Garden Railway Forum

I have bought a cricut joy vinyl cutter and make my own company lettering . I can make acceptable 7mm high letters and normally do 10mm high letters for company lettering on the tanks. By doing 2 colours and sticking them slightly off on top of each other I have created shadow writing as GWR did. I will add photos but need to take them first

We have the Circuit Joy and the Circuit Maker 3, both very capable machines. I have done lining for some of my locos with them, very useful indeed. I do have the steal them from the wife as they are both hers, lol.

Almost forgot, they make great paint masks too.

I concur, Steve. Self adhesive vinyl used for battery powered loco lining is a great way to produce a perfect finish. I don't have a machine myself but a friend is willing and able to cut shapes to suit, even two colour lines....

I see you decided it didn't matter that the name Thomas was already taken by a sentient blue tank locomotive with a face on the front.

Ps. I like the color choice on that one Peter.

Wow, I'm missing a trick with the lining. I find using it on live steam is fine as the tanks don't get too hot

Sir Clothem Cap wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 8:55 am Wow, I'm missing a trick with the lining. I find using it on live steam is fine as the tanks don't get too hot

This is the last one I did. The whole thing is 3D printed, even the nameplates are 3D printed in resin and just painted.

That is veeery impressive Steve, you are tempting me now! I'm not sure that the amount of lining I do would justfy the cost. Is it much use for anything other than railway lining and lettering?
How do you do the designs, is there special software?

That looks great Steve, another useful tool for railway modelling.

philipy wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 10:19 am That is veeery impressive Steve, you are tempting me now! I'm not sure that the amount of lining I do would justfy the cost. Is it much use for anything other than railway lining and lettering?
How do you do the designs, is there special software?

I use Tinkercad to do it and export it as an SVG, which is what the Cricut uses to cut files, as well as laser printers. When exporting as an SVG it takes whatever is on the base layer as the cutting shape, so it's just like exporting it as 2D, I am sure Sketchup and the like have similar features?

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 10:40 am That looks great Steve, another useful tool for railway modelling.

Thank you Peter, I am glad you like it. I could not justify the cost for railways alone, but the wife has the Cricut for cards, vinyl cutting etc, so it makes sense to make it a multi purpose machine, or at least that's my excuse, lol

I wouldn't have the first idea how to operate the design programme, so I leave it to a friend to print mine. I now have a number of locos with vinyl lining and they look great.

-steves- wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 11:08 am I use Tinkercad to do it and export it as an SVG, which is what the Cricut uses to cut files, as well as laser printers. When exporting as an SVG it takes whatever is on the base layer as the cutting shape, so it's just like exporting it as 2D, I am sure Sketchup and the like have similar features?

Cheers Steve. Sketchup doesn't have a native SVG save/export option but a bit of digging and I've found an export plugin that appears to work on a quick test rectangle.

I can't justify the m/c as a purchase, but next time SWMBO asks what I want for Christmas/Birthday/etc....!

Quick question for you and/or Peter: How do you do the double two colour lining? Is it actually two different colour lines laid one on top of the other?

philipy wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 12:49 pm
Cheers Steve. Sketchup doesn't have a native SVG save/export option but a bit of digging and I've found an export plugin that appears to work on a quick test rectangle.

I can't justify the m/c as a purchase, but next time SWMBO asks what I want for Christmas/Birthday/etc....!

Quick question for you and/or Peter: How do you do the double two colour lining? Is it actually two different colour lines laid one on top of the other?

Two colours is tricky. It's easy to plan and print, but you have to manually lay the two together on the transfer tape before applying them as "one" on the model and then removing the transfer tape. The issue is getting the lining "exact" distances, same as shadowing text in the opening post. There are tips and tricks to help, like printing and extra thin line all the way around both and then lining then up and removing them before applying. I did a thin line in one of my pictures above to help lining the vinyl up on the loco, you can see the thin line coming off with the transfer tape.

OK, thanks. I thought it might be something along those lines.

philipy wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 12:49 pm

I can't justify the m/c as a purchase, but next time SWMBO asks what I want for Christmas/Birthday/etc....!

The Joy is fairly inexpensive and works over bluetooth, the Maker 3 is much larger and not only cuts files, but you can print and cut from it (to a separate inkjet or laser printer) and then it cuts the tiny thing you have done using a "reader of some sort" to line things up. There is BIG price difference, but there are big differences. The Maker 3 will do 13" wide and the Joy will only do up to 4.5" wide, the Maker 3 as I say you can insert many different heads, like embossing, colouring /writing using pens, cut leather, thin wood, engraving etc, these are proper multipurpose craft machines . You can do iron on vinyl (t shirts, hoodies), permanent vinyl (glasses, mugs), paper, cloth, leather, wood (to a degree), I forget how many settings it has for different materials, but hundreds.

-steves- wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 10:11 am
This is the last one I did. The whole thing is 3D printed, even the nameplates are 3D printed in resin and just painted.

Very nice loco Steve!



Edit....... Aw heck, do I really deserve the cap.............?

If the cap fits wear it.