An appeal.

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I am appealing. Not very, I know.

Here it is. A roll-up made by me is about 6 mm thick (I just measured one). Readymades are bigger but I doubt they are over 1 cm thick. So let’s take 1 cm as a maximum.

For 1/24 scale I’d need 0.4/0.5 mm fibre optic to make scale cigarettes. The smallest I have is 1 mm, which looks reasonable but is really more of a Savile cigar than a Benson’s.

For 1/72 I’d need 0.1 mm. Does that even exist?

For N gauge (I’m not going to try, I refuse) I would need 0.06mm fibre optic, which I probably can’t even see. Someone else can try that.

So, does anyone know where I can get 0.5 mm and smaller fibre optic, and can it be bought at a price I’m likely to afford as Dr. Janitor?

Incidentally, I found out today that one of the stockroom workers has a degree in biochemistry so conversations on the death of science are ongoing. Like me, he went into science thinking it was about chasing knowledge, and found it was actually about chasing money. The religions threw the money-changers out of their temple. Science seems to have welcomed them in.

I don’t think there can be a science Messiah so the whole lot of it is going to die of this spreading rot. Shame. It was once a very good career.

 

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32 thoughts on “An appeal.”

    • If I could just find a way to make a pipe… it would have to be resting on something because the fibres won’t take that kind of bend, but it must be possible.

    • Someone sent me a batch of really tiny fibres today. Tiny enough to have a go at N gauge. I have some people left and they won’t bring in much money as they are… but if they are smoking and the ends light up… heh.

      Should I say it’s from a non-smoking home or is that pushing credulity to its limit?

  4. Why not just sand or scrape the 1mm fibre down at the end. Presumably it’s only the tip that will remain unpainted so nobody will ever know!

    It also means that you have the thicker-more robust 1mm fibre running back through the head to the LED.

      • Actually, ideal for a 1/24th scale rollup and a 1/72nd scale cigar.

        I also have a micrometer somewhere. It’s in a wooden box so it’s safe. I just don’t know where. I’ll have to eBay more stuff until I find it.

        • ” It’s in a wooden box so it’s safe. I just don’t know where.” Heh, I have LOTS of “safe” things in my house like that! The most mysterious is a 10 foot ladder that I haven’t seen in roughly ten years. Can’t figger out WHERE I put the dang thang, but it sure is safe!

          - MJM

    • There is a Maplin shop in Aberdeen, in the most inaccessible place they could find. I’ll check their mail order site. I used to use Doram many years ago, the public arm of RS, but that no longer exists. I can order through RS via the lab if they don’t want to play with the public ;)

  8. You can have my 4 yards of 220-micron for nothing if you would like it. I shan’t be using it any more now I think, so let it go to a good home!

  10. I know you’re not a big fan of farcebook, but if you nip over and look at my wall (Mac McCubbin) you’ll find an image to conjour with…

      • “I’ll only need short pieces per model so the amounts I have will go a long way.”

        Well, that all depends Leg. What if you’re having your train go by an open air sports stadium filled with 50,000 smoking fans?

        - MJM

        • You wouldn’t be able to see the stadium. Smoke generators for electric-powered steam engines have been around for a long time and they use the same chemicals (except nicotine) as Electrofag. So all those kids with toy engines puffing out steam must be dead now.

          Oh wait. I had one…

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