Thanks for the comments guys!
@ Espeefan & JensR: Yes, as 9W Monighan said, the real one is mostly plates, and since there is in any case quite enough work to be done, I decided to have most of the plates cut in a laser cutting shop. But some parts, like the hose bundling plate, I did myself
What to do yourself is of course a trade-off question between time, money, difficulty and fun, but in the case of the plates, everything speaks for having them done. I´ll give you an example, for the moldboard slide guide I´ll need four stainless strips (for the two models I´m building) 487 mm x 9 mm x 1,5 mm (about 19” x 11/32” x 1/16”). Not a big deal, but also not much fun and only four bucks apiece from the cutting shop...
Even by the size of my model there are several small-strain-to-area-ratio parts for which gluing will be quite sufficient.
@ Vanisle: Someone in this thread said that the tab concept is used on some of the real machines, too. And yes, I reckon it´s much faster for a given accuracy (at least the one I want), in particular when you take advantage of the inherent accuracy of laser cutting. Just think of it - once the parts are made you can put them correctly together almost blindfolded.
Regarding the time to completion I´m sorry: What you see started almost five years ago and is surely bound to take another five, if not more
(but positively seen, I´ve saved you five long years
)
And here´s the hose bundling plate (never shown to anyone, anywhere before
). It´s used at the waist of the machine.
