Question About Monster Model Works Brick Sheets

[Kisatchie]

I see that Monster Model Works makes 2 styles of brick sheets. One is basswood, and the other is lazerboard:

http://monstermodelworks.com/N-Scale/N-Brick-Sheets/

Can anyone tell me what lazerboard is? How does it compare to basswood?

Thanks for any info.


Hmm... I dunno...

[peteski]

Unless it is micro-plywood, basswood is very flimsy and not dimensionally stable. Plus has a lot of fuzz on the surface.  Laserboard is a paper product impregnated with resin. Less fuzzy and more stable.

[Kisatchie]

Unless it is micro-plywood, basswood is very flimsy and not dimensionally stable. Plus has a lot of fuzz on the surface.  Laserboard is a paper product impregnated with resin. Less fuzzy and more stable.

Ah, thanks!


Hmm... my treehouse is
made of lazerboard...

[railnerd]

Unless it is micro-plywood, basswood is very flimsy and not dimensionally stable. Plus has a lot of fuzz on the surface.  Laserboard is a paper product impregnated with resin. Less fuzzy and more stable.

I've got several sheets of Jimmy's bricks.  The basswood product is 1/8" thick, which is pretty damn stiff, and none of it had fuzz. His process is to use the raster mode of the laser for a 3d relief.  It is my understanding that he uses photographs to construct his textures.

I think the Bergen National Laser (http://www.bergennationallaser.com) makes a better product for N-Scale, as the bricks are closer to scale size.  Jimmy is focusing on HO and S scale right now as this is the sweet spot for demand.  (S scale doesn't require reengineering the kit artwork like N or O does, so he can scale up his HO kits)

-Dave

[peteski]

I've got several sheets of Jimmy's bricks.  The basswood product is 1/8" thick, which is pretty damn stiff, and none of it had fuzz.

Ah, thanks for the info.  While it might be stiffer, I just can't imagine building any N scale structure with 1/8" thick walls.  Even not considering the corner joints, windows inset 1/8" into the openings in the wall would look terrible. Something like 1/32" would be more reasonable for N scale buildings.

[railnerd]

Ah, thanks for the info.  While it might be stiffer, I just can't imagine building any N scale structure with 1/8" thick walls.  Even not considering the corner joints, windows inset 1/8" into the openings in the wall would look terrible. Something like 1/32" would be more reasonable for N scale buildings.

The corner system is pretty nice, he etches 1/8" square stock and you glue it on the ends— just have to line up the bricks.  Remember he likes those big old brick mills from back east, so big thick walls are actually ok sometimes. All the "detail" bits are laserboard.  His product works really nicely for a big brick warehouse along the back wall of your layout.

All that said, in my own building, I prefer layers of thinner material.  The Bergen National Kits are much cooler in that regard, as there is typically a plywood substructure with layers of laser board to create the walls.