Plywood is not the most obvious material to use when trying to use the steampunk style, but the designer in me wants to rise to the challenge. I try to avoid the most cliched elements in my own steampunk designs – not always successfully – and to combine easy of assembly with good play value and hopefully something to attract children of all ages.
Some time ago I designed a shadow theatre and then laser cut a couple of them. But the design meant that there was a lot of waste plywood after the cut, and more problematically the dismantled theatre was bulky and not postal friendly. So I didn’t try selling it, other projects took precedence. Recently someone …
My new website – Miller Toys and Models – is up and running – thank you Bristol Web Design – and during the lockdown I have designed a further seven plywood models plus two variations and two steampunk(ish) models. But I haven’t been able to cut any of these because if my cutters at Basically …
I’ve been working on several new models and now that we have lockdown for the foreseable future – in the UK anyway – I’m spending even more time on these. I’m lucky enough to have a (dry) studio at home. But the laser cutting at Basically Wooden in lovely Devon has stopped for now. Cato …
Another addition to the fleet, soon to be on sale with the rest at Basically Wooden – MixPly.
I have enjoyed using Affinity Designer and it’s sister products Affinity Photo and the beta Affinity Publisher, but the lack of a trace function in Designer is a serious drawback. Compared to CorelDraw (£599) or the endless cost (and irritation) of Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer (£50) is fantastic value for money and there are no …
A little work to correct some errors and it is ready. This is the rear paddle version, which proved easier to design and seems to be well received. On sale soon.
Still toiling over another model/toy boat. Laser cutting is a great way to make things and the precision available constantly tempts me to make more complex designs. But complex is not necessarily the way to go, when what I am looking for is play value, simple clean lines and ease of assembly. This (detail) drawing …
I am using Affinity Designer to create another plywood model boat – the world needs more – and I have nothing bad to say about this £50 app. But it cannot rival the likes of Autocad (more than 10 times the price). One thing I want to do is measure irregular objects on-screen and that …
