Fran

The angle of the photo and depth of material is deceiving, the bars are hairline thin. I don't have any 1mm MDF but I do have some heavy card. "How thin can you go???" the latest IRM challenge

Just to experiment and to see have fine my laser can cut, I tried using the same file as I used above reduced down to 40mm wide. I'm very surprised at the result, it has cut it successfully even though I push out some of the middle elements. I thought it was just going to be a burst mess. The fact that the material is 3mm MDF must have helped to give it a little strength. Every day's a school day.

Here's a second attempt using this lamination technique, this time using pva to secure the print mdf before cutting, using hi-res image is a must as the print quality isn't great.

Being a newbie and not a true modeller (I apologise for that remark especially on this forum) I don't necessarily work to a set scale, it's usually sized to suit myself, however, that is probably about to change the more I learn and find out about modelling. The model in the picture is 300mm wide as it's more of a display piece rather than having to fit in a certain scene/layout. If my understanding of 4mm scale is right, assuming a gate is approx 4' high a scale gate would be 16mm high? Wow, that is small, a laser can cut very file details but I'd imagine the finished item would more flimsy that a paper doily.

I'd still think a small inquisitive lamb could get out though . The next time I'm passing I'll call in, the biggest thing will be remembering to measure it as it's lying against the side gable of the house and not immediately visible when you drive up. Here's the picture of the plan that I traced. You have got to love the shading and the additional detail, in my view it's a piece of art. On my traced drawing it's 200mm between vertical uprights and 94.677mm between the horizontal bars but with it being a vector drawing I did scale so that I had one even number.

My friend has two of these, mind you he does live on/close to the Dundalk/Greenore railway route. This one is the better of the two and in great condition, even though it's had no attention. I'd be tempted to buy it off him if I had a field that needed a gate

Traced from an original drawing the gate is laser cut in MDF. Such a simple yet elegant design.

Agreed, the edges do stick like a sore thumb compared to the level of finish I see on here and the scale and texture of the roof is not great. It's a starting point though. Thanks for the heads up, a 'nude' building with it's 'clothing' falling around it wouldn't be a good look. That's another technique I need to try out along with etching timber cladding and dry stone walls. Thanks to all for the feedback, the journey along this model building learning curve is underway.

If only it was easy as that

I'm not a train modeller per se, however, after watching more than 3 or 4 video's showing how to build layouts, with many hours being 'lost', I thought I'd try a technique that I'd seen a while ago, to construct a building using printed laminated sheets and a laser machine. The model railway video's that I've seen have featured layout builders using card and and thin MDF that have been covered/wrapped in printed textures (brick, stone, wood). The skill and patience required is quite surprising, I thought the process would be simpler ... I suppose that it can be depending on the level of detail you want to achieve. Some of the detail is quite extraordinary. The idea I wanted to try came from this link. Basically the outline of a building is laid out over pictures of building materials, the sheets are printed out (on a normal printer) and laminated. The sheets are attached to a backing, in my case 3mm MDF, using double sided tape and them cut out and assembled. Yes, a laser cut the MDF but if laminated card was used, it could have been cut with a knife. A disadvantage with this technique is that the 'cut' edges are visible, a knife cut edge could be coloured, a laser cut edge might not be that simple? An advantage if that the model wouldn't need varnishing assuming the 'laminate stands the test of time? For my use the laminated sheet will work just fine. Time to experiment a little more...

That is very cool layout, as a newbie to this forum I'm intrigued how layouts are made and the amount of patience and skills that are required. I have friends that create 'gaming terrain' where textures/colours are done by hand. I thought the process of producing a layout with a range of different shaped and sized buildings and other features, would be very time consuming to create, after checking out Scalescene I see that there are a few 'shortcuts'. Nevertheless I'm sure plenty of patience and skill are required. One of my next projects (not railway modelling related) is to create a building using a similar technique to that used in this video Printed textures and laser cut building. Scalescene could be a useful site for the future. Fair play for the work on Railway Parade. BTW I love the questionable Billboard advert

Thanks for the heads up @108 and fellow sign maker, I found the font you mention on Dafont (it was free to download). It wasn't exactly the same but it it's still handy one to have. I ended up tracing the font as there was only 6 letters, it could have been worse.

Thanks to @BosKonay for the file, it contains the font and telephone box layouts. I'll be trying to keep the proportions as true as possible. It's good to see the 'P & T' brand too. Thanks @Signal Post for the welcome and link, I think I have all I need in the file BosKonay has linked too. Unusual to see the telephone boxes in blue @Mol_PMB, it's good to see how a picture can ignite some good and bad memories with some of us ending up broke @Broithe. I too spent to much time 'feeding' the phone to prolong conversations. Youngsters aren't aware of how slow, costly and difficult communications were back in the day

Hi, Yes, I'm a new member and came across the site looking to find the font that was used on the old PT telephone box and kinda got sucked in with all the information. I'm trying to create a Telephone Box wine bottle holder with my laser machine and I need a font to finish the drawing. Don't ask how I'm 'coerced' into making these things!!! A google rabbit hole has led me here and I've spent more than a few hours going through posts and other links, it's been quite the journey and I've just started. Dare I say I'm not a railway modeller ... but there's plenty here for me learn from. I did find an old post relating to the old P&T telephone box plans but the link was broken. Here's hoping someone might have the name of the font, online sites like 'What the font' have proven to be inaccurate. TIA Cheers Fran