I am fitting some PE panels to the bomb bay of a Trumpeter 1/32 Avenger but the sheet came as a solid sheet and I wont to punch out the holes molded into it. Will that ruin the punch (sheet is not thick) and if so what is an alternative? Can I use a drill and if so what kind?
ICIT
I’d prefer drilling. Get yourself a drill bit for metal of the diameter you want and if it’s for PE I’d just go with a pin vise.
Drilling thin sheet metal can be a real problem. I do it with a pin vise. Any attempt to drill with power, like with a dremel, can lead to disaster. The bit jams up as you break through the sheet and the piece begins to rotate with speed of drill. Pin vise doesn’t risk that. You must dimple/punch sheet before you drill, especially if brass is tempered. Forget drilling stainless steel PE.
I did buy one of those multiple size hand punches. Again useless on stainless but it will work with brass. I have to put cardboard under brass piece.
If you do drill with pin vise, start with small drill, use bigger drills in steps. Prevents tearing as large drill jams.
I keep a set of pin vises with popular small drills, a center punch, and small hammer on my tool rack on back of bench. Still, drilling PE is not the easiest thing. But, it can be done. Small drills in the 61-80 range do break frequently. I consider them a supply item that will not to be replaced periodically.
Thanks guys, there are a lot of holes to do and hope that it’s as easy as you make it sound.
I had an interesting PE drilling job today. I am building the HMS Dreadnought with a nice aftermarket detail set. The set includes brass turned masts and yards. There is lots of PE, including brackets to hold the yards to the masts. But the holes for the masts are too small. I put calipers on the yards, found the right size drill, and found that the tabs are about the same size as the drill. No way I can drill the needed hole!
I’m having a hard time picturing that Don but I get the jest of the message. I ended up going with the pin vise and bought 3 bits at the hardware store, sandwiched the piece between some balsa wood exposing only a couple holes at a time and did it by hand. I’m happy with the results but it would have been easier if Trumpeter had just done it in the first place.
The fittings are in the form of a cross (with unequal width to the arms). Unfortunately, the needed hole is the same diameter as the width of the arm in the existing PE fitting. It looks to me like they supplied a couple of extra fittings. I plan to use two fittings glued together, mounted so that the thick arms of one are at right angles to the thick arms of another, giving me a thick arm to drill into. The arms are bent with one pair of arms in opposite direction from the other pair allowing mounting of two rods together. Hope those are indeed some spare fittings on the fret, and not just ones I haven’t noticed in the instructions yet 
I find that with drills in the 60 to 80 range one can drill brass quite easily with a pinvise. Drilling stainless PE is something else, but I have done it.