Laser Cut Formers

[Bomarc]

Hi all!

Wasn't sure where to post this, but since I was hoping to get a discussion going, "Article Discussions" seemed like the logical choice.

Like resin and photo-etched aftermarket parts in the plastic modeler's world, laser cut formers have become firmly entrenched in the card model industry. I've work with laser cutters before, and know full well their capabilities as well as their limitations, and using one to cut card model formers seems like a no-brainer. However part of me feels like buying a sheet of ready cut formers it's "cheating" somehow, unless perhaps you happen to be the individual who created the digital files by which the cutter does it work.

When I was a kid, I built a fair number of "stick and tissue" balsa models. Two companies produced kits in the size and price range a lad of limited means such as myself could afford: Guillows and Comet. Guillows kits (still around today) featured "die cut" (precursor to "laser cut?") balsa wood, and vacuum-formed plastic cowlings, canopies, along with plastic wheels and propellers. Comet (sadly, long gone), on the other hand, had only printed sheets of balsa parts that the modeler had to cut out, wooden wheels, a sheet of clear acetate that was meant to form a canopy with (much like in card modeling), and they threw in blocks of balsa that was expected to be carved to shape for spinners and the like.

Well, I always gravitated to the Comet kits for a couple of reasons besides cost (Guillows kits were more expensive). First, their kits seem more "like the real thing", most being designed before and during WWII when such a kit was the only game in town, so they had to be designed well (their P-38 was a real gem of a kit), plus they had a certain nostalgia factor, which was cool. Second, and more importantly to a 10 year old boy, there was a greater sense of accomplishment when I completed a Comet kit. I cut out all those formers, and carved that spinner nose, and formed balsa or paper fillets, etc. etc.

Now I know laser cut formers offer lots of advantages over the "do it yourself" route:

Greater accuracy and fit of parts (probably the greatest reason)

Less time spent spent on a model (not sure that's a selling point for me)

The additional cost is somewhat offset by all the knife blades you didn't have use up to get to the same point.

I'm sure there's other points as well. I got to thinking about this yesterday after I saw Batidores wonderful build of the Orlik CL 215 fire bomber (Canadair CL 215 ORLIK "Scooper" or "Botijo"ORLIK 1:33). After reading that, I paid a visit to the Orlik site, and sure enough, they now offer a laser cut set of formers for their PBJ kit that I'm currently slugging through. I wondered, had that set had been available at the time I ordered my kit, would I have bought the formers too? And I came to the conclusion, no, I would not.

So what say you folks?

Mike