All Aboard The Essex County Express

One of my favorite scenarios (so far!) for Arkham Horror is Essex County Express. So much so, I had to create some custom holders for it. If you’re looking for my more general-purpose card holders, check out the 3D printed ones I designed.

Designing the train

Train Silhouettes

I started off with some vector art of trains. After some searching, I eventually found some silhouette train art, which matched the rough feel of the era. I went with these ones. Ultimately, I created three layers.

  • The back layer was a solid shape with two holes for the stands
  • The middle layer had a cutout for the card to stand vertically
  • The front layer was the same as the middle, but with a raised lip to keep the card from sliding out.

The layers were a bit of trial and error. I originally tried with just two layers but found my cards slipping out. My options were to either lean the holder further back or add a bit of lip. At this point, I think it’s clear which way I went.

Laser (Cutting) Pew Pew

Cut out components of Essex County Express

Once I had my art all finalized, I sent it to my Glowforge and cut it out from black acrylic. The material choice shouldn’t matter, but I thought black would look sweet given the silhouette feel I was going for with these Essex County Express card stands.

Assembling the Essex County Express

After cutting out the pieces, all that was left was bonding my three layers together. Nothing like a little cyanoacrylate glue (CA glue, super glue) to get the job done. I like the kind with the little brush for things like this. You absolutely don’t want any squeeze-out. Apply a little glue, and then push the pieces together. Use the outside edges to line everything up.


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