What Plasticard thicknesses do you use most?

[Son of a gun-ner]

.....its just Heng Long uses the worst plastic on the planet...

Amen!

You two know how to cheer me up. . . .

[BarryC]

Hey Mick,

One of the great things about working in 1/16" scale and working with styrene is that Evergreen produces material thicknesses that match scale dimensions very closely. 1/16" + .0625" styrene .060" and so own. I find it very easy to match "closely" measurements to get pretty accurate rendering. So I keep a selection of everything from .005" - .080" and combo as needed to get desired thickness. I use .020", .030" and .040" the most followed by .060".

When it come to building structural assemblies or reinforcing existing structure I used the thickest I can get away with.

Barry

[Son of a gun-ner]

Thanks Barry, I think I've only seen it down to fifteen or ten thou, not seen any five
In the UK the sellers mention the imperial and metric thicknesses.
I can cope with either, and as 5/8ths is dead close to 16mm, and that makes in this scale, 1mm (0.040) is 5/8ths, 0.5mm (0.020) is 5/16ths and so on

[General Jumbo01]

I seem to remember being told by someone who ought to know that HengLong use ABS, not styrene for their hulls/decks. It's certainly more stiff and brittle than usual kit material and more like the plastics used in the motor industry, which is ABS. I confess l don't know what glue would work best for binding both together but if the styrene melts then it would form a bond anyway. You know, of course, that I'm a great fan of ShoeGoo....

Sent from my ASUS_T00G using Tapatalk

[Son of a gun-ner]

I really do not believe that HL uses ABS... But if you have to weld ABS use acetone...

ShoeGoo----Shoot me now!!

Some of the plumbing glues/weld are for ABS, just a case of getting the right one, I may already have some

[Dusty Steppes]

I use Plastruct Bondene Styrene & ABS plastic solvent cement. It bonds styrene to styrene and abs to abs. It will not bond styrene to abs. The two pieces of plastic that you want to bond have to be similar. Be sure to use in a well ventilated area.

[Son of a gun-ner]

The plumbing glue I'm thinking of will stick/weld ABS to ABS, PVC to PVC, and ABS to PVC.

Still probably not the right glue. But I will experiment

Thanks for the tip Mr Dusty Steppes

[43rdRecceReg]

Roy, I use Plastic Weld (Methylene Chloride) from E M A Model Supplies,
And yes do use it in a well ventilated area,
Clean the sheets with Acrylic Thinners, Lay the sheet on a flat surface then using a brush lightly apply the "Plastic Weld" to the central area of the sheet,
Capillary action will spread the fluid to all parts of the sheet,
Place the second sheet on top and a thin film of both surfaces will melt into each other making a single sheet.
It is surprisingly economical.
I bought a single 57ml bottle last year fully expecting to buy more this year but my original bottle is still 3/4 full.
White spirit or Cellulose thinners will clean the brush.

So do I, Shaun, but I swear that stuff is so potent it can almost eat its way out of a glass bottle. I use it to seal the seams of joints ( much as Alwyn does, I believe) as it performs well from the capillary point of view, as you say.
Caution is needed, however, not merely from the potency of the fumes (even in a ventilated space) but because inadvertent drips can ruin the surface of parts you didn't intend to bond.
Laminating is not my thing, but I do build layers up for specific bulkier components...much in the way that 3-D printers do

[Son of a gun-ner]

I have a piece of plywood that fits over my hob in the kitchen, a perfect little work top. I can switch on the extractor and open the back door

[RobW]

I have a piece of plywood that fits over my hob in the kitchen, a perfect little work top. I can switch on the extractor and open the back door

Metal will transfer the heat better......