Just got a load of basswood scribed as board & batten in the mail and I've cut out the walls for my new N scale sawmill. Even though the material is only 1/16", cutting the first window hole was much harder than I expected (to get square and clean.) Though the prototype from the early 1900's was rough cut boards and there seemed to be no trim to speak of around the windows, my first attempt was much too crude. I probably don't have to add that these windows, though large in nominal dimensions are quite small in N scale. Somehow, irregularities in an opening seem magnified in inverse proportion to the scale.
This current project has over 100 openings to cut and is just one structure for the complex. A mining/ furnace project is next and that will also require hundreds of similar openings to be cut in basswood so I need to learn the magic to working with this material. It almost seems cleaner to build it board by board from stripwood. I think I should have started with the outhouse for my first project.
Any tips for cutting crisp, clean openings in basswood? My available tools are an Exacto knife and a Dremel tool with the usual assortment of cutting disks, etc. that I admit I haven't had much experience with. I've been wondering if making a punch out of sharpened piece of rectangular brass tubing would be an efficient way of doing it. (Not having a hobby shop anywhere near the area makes it hard to get a hold of items like a short piece of tubing, etc. to play with.)
Thanks for any help.
Wayne
This current project has over 100 openings to cut and is just one structure for the complex. A mining/ furnace project is next and that will also require hundreds of similar openings to be cut in basswood so I need to learn the magic to working with this material. It almost seems cleaner to build it board by board from stripwood. I think I should have started with the outhouse for my first project.
Any tips for cutting crisp, clean openings in basswood? My available tools are an Exacto knife and a Dremel tool with the usual assortment of cutting disks, etc. that I admit I haven't had much experience with. I've been wondering if making a punch out of sharpened piece of rectangular brass tubing would be an efficient way of doing it. (Not having a hobby shop anywhere near the area makes it hard to get a hold of items like a short piece of tubing, etc. to play with.)
Thanks for any help.
Wayne