New detail items coming this week from NZT

[pnolan48]

What is black laser paper? Thickness?

[Zox]

What is black laser paper? Thickness?

If "laser paper" means normal 20-pound paper copier/laser-printer paper, it mikes out to about 0.003-0.004", so a scale half to two-thirds of an inch in N.

(If "laser paper" is something else in this case, please disregard.  )

[peteski]

If "laser paper" means normal 20-pound paper copier/laser-printer paper, it mikes out to about 0.003-0.004", so a scale half to two-thirds of an inch in N.

(If "laser paper" is something else in this case, please disregard.  )

Laser paper is most likely a resin impregnated paper product used on laser cutters. It looks to me to be thicker than 0.005".

[Alaska Railroader]

Black is the rarest laserboard because a whole pallet has to be bought just to get it-four lifetimes worth! The thickness is ~ .010" to .011" and is not paper or cardstock. Its function in the world outside of modeling is to be a barrier/gasket between counter tops and the wooden cabinet base. I believe it is primarily used for marble and Corian type countertops and all of the laserboard thicknesses I use are designed for this purpose.

The black laserboard (trade name, not copying "lazerboard") I used for this is resin impregnated I suppose, but the brand name is actually PolyBak as opposed to RIB or whatever the new acronym is that is currently being used. The resin, if that is indeed a component, does not melt when lasered as would common modeling resin if put under a laser beam. Suffice it to say it is some form of harder plastic.

I have brown in the same thickness but it is not as sturdy as the black for this type of application. You will see that once you have painted them either silver or yellow (or both) they will not be so obvious and will look quite natural on those vehicles.

Edit by DKS: fixed dimensions. 

[DKS]

Since all of the mirror hardware on these vehicles is already black, using this material means all you need to do is dab a little silver onto the mirror parts. This does save a bit of effort, and is also entirely optional.

[jimmo]

More stuff I gotta get!

OMG, those look tedious. Hey David, how long did it take you to come up with just the right random stack?

[bc6]

Very nice additions DKS the details really make the models pop. Cant wait to get my hands on a set of them.

[robert3985]

More stuff I gotta get!

OMG, those look tedious. Hey David, how long did it take you to come up with just the right random stack?

That's the LAST adjective I would use to describe these.  Masters for casting SHOULD be tediously done, with attention to details...which makes them decidedly UN-tedious for us customers to install on our layouts...

If you're going to the trouble of producing a product to sell, then you may as well do it right.  Thanks DKS for doing it right.

[robert3985]

I got to thinking about "tedious" and how modern etching and cutting/burning technologies have drastically changed what would have been impossibly tedious for many products...AND SO...DKS and Alaska Railroader...why don't you produce some LASER-cut vegetation armatures...of bushes and trees in the scale 6 to 15 foot height range?  I'm betting the brown laserboard would be about right for that, but the black wouldn't look bad either.

Or...even N-scale leaves cut out of colored paper used like ground foam, sprinkled on green polyfiber stretched over LASER-cut armatures!!  Sounds feasible, but maybe it wouldn't be cost effective...but it might be!

Just thinkin'....

[DKS]

OMG, those look tedious. Hey David, how long did it take you to come up with just the right random stack?

They were indeed tedious to make, but I'm a strange guy because it's a type of tedium I actually enjoy. I find it relaxing to spend an hour or so just mindlessly placing parts on the piles one at a time. It took about two weeks of evenings, an hour or so at a time, to build up the piles. The problem with these kinds of details, though, is that they're quite hard to cast. Because they're "genuine" piles of individual parts, there are loads of voids within the piles, and consequently the masters self-destruct when pulling the master molds. Then, because of their high fidelity, the master molds are only good for about 6-8 castings. From these I make the production molds, so I rely entirely on a handful of good first-gen castings for the production runs.

[Ian MacMillan]

Since all of the mirror hardware on these vehicles is already black, using this material means all you need to do is dab a little silver onto the mirror parts. This does save a bit of effort, and is also entirely optional.

That and if modeling a later year bus around here they would be black.

[jimmo]

That's the LAST adjective I would use to describe these.  Masters for casting SHOULD be tediously done, with attention to details...which makes them decidedly UN-tedious for us customers to install on our layouts...

If you're going to the trouble of producing a product to sell, then you may as well do it right.  Thanks DKS for doing it right.

If I was describing any of David's products, one adjective I would use is beautifully intricate. The comment was strictly from one model-maker to another. I know what it takes to make a fine product, that's why as a fellow model-maker I buy David's products instead of making them myself. Fortunately for us, David loves to do this kind of stuff.

[OldEastRR]

Love the tie plates and connectors.  I wish they were separates, to be strewn individually along the rails

For a fun project you could cut out individual or 2-3 plates out of the pile, file/sand to shape, and use those. Both a serious and not-so-serious suggestion.

[OldEastRR]

The black laserboard (trade name, not copying "lazerboard") I used for this is resin impregnated I suppose,

Wait until carbon nanoscale sheets are  available for N scale applications!

[Alaska Railroader]

Wait until carbon nanoscale sheets are  available for N scale applications!

Is this a serious or not so serious suggestion as well? 
There are a few easy ways to determine if a particular material can be lasered or not. Anything with the word carbon in it cannot be lasered as carbon is used to resist heat. So, besides "nanocarbon" there s polycarbonate that simply won't work. Polycarbonate is best known by its registered name "Lexan".

But I got your point, it would be very nice to have an exceptionally thin and strong laserable material.