Rookie question about cutting!

[Dazliare]

Hello!

I've mentioned before that I'm not new to paper models, but I've never produced anything close to the amazing results I've seen on this site. I'm about to start a relatively "simple" model that was given to me, and I'd like do it justice, so I'm here asking a question.

Most of the parts in this kit (and I think most kits?) have a black outline showing where to cut. If you cut just outside the line, seams become quite obvious. If you cut just inside the outline, you eliminate the black on your parts.

My question though - when these models are designed, are they sized assuming you cut inside or outside the outline? It may not matter, but on my current model, cutting inside the outline is about a 0.3mm difference vs. outside, which could affect the fit.

That's all for now Im sure I'll have more questions as I go along, but I plan to make a build thread for this model where I'll ask those

[rickstef]

You forgot a 3rd option, in the line.

it all depends on what the designer intends for you to do.

cutting the part proud, allows for trimming to fit the part better, so you can start with that, and then trim to fit, dry fitting as you go.

Or, what you could do, download one of the simple one sheet animal models from Canon's Creative Park, and print it 3 times to practice cutting, Outside, Inside and On the Line, and build each one, and see what looks best

[Laurence Finston]

If you cut outside, you're on the safe side, because it's a lot easier to remove excess paper than it is to put it back on once you've cut it off.

I only ever cut outside the lines but I suppose it's possible that a designer might make a different assumption. For hand-drawn technical drawings, if I use a pencil for a line meant to be cut, it will most likely be a .5mm lead, sharpened to a chisel point using a sandpaper paddle. It would therefore be too thin to cut inside or on the line. If I use a technical pen, also usually .5mm, 1. because this is normally assumed and 2. because standard plastic templates are designed for this width, so the same thing applies. If I use a computer, I usually use .5mm lines but sometimes I'll use .25mm ones. I probably wouldn't use a larger width for anything meant to be cut, unless the line was hollowed out. These widths are also pretty thin. In general, I would say it wouldn't be accurate enough to cut right on a line, but my opinion isn't necessarily the only valid one.

I would say the main problem with cutting on a line is that part of the line will be covered by your straight-edge. It doesn't matter if it's transparent, what you see through it would be distorted. I make it a rule to NEVER cut along a line that I can't see. This may sound obvious but it's easy to do this out of inertia. For that matter, I only ever use metal straight-edges for cutting. It's too easy to shave off some of a plastic or wooden ruler (done that). I don't think the metal strip within the edges of some wooden rulers would be sufficient.

[Dazliare]

Originally Posted by rickstef

You forgot a 3rd option, in the line.

it all depends on what the designer intends for you to do.

cutting the part proud, allows for trimming to fit the part better, so you can start with that, and then trim to fit, dry fitting as you go.

Or, what you could do, download one of the simple one sheet animal models from Canon's Creative Park, and print it 3 times to practice cutting, Outside, Inside and On the Line, and build each one, and see what looks best

These are great points, thank you! The first steps of this model are to build a skeleton, so I'll cut just outside the line to assemble, then sand away if needed