Modeller's plastic

[d_stilgar]

Paul's Doom3 PC is really cool and uses a lot of that flat sheet modeller's plastic. But I don't know what it is called or where to find it. Could somebody please give me a link. Thanks.

[Rankenphile]

The flat modeller's plastic is known as sheet styrene in most places, and you can frequently find it in local hobby, gaming or modeller shops - look in your phone book for railroad modellers, hobby and game shops, those sorts of things.

You can also find it online. Here are a few links:
http://www.cchobbies.com/catalog/sheetsevergreen.htm

http://www.oakridgehobbies.com/g_scale/g_73.html

US Plastics - manufacturer page (ttp://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category_name=76&product_id=3008&cookie%5Ftest=1)

http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/Sheets.htm

You can also find a lot of this stuff from MicroMark (http://www.micromark.com/), a great supplier of just about every modeller's tool, material and supply you could think of.

[The Modfather]

Could you do a quick tutorial on how you work with that stuff? When I want to do a mod like what you did, I use polymer clay but that's very heavy. My Necronomicase mod weighs quite a bit.

[Rankenphile]

I wish I could. At the moment I'm fresh out of workspace.

[The Modfather]

Well just a text one, like, how do you use it basically. I've never used the stuff, wouldn't know where to begin but it looks interesting.

[d_stilgar]

Is it really stiff? The stuff I've seen is seems a little floppy when handling. What thickness should I get? Thanks a lot.

[d_stilgar]

I ordered the two mm kind. I think it will do fine for my project. I've seen other people use 3mm, but the sites really didn't offer the sheets in that size.

[The Modfather]

So, somebody explain what the stuff is and how you use it. I have never even seen this stuff before but I'd like to know more.

[d_stilgar]

You can use it to build a frame or extension for a project. Here are some links of people who have used it.

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1 In page one you see how much is used, that is just page one.

http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/windowsxpbox/ Here you see how it was built into a rigid frame to house all the PC parts.

It has a variety of uses. I'm rebuilding my NES PC that I have posted here and want to do similar to what the guy did with the XP box, but for my NES. I'll post here when I'm done.

[crazybillybob]

You can look here and see it in use. http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1092

It's nice to work with. You work it like heavy cardboard or plywood, but it can be very flexable (depending on thickness). I use a utility knife, hobby knife, bandsaw, Drills and Power sanders on it. The hobby knife is by far the main tool for dealing with it though. Hold a steel ruler along the line you want to cut and pull the hobby knife down the edge of the ruler sevral time and you have a perfect line.

The easiest way to learn how to work with it is pick up a couple peices and try diffrent techniqes on them. Just don't burn it, because like most plastics it releases toxic vapors when it's burnt.

Crazybillybob

[Rankenphile]

Thanks, CBB.

He's right, it really is very easy stuff to work with. It is a fairly soft plastic, and so can be bent rather easily - using a light application of heat from a heat gun often softens it up enough to bend into shape, and when it cools it will retain the new shape, but is still not perfectly rigid. I don't recommend using heated knives to shape or cut this stuff, as it tends to pool and gather around heat, and thin sections will often gather away rom the heat source, leaving you with a mess. It does release toxic vapor, as CBB said, so if you do use heat to shape and form, make sure you do it in a well-ventilated area.

You can use model glue (available wherever you can buy model cars, planes, etc - Testors makes a good brand) for this, which basically melts and fuses two parts together in rigid bond. Again, do this in a very well-ventilated area.

If you need something more rigid, I recommend Cintra, which is basically a PVC foam-core plastic board. You can frequently get off-cut scrap from sign makers and such - it is a much thicker, and much more rigid and strong, plastic material that is just as easy to work with, although the added thickness and strength does make it slightly harder to cut.

[The Modfather]

Hmm so this is probably the stuff I should have used to make the tubes for my lights on my case, wish I'd know about it before this. Unfortunately the only hobby store near ne closed up shop a few months back. I'll have to get some online and try it out, thanks for the tips.