Town With Crooked Signs

[Anonymous]

Hi all,
I'm riding out the heatwave in my basement-not a bad place to be! I'm looking for some insight into a problem I've run into. I've finished putting together the Walthers Merchants Row I kit and am in the process of constructing store signs. I am actually modeling contemporary Bloomington, Indiana-my beloved college town. I am using graphics I've found on the computer, printing them out, adding some double sided tape, and mounting onto small pieces of styrene sheet. My problem is that I havent found any way to make perfectly even/rectangular styrene signs. I found a product made by Northwest Short Line called "The Chopper". Would anyone recommend that? I did just purchase a transparent straight edge as well. Perhaps that might help. Any of your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Gregg

[MisterBeasley]

I use a metal t-square and a sharp utility knife. For small things, I trim any cutting irregularities with a Dremel.

[cacole]

The Chopper from NWSL uses a single-edge razor blade, so you can't cut anything that is very long (longer than a razor blade) or thick with it, or the blade will break.

[Anonymous]

The "Chopper" was intended for that "old fashioned" building material - wood! The metal straight edge and metal square would be better for "scoring" styrene to use as sign backing. Another older fashioned material which may be even easier is to print directly on card stock and then carefully cut out your signs with a good pair of sissors.
The card stock is usually rigid enough for signs as is but you could double up some layers to increase stiffness and even build a frame.
Will

[Anonymous]

I have used the chopper for many years with styrene with much success, as long as the styrene thickness was limited to .010 or .020 or so. Matal straight edge and triangle can work well for scoring thicker material and then snapping. My experience with scissors is they rarely cut a satisfactorily straight line.

CJ Riley