inally, after months of computer work, and Christmas, and finishing off the models for the train show, I am back to the passenger car. Amazingly, it’s been almost six months since I did anything physical on this model – most of the recent work has been on the computer, composing the interior, the clerestory lights, and improving the freight trucks.

Yesterday I ordered the interior and clerestory lights, and I’ve been working on the windows, which are going to get laser cut. I would have liked to have made them on the RP machine, but they don’t satisfy the minimum wall thickness at Shapeways. So, laser cut it is.

I cast about for a while looking for someone who will do a .010″ styrene through a service like Shapeways, but came up dry. So, I’m going to ask my friend, Brian, who happens to own a laser cutter, to do them for me.

First, I thought I’d better do a little proof of concept. Actually, I did two – one in brass to see if etching was an option and another in styrene. The styrene one works fine, and is shown here.

Notice I’ve sanded the jaggies off the roof, and lightly sanded the sides where they had faint horizontal ridges.