Hey, Guys

I am looking at the Styrene sheet and strip, there are so many in deferent sizes and shapes, I feel panic already by looking at those....... Can any of you give me a tutorial? I have no idea what I shoud have to get started.

Thank you so much

Jay

Tools are expensive!!!

Hey, Guys

I am looking at the Styrene sheet and strip, there are so many in deferent sizes and shapes, I feel panic already by looking at those....... Can any of you give me a tutorial? I have no idea what I shoud have to get started.

Thank you so much

Jay

Quoted Text

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Hey, Guys

I am looking at the Styrene sheet and strip, there are so many in deferent sizes and shapes, I feel panic already by looking at those....... Can any of you give me a tutorial? I have no idea what I shoud have to get started.

Thank you so much

Jay

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No need to panic. Long before there were available sizes & shapes people were scratchbuilding amazing models.

As long as you can measure, mark and cut parallel lines on sheet plastic, then sheet plastic is all you need. Everything else can be faked or made from sheet plastic.

Once you discover a need for a particular size of premade strip or shape stock, then buy just that. You'll soon build up a wide range of sizes(that still never seems to have exactly what you want at any given moment!) and can build with what you have in stock.

In terms of picking sheet thicknesses to acquire, I use .030" and .040" sheet for the main structure of larger items (hulls, turrets, jigs & fixtures, etc.).

.020-.030" I'll use to make hollow boxes, stowage, smaller turrets, places where I need to be somewhat "scale thickness". Also for surface details and heavy brackets.

.010 - .015" is good for scratchbuilding brackets, mountings, external frameworks, open doors/panels, etc. where you want things to look to scale. I know someone whoh scratchbuilds 1/76 tank hulhs & turrets (with interiors!)from .010" stock, but he's a nutter!

.005" stock is good for surface details and very, very fine & small brackets. Yuo have to be very careful gluing this stuff or it simply melts into a puddle of gooey Tenax.

Use less aggressive liquid cements for the very thin stuff, like Tamiya thick liquid or Testors liquid. Pro Weld, MEK and Tenax are too hot for the thinner (under .020") sheets unless you have serious skills.

For the thicker sheets, score the surface 2-3 times with a knife or scriber and then break off the length you need. Don't try to cut all the way through as yuo can distort things. The edges will always need some clean up, but there it is.

None of this will work the first time (or three) you try it, so practice, practice, practice. Practice making rectangular hollow boxes with lids first and then make some polygonal boxes. It will train you how to measure and fit to ensure the lid fits the box and that the sides overlap properly and everything is square & true.

Paul

Graeme's right - you can never have enough strip and styrene sheet. I must have 50 or 60 different sizes, widths, thicknesses and profiles of Evergreen strip alone.

I also keep multiple sheets of 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60 and 80 thou stryene in stock and replace it as I use it.

The trick is to start with a few basic packs and then build your stock as your skills and confidence grow.

Plans? what are they?. Seriously, although I often refer to plans if they are available, much of my work is done by eye. I build a photo reference of the project I want to build. I'll spend hours hunting the internet (and I mean long hours), collecting walk-rounds, written reference and related data and then build a scrapbook of that material into a single place - either on my PC or more usually printed out and placed in a ring binder.

Be prepared to fail - you suddently realise that what you are building isn't right for some reason. Sure, that project may be scrapped but never lose sight of the fact you will have learnt something from it that can be applied to your next project. The number of times I've built a component, only to realise it's too small or too big and have to start again...

Your greatest assets are time and patience - don't rush a job.

Oh yeah - take short cuts where you can. 'near enough is good enough' as far as my work is concerned. As long as it's straight and true, plus it looks right to me, then that's what matters.

Regards,
John

Hey, Guys

I am looking at the Styrene sheet and strip, there are so many in deferent sizes and shapes, I feel panic already by looking at those....... Can any of you give me a tutorial? I have no idea what I shoud have to get started.

Thank you so much

Jay

Quoted Text

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Hey, Guys

I am looking at the Styrene sheet and strip, there are so many in deferent sizes and shapes, I feel panic already by looking at those....... Can any of you give me a tutorial? I have no idea what I shoud have to get started.

Thank you so much

Jay

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Evergreen puts together a mixed bag which has a little bit of everything to get started with. Get this and start out small and as you get a feel for it you can expand boith in plastic and tools. Have fun!!

Hi Jay.

It's difficult to say you what materials do you need because, to work in scratch, you will need a lot of references and tools.

I think that the best option will be if you show to us your project, the model that you want to make and the model base that you have. With these basic ingredients, I'm sure we could help to you.

You will need to purchase the tools and materials step by step.

Best regards.

Pedro.

That's exactly it and like I said start small and work your way up until you get a feel for the scratchbuild and then expand as you go.It's taken me 20 years to aquire the tools I use for scratch building and I am still learn to this day. AND REMEMBER HAVE FUN WITH IT!!!!