Styrene

[batana]

I work plains in 1/72 and 1/48 scale, and plan to work armour in 1/35 scale.

So, I need most usable styrene sheets, beems, and other stuff.

[RedHeadKevin]

For sheets: If you go to a hardware store, the "for sale" or "garage sale" signs are thin styrene sheet. The smaller signs are either .010" or .015", and the bigger signs are .020". Much more economical than buying "modeling" styrene. For strips, tubes and shapes, I recommend getting lots, but you don't have to do it all at once. I buy another pack or two of strip/rod/tube every time I go to the LHS, so I've got quite a collection by now. Also, if you can find them, Evergreen puts out an "Odds and Ends" pack, which is half a pound of assorted plastic. This is great for starting a collection without buying a whole pack of everything.

[Hawkeye's Hobbies]

For sheets: If you go to a hardware store, the "for sale" or "garage sale" signs are thin styrene sheet. The smaller signs are either .010" or .015", and the bigger signs are .020". Much more economical than buying "modeling" styrene. For strips, tubes and shapes, I recommend getting lots, but you don't have to do it all at once. I buy another pack or two of strip/rod/tube every time I go to the LHS, so I've got quite a collection by now. Also, if you can find them, Evergreen puts out an "Odds and Ends" pack, which is half a pound of assorted plastic. This is great for starting a collection without buying a whole pack of everything.

If you noticed he lives in Belgrade, which is in Serbia, so he doesn't have access to such places like we do. I remember I responded to a similar request/post last year about this time. Feeling generous I filled a large envelope with styrene stock of various sizes and thicknesses and sent it to him...I'll have to look back through my post office receipts to confirm it was him. I sent him the stuff under the condition he'd send pictures of the progress of his work...never saw anything.

[RedHeadKevin]

Whoops... I missed that. Oh well, there's always FedEx from any of a hundred styrene suppliers.

[Hawkeye's Hobbies]

There are plenty of retailers in the EU that sell styrene stock...just going to need to shop on the dark side...a model railroad shop. :unsure:

[batana]

@Hawkeye's Hobbies

I am sorry to disappoint you, because I didn’t receive anything from anyone outside of Serbia in my life.

But I don’t understand why if I’m from Serbia, automatically mean that I want something to cheat???

I just want to find out best dimensions for styrene to buy, because on evergreen there is too much.

But if it so difficult ok, just do not label me as a cheater.

Batana

[Fishwelding]

Batana if you cannot obtain Evergreen, Plastruct, or other stuff sold for hobby use easily, start looking around. I see people from all around the world here building models with an amazing assortment of plastics taken from everyday things. Use a bottle of solvent cement (the water-like stuff) to test and see if it will weld or melt plastic. If it can be welded to model parts, you have what you need.

RedheadKevin, I hadn't thought about those signs until you mention them. Good tip!

Edited December 29, 2009 by Fishwelding

[Hawkeye's Hobbies]

I found the emails that I exchanged with the individual. It was NOT Batana. I apologize, I had no intention of accusing anyone of being a cheat. We have had people pop on these forums misrepresenting themselves. One clue is how long they have been a member and the number of posts posted. My comment was meant as a cautionary one, like the Russian proverb...Trust but verify.

[dahut]

By way of keeping this on track for the requisite 5-10 posts, Belgrade is not a backwater outpost on the muddy banks of the Danube. For those who don't know, it is the 4th largest city in SE Europe (1.6M+ inhabitants), and was the capital of the former Yugoslavia until 2006. Its noble history spans centuries, and it is currently being touted as Europe's, "City of the Future." I wish I had money to invest there....

With this in mind, I found it hard to fathom that batana was having difficulty finding styrene sheet and bits there. Every major city in Europe has several hobby shops and at least a modeling club or two. There is also the internet and a common currency, the Euro.

But if I am to understand him correctly, it isn't as much the lack of plastic, but the lack of knowledge about proper scale he is inquiring after. With that in mind, I offer the following suggestions/method.

What you have to do is consider the common dimensions of most things, and then apply scale conversions to them.

For example, a 3"/76.2mm piece of armor plate would be 2.17mm thick in 1/35 scale.**

This useful scale conversion factor is determined by taking 1 and dividing it by 35, or 1/35 = .0286

Now use this number, .0286, multiplying it by whatever dimensions are found on 1:1 articles.

This works the same for any scale, BTW, 1/48, 1/72 etc...

** I use the metric convention here because you are in Europe, batana. There is no direct fractional equivalent for 3" in 1/35 scale - the result of the scale conversion is .086". This is mid-point between 5/64 and 3/32, which is outside normal dimensional convention. Here in the USA, most styrene found in hobby shops is in fractional equivalents, so about all we Yanks can do with that is get close

In Europe that might be different. One hopes so!

Edited December 30, 2009 by dahut

[Fishwelding]

By way of keeping this on track for the requisite 5-10 posts, Belgrade is not a backwater outpost on the muddy banks of the Danube. For those who don't know, it is the 4th largest city in SE Europe (1.6M+ inhabitants), and was the capital of the former Yugoslavia until 2006. Its noble history spans centuries, and it is currently being touted as Europe's, "City of the Future." I wish I had money to invest there....

With this in mind, I found it hard to fathom that batana was having difficulty finding styrene sheet and bits there. Every major city in Europe has several hobby shops and at least a modeling club or two. There is also the internet and a common currency, the Euro.

But if I am to understand him correctly, it isn't as much the lack of plastic, but the lack of knowledge about proper scale he is inquiring after. With that in mind, I offer the following suggestions/method.

As an American, even if I know Belgrade's position as one of Europe's premier urban centers, it still doesn't tell me much about his hobby shopping ability. After all, many Americans living in their own major cities increasingly can't reach a good hobby shop, as the latter are an endangered species here. It not our perception of his situation, but our knowledge of our own that fuels our assumptions.

[dahut]

As an American, even if I know Belgrade's position as one of Europe's premier urban centers, it still doesn't tell me much about his hobby shopping ability. After all, many Americans living in their own major cities increasingly can't reach a good hobby shop, as the latter are an endangered species here. It not our perception of his situation, but our knowledge of our own that fuels our assumptions. :lol:

Well, in posts 1 & 6 he told us what his needs were, "...I work plains (planes) in 1/72 and 1/48 scale, and plan to work armour in 1/35 scale.... So, I need most usable styrene sheets, beams, and other stuff. I just want to find out best dimensions for styrene to buy, because on evergreen there is too much."

I read this as he can get Evergreen, somewhere, but is unsure of the proper sizes he should have for scale fidelity.

Since there was a seeming disconnect about his location, I just thought a nice little geographical diversion would be enlightening. Few of us know anything about places like Serbia.

I used to correspond with Czech and (formerly) Yugo modelers some years ago, before the internet, and have traveled there. Thanks to this exposure, I found that they take modeling very seriously and were rarely short of materials, as I recall. Today, with the resurgence of the European market and the rise of the Euro, they are probably in a better position than we may imagine. Just look at the seemingly unending supply of modeling items coming out of that area, these days, for a hint.

Also, note the increasing numbers of Euro modelers here, at ARC. Aside from those UK members we see, the rest are invariably from the former Slav states. They have their own internet sites, they can visit; many of them.

But the fact that you see them spilling over here is a harbinger of both their burgeoning numbers and their increased presence. The modeling community over there is a tight knit bunch and I'm willing to bet that, while our LHS is a fading thing, such is not the case for him. If I were to make an educated guess, I'd say his hobby shopping needs are well met.

[Chuck1945]

I build 1/72 so can help some with that scale. I use Evergreen materials. For sheets, 0.010 and 0.015 inch have been the most useful, although 0.020 and 0.030 also has an occasional use. All the small diameter rods are good as are an assortment of strips in both square ancd rectangular cross sections. Larger sizes will have an occasional use for making various boxes, radios, etc.

edited to correct a lost decimal place in stock thickness.

Edited December 30, 2009 by Chuck1945

[dahut]

I build 1/72 so can help some with that scale. I use Evergreen materials. For sheets, 0.10 and 0.15 inch have been the most useful, although 0.20 and 0.30 also has an occasional use. All the small diameter rods are good as are an assortment of strips in both square ancd rectangular cross sections. Larger sizes will have an occasional use for making various boxes, radios, etc.

So Evergreen styrene is sold in decimal equivalents, too? I was looking at some similar plastic yesterday, and it was in fractional values.

Now that is interesting, and certainly less bothersome in making conversions. Ill check that out...

[Chuck1945]

So Evergreen styrene is sold in decimal equivalents, too? I was looking at some similar plastic yesterday, and it was in fractional values.

Now that is interesting, and certainly less bothersome in making conversions. Ill check that out...

Smaller dimensions are decimal parts of an inch, not sure just where the changeover occurs, and I realize I lost a decimal place in my first post - the dimensions I mentioned should be 0.0x inch - for exmple 0.010 inch sheet stock, not 0.10.

Edited December 30, 2009 by Chuck1945

[dahut]

I went to my local hobby shop today and they didn't have Evergreen - only Plastruct products. What they did have was also in a combination of sizes, both fractional and decimal equivalents. While it may seem like a trivial thing to some, it makes a difference to scale fidelity.

I thoroughly enjoyed perusing the miniature girders, I-beams and so on which they had there, but be warned - this stuff is pricey. It is probably the only source for faithful reproductions of such things, but expect a thinner wallet at exit if you need to buy very much of this stuff.

So how does this relate to the OP's questions. Well.... it really doesn't, but it was interesting.

With Chucks information, though, we can extrapolate a bit. If .010, .015, .020, .030 are useful sizes in 1/72 we can assume the same conversions apply to those numbers for the other scales - in reverse.

1/72 to 1/48 is equal to a 150% increase, or one and half times as large. This gives us...

Useful 1/48 Evergreen plastic sheet and strip

.010(1.5) = .015

.015 " = .0225

.020 " = .030

.030 " = .045

1/72 to 1/35 equals a 205% increase, a doubling in size. This means...

Useful 1/35 Evergreen sheet and strip

.020"

.030"

.040"

.060"

NOTE: 1/35 is close enough to 1/32, that the difference can be forgiven and the same numbers apply.

Edited December 30, 2009 by dahut