Have any of you had experience with Imagine That Laser Art Products http://www.imaginethatlaserart.com/
. I would like pictures, comments on the finished product and how the constructing process went. I am most interested in the large HO buildings.
Art: I assembled one of their Chicago “L” elevated rail structures not too long ago for a review on the Modelers’ Guild web site. You can see my review and photos here
I read the article, but the pictures don’t display.
I have not purchased any of their products but after looking at their site several months ago I, too sent them an e-mail with questions. They never answered me, either.
The pictures thing on the site is strange. When I visited to get the URL, the images loaded OK. When I checked the URL after I posted, they didn’t. I juct clicked again and there they were. Dunno what’s happening. The images aren’t totally important, but I think my comments on the kit are.
Keep in mind this is the only kit of theirs that I’ve seen or assembled, so their other ones could be different. Nice laser cutting, but poor or no real instructions. I needed to copy photos on their website so I could get some sort of a clue what went where. And some pieces did not fit like in the photos.
Unfortunately I’ve seen this on laser kits by other manufacturers too. I thought with the precision of laser cutting that everything should fit perfectly, but this isn’t so in my limited experience. Jeese, when a laser cut window does not fit into a laser cut wall opening, something is wrong!
It doesn’t seem like they test assemble completed kits to see if everything works. If they did, they could adjust what was wrong before releasing kits to the public. They are cutting corners and I can’t see how this will help them, as word often gets out re problems.
Those are probably errors at the design stage - say the openign is cut to be .250" wide and then the piece that goes into the opening is drawn to be .250" wide - not gonna fit. Theoretically, a structure or whatever cut on a laser cutter should go together perfectly - but there’s a design and layout talent that’s needed to get all the pieces made just right.
–Randy
If you have one of their earlier kits, the instructions WERE rather vague - but that is being taken care of. I was in their shop yesterday and they were in the process of printing instructions that showed pictures and descriptions of the assembly. I built one of the tall city buildings for a demo model (and as a review on my thoughts of assembly), and for the most part, it went together extremely well … and that was one of the early kits.
Some specific details in the instructions that people consider to be “missing” are missing on purpose. A lot of the ornate details on the structures aren’t made for exacting locations. It leaves room for the modeller to decide how and where to add those final details to the structure to their own liking. Numerous trim pieces can be moved around and placed in different places to totally change the look of the structure. It’s the nature of a lot of craftsman kits.
I know the people behind the scene and their attention to detail never ceases to amaze me. They are not only in it as a business, but they are all modellers themselves with a great passion for the hobby.
If Rod Stewart has ordered structures from them four times, they must be doing SOMEthing right !
Mark.
I’m just not sure I want to run any of my engines across a bridge or trestle made of micro-plywood. As for the structures…what era are those from?
They can provide you with photo evidence of its strength. Just ask at imaginethallaserart@gmail.com
I personally (180lbs) stood on 2 sections of the Oscale el. While weak in one section, with each new section makes for the overall strength. As with all structures big or small.