Hello I work for a gasket company and we made some spacer’s out of .080 white styrene. And I can keep the scrap if I want it. Is this to thick ? It is smooth on both sides. It is in odd shapes. I model in ho. Thanks Frank
Scarp? Is that a fish or something?
David B
DB-
I thought an upper side of a vertical fault line?
actually, you should be able to use the pieces for small building sides etc—have fun
Hello yep can’t spell today. I need some small building’s. I will need something thinner for the roof. Do you think it’s to thick to make stacks of lumber out of it. Thanks for the ideas Frank
Providing my handy spreadsheet is working correctly, .080 works out to about 7 inches.
Ricky
Well, I guess it would be helpful if the scraps were large enough to do something with. For a few years I would exhibit at a trade show that used styrene sheets to make the vendor signs that were hung up to identify the booths. When the show was over, most would just be pitched.
So I started going around the grabbing as many as I could. Each one measured about 36" x 8". They used laser cut vinyl lettering, so that could be peeled off to leave a nice clean piece of styrene sheet. I’ve used them for a variety of projects:
The smallest would be the base for these gondola loads:
and the largest would be the fascias around the peninsula…
The most complex would be the floor of my roundhouse…
as well as the roof…
Never be afraid of a little dumpster diving! That’s what I say!
Lee
Guys, I spent years paying big $$ at the LHS for little peices of plastic sheet. Then, by chance, I ran across a plastic wholesaler just 35min from my house. They sold me a 4’x8’ .080 sheet, cut to my specs for $26. I once figured out what you would pay for the same thing from a LHS, I think it was around $480. For thiner stuff, I use “for sale” signs.
I’ve got a wholeslaer here that sells many different thicknesses of 4X8 styrene sheets. Picked up .020 and .060 for 28 bucks and change.
Check the yellow pages under plastics.
Ricky
.080 is a little more than a 1/16 inch, thin enough to score with a knife and break. It will make fine buildings, rolling stock, just about anything. Any of the various brands of “plastic welder” will glue it together good and strong.
I didn’t know there was such a thing as “scrap” anything in model railroading. Given time, I can find a use for just about anything.
If you are into scratchbuilding then I think you just struck a gold mine. This styrene dimensions out to just a hair short of 7" in HO-Scale; a hair short of 13" in N-Scale. These are pretty good dimensions for heavy members of bridges, roofs, etc. In HO-Scale 7" is a good dimension for things like the concrete walls you find in tip-up buildings.
Hello thanks for the info about what I can do with this stuff. Work calls it scrap not me. We cut all kinds of stuff at work. I got most of my roadbed from here. We cut gasket’s from the same cork/rubber that they make roadbed from. I can get it in .062,.125,.187, and .250 thick I just have to cut it to size. I have some stuff called MT-540 it is a gray/black color it’s only .015 thick. I think it will make good asphalt roads. I am getting into scratchbuilding so I look at everything to see if I can use it.
Lee you did a grate job on that round house.Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the help Frank p.s. what is a tip-up building
That’s a building, like a modern warehouse, where the perimeter concrete walls are prefabricated, trucked out the site, and “tipped up” into place.
I’d feel like I died and gone to heaven if I had the kind of access to raw modeling materials that you do. I’m very jealous! If you come across stuff you can’t use, I’ll gladly give you my home address. [:-^]
Jim