Need Some Help Getting Started With Styrene

[john893 9]

Hello everyone, I have been looking over TC the last few months and have been blown away with what some people are able to create out of Styrene. Not sure of the users names, but the guy who made the super detailed plow on his custom 3 speed and the guy who made all the work benches and tire racks were super impressive to me and got me interested in trying my hand at it. I know I can't expect to make pieces of that caliber out of the gate (or ever for that matter) but to make a simple interior for my lunchbox so I can have a driver and small projects like that would take my models to the next level.

Because like most of us I don't have a ton of time to spend on my hobby (full time job, 4 kids...) I was wondering if anyone had some good tips on how to get started. From what size and thickness of styrene works the best for our scale cars, to the best sealer, and tools to work with it. I know nothing about it, I went to a store today that had evergreen styrene, but I didn't even know where to start as far as size and what pieces to pick out. I was thinking about buying the book that evergreen wrote as a starting point, does anyone have this book and is it a worth while read? I also figured asking some of the people here who have worked with it might be a good start as well.

I would like to start by making something similar to what Joe Anderson on Tamiyausa.com did with the sand scorcher build ( http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/feature.php?article-id=465 ) for an interior for my Lunchbox.

Thanks guys, and I did try to search but didn't come up with much.

John

[simensays 326]

Buy different sheets for different needs, The sheets from Evergreen are cheap, so you can't go wrong. Improvise and have fun. I usually work with a variation of 1mm and up to 2 mm flat styrene, but profiled like I beamms, L beams, H beams, square and round tubes, also form a great basis of materials to work with, depending on what you want to achieve. A lot of household items can be used also, and you find lots of useful stuff in in your fridge or round the house. I am currently working on a a hard top for one of my Wild Willys, and the corners from a Haagen Daz ice cream box was a good solution for the tricky to build rounded corners.

Myself, I work with super simple basic tools, sharp knife, cutting mat, various sort of measuiring tools, dremel (with assorted accessories), pencil, sand paper, plastic cement and epoxy etc.

A good learning tip, is study other peoples great work, techniques and approach. In my book, planning and measuring is half the job. Which is free, and something to do while doing other stuff (well, the planning that is).

The interior build that Joe is doing looks great, and there are lots of similar projects been done here on TC (and perhaps even more builds like that on various scale rc sites), like:

Rads Snap-On Scorcher - link

Wyomings 2012 Apocalyspse build Scorcher - link

I noticed Joe A. has mounted the rear wheel on his SS backwards, shame on you Joe

The same goes for the SS in the old Tamiya catalogue though.

[SilverRC 0]

What is the best type of glue to use with styrene?

[spaint2k 0]

You can use superglue (CA), liquid poly or even white glue.

Some of the sheet styrene shops out there sell "special" liquid glues for bonding sheet styrene. I thought it was a bit of a scam and probably just regular liquid poly till I realized that my stuff wasn't sticking so well. I think it's a specialized formulation of liquid poly with a solvent specific to styrene plastics. If you can find it, it'd be well worth trying out.

[markbt73 5850]

Check out this forum over at Scale 4x4... Styrene Extreme

Lots of good information over there, and some amazing craftsmanship.

[WillyChang 1818]

You can use superglue (CA), liquid poly or even white glue.

Some of the sheet styrene shops out there sell "special" liquid glues for bonding sheet styrene. I thought it was a bit of a scam and probably just regular liquid poly till I realized that my stuff wasn't sticking so well. I think it's a specialized formulation of liquid poly with a solvent specific to styrene plastics. If you can find it, it'd be well worth trying out.

CA & white glue don't stick very well... unless that is your aim.

Styrene cement actually welds the 2 surfaces together to become 1, there is no glued joint remaining.

The pieces won't fall apart at the joint when you work them - file, sand, cut, drill.

Especially important if your styrene blank isn't big/thick enough for your work & you need to buildup.

[Sideways-King 1]

The liquid I use is called Plastic Weld made by E.M.A Model Supplies Ltd., and works perfect. As mentioned by WillyChang it actually welds the two pieces together practically in an instant and is not messy like glue. The glue won't stick styrene very well at all. For £2.50 and with liberal brushing I've still got 3/4 of the 57ml bottle after building all of the Garage Scene.

I use 0.5mm sheets when you want to bend and manipulate and 1-2mm for all the strong builds. 'I' beams and 'L' angles in various sizes are a perfect for joints etc.. Honestly let your imagination go wild as you can literally build anything and with it not being messy you will have loads of confidence in no time.

Tools wise it's a sharp knife set which you can score then bend to split for a perfect line, ruler, mitre box set and scissors.

All the best

Chris

[knotty 0]

The liquid I use is called Plastic Weld made by E.M.A Model Supplies Ltd., and works perfect. As mentioned by WillyChang it actually welds the two pieces together practically in an instant and is not messy like glue. The glue won't stick styrene very well at all. For £2.50 and with liberal brushing I've still got 3/4 of the 57ml bottle after building all of the Garage Scene.

I use 0.5mm sheets when you want to bend and manipulate and 1-2mm for all the strong builds. 'I' beams and 'L' angles in various sizes are a perfect for joints etc.. Honestly let your imagination go wild as you can literally build anything and with it not being messy you will have loads of confidence in no time.

Tools wise it's a sharp knife set which you can score then bend to split for a perfect line, ruler, mitre box set and scissors.

All the best

Chris

Where do you get the I beams and L angled styrene from?Anyone got any links for uk based stores that do them?

[Sideways-King 1]

Where do you get the I beams and L angled styrene from?Anyone got any links for uk based stores that do them?

Try HERE knotty they have a good selection on offer though I'm a product of the Metric era and these are Imperial measurements.

[knotty 0]

Cheers.i`ll have a scout through that later on