reklein

Gaetan, making those multi drawer cabinets really eat up the lumber don't they, but they are fun to make. I have several similar to yours but not so thin drawers. I like interesting tool boxes for their own sake. BTW Ikea has some interesting and affordable storage ideas. BILL

Adrieke, How do you like the looks of Expo's Stagecoach kit? Did  the US export those to Australia back in the day? I've been thinking about getting one of those but am a little nervous. Besides I've already scratch built one and have a LINDBERG kit in the stash.  BILL in Idaho

Curious! There's a paper modeler with Birder as an online handle. I will enjoy watching your Bismark build. Bill

Birder!!! Glad to se you back on the forum. Where in WA are you. I'm in Lewiston ID just across the river from Clarkston. BILL

If you are doing crosscuts specially long ones you should NOT be using your RIP fence. The wood will bind as you near the end of a cut and splinter the wood or worse yet throw the cut off piece. To do identical crosscuts you can tape a block to the fence to mark your cut then slide the work through the blade so that the cutoff is free to move away from the blade a little. Also you should be pushing you wood through the blade with your miter gauge. To do cuts longer than the table you might be able to make or use a device that will hold a starting block where you want to make your cut. BILL

A way to make the glue hold better is,  after carving and sanding, puncture many holes in the balsa surface to allow the glue to grip better. Picture many tiny fingers holding on to the  Balsa.  BILL

Well ,I guess any more recommendations are moot at this point. But I have the MicroMark sander and it works good if one is patient. If you try to force it,it will just heat up and shut down. One improvement I made was to take out the height adjuster, drill a hole in the hex head and tap in a small roll pin so that I could tell by feel how much I was trying to take off.I forgot what the thread size is but you can guess fairly accurately what you're taking off. Also you should have a micrometer handy. I'm sure I have saved the price of the strip wood I have used y making it myself.  BILL

I have the sander/beltsander from MicroMark and am satisfied with it. I've used it to build more than 25 Ho train turnouts.I use it primarily to grind down the nickel silver rails.I'm still on the original belt. The dust is minimal if you use the grinder with a vaccum cleaner. I have a cheap little shop vac set up with a switch that turns on the vac when you fire up the grinder. The vac runs for a few seconds after you turn off the grinder then shuts down automatically. I got the the fancy switch at Woodcraft. Bill in Idaho

These look very interesting. I'll see if I can find a source in the U.S. Bill in Idaho