I have this week been busy at the laser cutter at long last doing experiments and learning at breakneck speed the ropes of laser cutting.
I have found that certain materials and woods are more difficult than others to cut through. I’ve been writing in a notebook all my tests and the results to help me in the future.
It is all going very well and I have tested making a wooden slot car track. One of my many ideas for new products is to make available 1/32 scale wood slot car track kits and track sections.
The best tracks are wooden routed tracks. All the commercial tracks for the most part are. I have plenty of friends that have them at home and it has always been that sort of holy grail for us slotters.
It occurred to me that I could use the laser cutter to cut track pieces instead of using a router and laying out large sections to route MDF practical boards. This would make it easy and convenient for anyone without a router and wood making skills to have that wooded track.
I made this test track section and it exceeded my expectations. I posted the results and people are interested.
So my next step is to locate a good price on medium density pine plywood and cut a small oval track kit that could fit easily in a small apartment or corner of a garage for someone with minimal space. I’ll assemble it at the studio and demo the track to the public. If all goes well I’ll put it on the market.
The next plan will be to replace my home plastic track with a wood track using the same method. Then I would kit that track.
Today I plan to start designing my first lighted shadow box diorama. These will be everything from a lighthouse on the coast at night to the original series Star Trek Enterprise lighted up around a planet with stars.
I also dug out my old USS Voyager kit my late wife Gilly gave me shortly after the show came out in the 95. It sat in a box for 16 years before I started building it. I got pretty far but when we were fighting her cancer it sat unfinished. I got pretty far and the model has all the after market photo etched parts and lighting.
I was surprised when I plugged it in how much detail in the lighting I had done. I am slowly cleaning her up and putting on the last of the decals on her before I can apply a clear coat and call her done after 28 years.
Today I have our dear friend Glen Kamer and his wife coming to pick up his models today rather than have them shipped. Star Trek models never fare well being shipped. In fact most models don’t no matter how well you pack them.
We have been given a decent 3D printer to use at our studio by our friend Carl Soto. So next week will be another learning curve week for me but I’m a quick study. Both of these machines will help speed up things at the studio allowing Mary and I to make new art pieces, models, and inovations not possible until now.
The Art of Steve Neill 
28 years… my Voyager kit has only been sitting in a corner for 3….
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She got it for me when it first came out in 95 or there abouts.
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