -- "egads" I don't even want to think about how to pull that off yet....3D printed maybe(n)
    Don't touch that dial....more to come as time allows.(y)
     
  2. mdvholland

    mdvholland TrainBoard Member

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    Build threads are my favorite, so... Go Lance!

    Your parts are looking sharp (edit: this sounds weird - I like the walls and window parts you prepared for your project, they are looking sharp). Concerning the design, from the pictures I would figure it is a building with a flat roof, not sloped...? (sorry if this is the wrong question at this point :oops: ) Artistic license - conscious choice?

    Matt
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2023
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  3. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    Hey Matt, you know I actually got on Google Earth and did a street view on that building as it sits today. It’s hard to make out, but what I can tell is there is a minor degree of slope to the roof. Not much mind you, but just a little from the street view. But I also took artistic license with this aspect of the building as well. The slope I took, could possibly be a bit too dramatic for the actual building. I may revisit that.

    Now you make an excellent point as well, because that slope will have to be taken into consideration when I mount the eve app cooler on the roof not to mention anything else that goes up there.
     
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  4. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Sweet! I love built threads too. And I will share any tips and tricks I know, because I always hated secrets, I delight in finding out how and telling everyone how to DIY too!

    If you run into any roadblocks with your build I am willing to help too.
     
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  5. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT ROBERT!

    Well, I can tell everybody on the forum this, that projects of this nature are exceptionally time-consuming, challenging, and even frustrating at times. And yes, they are also fun at times as well. So I can see why some mom and pop garage manufacturers get in and then get out just as quickly. It is a lot of work!
     
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  6. Kez

    Kez TrainBoard Member

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    Constructive question/criticism(?): The mortar joints...they look large to me, in comparison to the individual brick dimensions. A limitation of the laser?
    And I freely admit it could just be the up close photos.
     
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  7. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    Heya Bryan,
    Constructive anything is always welcome, as long as it's constructive or inquisitive, and not whining.;) I hope this is as much a learning experience for me as everyone else.

    And you have a good eye and a valid questions.

    The infamous bricks - what you are seeing is a combo of:

    1) Laser limitation. I am using a poor guy $249 ORTUR 15W desktop laser. I had to upgrade the lens, add an air source and then fine tune everything to even get to this point, which has been the tightest line thus far.
    2) Burn flash from the laser that leaves a nano amount of char around the line, most likely making them look wider than then they are.
    3) Picture quality. My Iphone has an incredible camera on it, so the zoomed nature of the pics probably makes the lines "pop" visually, but holding the pieces in your hand, they are OK visually.
    4) Lastly, the only other thing I can figure is the little tiny Mexicans I hired to build this wall started on the Tequilla too early, and got sloppy with the mortar. (I lived in Arizona for 30 years, and all my Mexican buddies would be laughing at this statement.....)

    So here are a few close up pics using a gage and a sewing pin. You can see how tight the shot is and the relation to the pin tip and the cut lines.
    Once the walls are painted and the grout/mortar process applied, even if they are a bit off, it's Z-scale after all and we are limited to a degree to achieve full on realism.

    Now also keep in mind, the sides and back wall are supposed to represent painted cinder block, so I won't apply the grout/mortar process there. And the lines need to capture just enough light and shadow when being viewed by the naked eye in order to look like cinder block. As for the front standard brick, I ran a few paint and mortar tests and they look acceptable for Z. My only nightmare right now, is getting paint to match that New Mexico orangey/pinkish/Terocata brick color. Plus that cinder block color in the photo is being elusive. So I may have to insert artistic license here.
    IMG-2705.jpg
    IMG-2707.jpg
     
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  8. CNE1899

    CNE1899 TrainBoard Member

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    Lance,
    Excellent start and SBS! You are gonna be another Rob Ray at this rate!:rolleyes::)(y)
    When I get all the PVLW wrinkles ironed out I'll send you some files.

    Scott
     
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  9. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks Scott! Although Rob's got the benefit of years of doing this laser cutting stuff. I've got maybe 6-months total and nowhere near the laser he's using. But I am cutting my teeth too, so maybe I'll break down and get a better laser one day.:unsure:
     
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  10. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    Bryan,
    Now you got my "perfection" OCD going !!!:mad::mad::D I revisited some of my previous sample cuts and indeed the grout/mortar lines were tighter on those. But I was also using an "image" drawn by someone else and sent to me. So my laser program was cutting an image, versus lines drawn out by me using the software tool. The image setting has a different cutting parameter --- crisper, tighter because of what I believe is a dot width correction command.

    Sooo I want to revisit this and see if I can perfect these bricks to some degree.
     
  11. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    Sharing the results of my attempts to fine tune the grout lines on the cinder block portion of this project. If I can get the cinder blocks to look acceptable, then I will move forward to the standard brick which makes up the front wall of this project. I am still pursuing the ultimate super fine cut line from my "low end laser" but I may be limited by "low end"!:D

    So the pic (sorry about the quality) below is representative of an attempt at thinner grout lines using less laser power. The new cut attempt is on top. The results are marginal, with the horizontal grout line be a bit thinner, but the vertical grout lines still being a wee bit thick. Not much difference really.
    IMG-2749.jpg

    So I moved on to see what the panels would look like with paint. Although the paint color below is not necessarily the color that will be used for this project, it suffices for our experimentation here -- this is an Apple Barrel acrylic by the way.

    These pics directly below represent the panel cut with less power. REMEMBER, this is supposed to represent a painted cinder block wall. Standing in front is "Officer Preiser" person. There are three coats of paint on the wall.
    IMG-2753.jpg
    IMG-2759.jpg
    The pics below represent the original cut panel with only one coat of paint. Visually, the appearance with one coat was much more pleasing to the naked eye, thus I did not apply more paint. I accidentally snapped this pic with the sepia engaged on my cell phones camera, but it adds a nice touch, and possibly a better representation of the actual paint color I am seeking for this building.
    IMG-2765.jpg

    ((( Sepia off )))
    IMG-2763.jpg

    IMG-2766.jpg
    And once again, when shooting tight photos of Z-scale items, all the flaws come forward. 98% of viewers of this and probably every other Z-scale project across the planet, will view the end product with their naked eye. But the more realistic we can make it, the better it is for Z-scale overall.

    Seeing the Preiser figure standing next to this wall, I am thinking I am about 1-2 bricks too tall overall. I may need to trim the overall wall height. Thoughts ?????? :unsure:

    Critical comments are welcome.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2023
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  12. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    For a cinderblock wall, they look about right in size.
     
  13. tjdreams

    tjdreams TrainBoard Member

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    The horizontal grout lines do look better, Not that a lot of people would notice this but you may want to shrink the height of the blocks a little. Using the block wall as a gauge I would say the figure is only 4 foot 8 inches tall. A standard 8 x 16 block actually measures 7-5/8 tall x 15-5/8 wide. 8"x 16" includes the standard 3/8" grout between the block
    I deal with this on a daily basis. So it stands out to me. You would be amassed at how many Architectural and Structural Drawlings have to be reworked because one person used the nominal 8" number and the other used the actual 7-5/8 dimension. That 3/8 difference can add up to a big difference in the overall height, with, and thickness of a building. In any case keep up the good work it looks good .
     
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  14. mdvholland

    mdvholland TrainBoard Member

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    What happened, the guy didn't step aside when you started painting, even though you told him so? :ROFLMAO:

    Nice looking cinder blocks, btw. I think they look good. Looking at N-scale brick myself, not even a poor mans lasercutter here.

    Matt
     
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  15. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    I found that if you spray the brick material with Zinc Chromate Primer, the grout lines will seem to shrink, then you can later use a lighter grout colored wash and it sits in the grout lines really fine, making the grout lines even finer yet!
     
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  16. CNE1899

    CNE1899 TrainBoard Member

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    Lance,
    I like the thinner horizontal line of the more recent cut, but I am not sure I like the thick vertical lines.
    I think I might go with the thicker uniform lines, they also look thinner when painted.

    Scott
     
  17. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    OK, based on several of the comments and observations above, I have made additional changes to the cinder wall brick pattern.
    • The height of the wall was trimmed by about 4 millimeters.
    • The brick size was reduced to mirror a cinder blocks 7 5/8" dimensions.
    • Laser power was cut dramatically and the line cuts are very minor and with less burn trace.
    • I have not tried Rob's Zinc Chromate Primer yet, as I wanted to experiment further with the laser.
    • I used one coat of grey acrylic Apple Barrel paint on this sample, as I believe grey gives a better visual of the wall, although the actual project will sport some other color. Plus it looks more like a cinder block wall for this demo.
    What think ye now.....??? Comments for or against are welcome.

    REMINDER -- the camera pics up way more than what the naked eye can. And that is a dime in the last pic.

    IMG-2777.jpg
    IMG-2782.jpg
    IMG-2784.jpg
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  18. SLSF Freak

    SLSF Freak Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I think it looks great! If you're up for one experiment, I'm personally curious to see what those mortar lines would look like if you rotated the artwork 45 deg in your burning software. As someone mentioned earlier the vertical mortar lines are a little thicker than the horizontal - I'm guessing that's due to the shape of the laser dot being "rectangular" in the horizontal orientation ▅ ? That may cause deeper thin lines in the horizontal cut direction, wider cut on verticals with shallower depth. I'm curious if 45deg would level the playing field - little fatter horizontals, little thinner verticals? I also have a 12W diode laser (still totally amateur at it) and I've heard of this effect but I've never seen it personally. Wondering if at this scale we're actually seeing this effect due to the magnification? This is really just an academic exercise of curiosity to learn from, the structure looks amazing as-is.

    Cheers -Mike
     
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  19. CNE1899

    CNE1899 TrainBoard Member

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    Lance,
    You are getting there! The blocks look better size wise, and the cuts look better.
    I like Mike's suggestion, even though I don't own a laser.:(

    Scott
     
  20. tjdreams

    tjdreams TrainBoard Member

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    The Size of the Block looks much better as does the Door cutout.
     
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