Reddit reviews Northwest Short Line Chopper II
We found 3 Reddit comments about Northwest Short Line Chopper II. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Rigid aluminum handle and base^Replaceable & repositionable cutting mat^Miter guides for 304560 and 90 angles and a safety stop^7" x 7" size^Can cut wood and styrene strip material up to 1/8"
You're not crazy: Producing quality miniatures is a huge PITA. There's a reason professional models sell for thousands of dollars.
My wife worked on some blockbuster sci-fi movies, some stop motion films, and commercials as a model-maker. There's a lot to unpack in your post! It depends on your budget, resources, time, kind of shot, skillset, scale, desired realism, tools, etc. Some simplified options:
If you're just wondering what are the basic construction materials, good ol' basswood and foamcore and an X-acto knife with lots and lots of sharp replacement blades are the cheap workhorses. Sheet styrene and styrene rods and other shapes. Oh, and sanding blocks and sandpaper. So much sanding. If you are cutting lots of beams, stairs, and other thin pieces, the Chopper II is a big timesaver.
If you have access to a machine, lasercut acrylic is another common approach. Foamed PVC is another material that you can use similarly - draw your designs in CAD, print them out on paper, spraymount onto the foam and then cut out by hand.
Whenever possible, premade models or patterns are used to save time. My wife's old shop had a huge collection of model toys, hobby railroad parts, and patterned sheet styrene that they would raid for every project. The latter might be a big time saver for you (sculpting/etching bricks by hand suuuuuucks).
And yes, sculpting and casting. If you're just casting shallow details, Oyumaru/Blue Stuff is pretty handy, cheap, and non-toxic. Depending on your scale, casting from hobbyist molds might work.
Hope that helps. Good luck!
The Chopper II (better than the original, and only a few bucks more).
Plaplate should be found in any hobby shop, especially if they have a railroad section (The Chopper was originally made for their needs), or online through Amazon or a hobby store.
Several (hand) tools:
North West Short Line "the Chopper II" (not uncommonly used by architecture students and model railroaders)
https://www.amazon.com/Northwest-Short-Line-Chopper-II/dp/B004P3SRI0
Aluminum cutting rail: http://www.dickblick.com/products/alumicutter-rulers/
Miter box:
https://www.amazon.com/Xacto-X75320-Small-Mitre-Box/dp/B0000DD1O4