I noticed alot of you mention using sheet styrene while sceatch building. What is it, and where can I get it? Am I correct in understanding it is the same type of plastic that the models are made of?
I also hear of buying plastic signs and using them as a cheaper alternative. What exactly are the signs you are talking about?
If you could, could you please post pictures? I am I visual learner and it helps out tremendously if I can “see” what you are talking about.
Thank you!
OWL
p.s. Sorry about all the questions lately. You guys are really my only source of first-hand information; I dont have any body I can talk to and have them know what the heck I’m going on about!
Sheet styrene is available from most hobby shops and online hobby stores as well. Evergreen is probably the biggest maker of the stuff. It come sin varying thicknesses. They also sell it in strips, rods, tubes, etc. It will come in very handy from scratch building for dressing up any kits. The signs that folks use you can usually find at the hardware store, “for Sale, For rent” types which I am sure you have seen more times than you can remember. They are usually 8"x10" size or so.
The styrene plastic is the same stuff that injection molded kits are made from. It is best glued with your favorite liquid cement.
Besides those signs, there’s a much cheaper alternative to those Evergreen & Plastruct products: a local plastics supplier, or one online. You can get a variety of materials in a variety of shapes and sizes for a fraction of the cost of the hobby manufacturers’ products.
Another option is the local hardware store. Many signs (no parking, no trespassing, etc.) are printed on sheet styrene stock. Not the cheap corrugated plastic. I have some 11x11 inches square which mic out at 0.026" and cost less than 2 bucks per
The original poster is obviously new to modeling, or at least scratchbuilding. The very obvious benefit of products like Evergreen is that it comes to you in a predetermined thickness. This is valuable for projects using sheet, but it is crucial for projects made with strips.There’s really no way to make strips that are as consistent as from Evergreen.
And be aware, plastic cement won’t work on any part of sign plastic that has printing or paint on it.
So it’s a good tip and I do it too, but it’s nice to have a box lid with all kinds of sizes of strips, rounds etc.
BTW I use clear plastic report covers for really thin plate. Evergreen doesn’t come that thin.
Hi CSO, you’ll be amazed at what you can gin up with scrap material. It’s a much broader world that what comes in the box. Paper clips, motor armature wire, plastic wire insulation, faucet screen. Solder is a really useful material too.
Also watch the junk mail…many times the simulated membership cards are styrene. As are many of the inserts in children’s toy packaging. Once found several good sized sheets inside a box with little doll bits attached. My grand daughter didn’t care about the white square pieces of plastic, just the stuff that was taped to them.
Strip, angle, channel, rod, hex rod, tube. Sheets are in a drawer. Haven’t bought any for a while but these were $2 - 2.50 a pack. I thought it was worth it.
You can also look to “blister” packs for some thin plastic. You can get some of that every time you buy batteries for the camera(as just one example), there’s good stuff for modeling almost everywhere!!!
Strip, angle, channel, rod, hex rod, tube, sheets…what do these shapes look like and what would you use then for?
Also, I was looking around the Evergreen site, and they had lists of differest sizes and types, but no pictures!! I would feel a bit uncomfortable buying a product if i could not see what it is supposed to look like. [^o)]
