I want to build a depot with an interior. The styrene will only be the frame. I plan to use other material for the asbestos shingles. For my other buildings that will not have an interior, I plan to use the black foamboard method of construction.
Best place to purchase flat sheets of styrene? (not hobby shops).
Thanks,
Nate
Plastic supply houses (where I bought mine), sign shops, big box store sign department.
Dave H.
Wal Mart. For sale and yard sale type signs.
Like Dave, I get mine from a plastic supply warehouse - prices vary a bit by thickness. The last sheet of .060" that I bought was about $28.00, up about ten bucks from a year earlier. I cut it with a utility knife and use lacquer thinner for cement. I wish that there were a similar source for strip styrene, although for really large structures, I cement 1/2" wide strips of the .060" material at right angles to the backs of the walls for bracing.
Some of this is scratchbuilt from .060" sheet, and some is from Walthers kits, built as “fronts”, with the backs, roofs, and bracing from more .060" styrene.
This is built from DPM modular components, with the unseen backs, plus the roofs, bracing, and foundations from more .060" sheet.
This station was scratchbuilt from .060" sheet styrene, with modified windows left over from some Walthers Waterfront Warehouse kits.
I’d suggest using styrene for as much of the construction as possible - it’s easy to use, construction can go about as fast as you can fabricate the parts, and the finished product is surprisingly strong. If you are joining dissimilar materials, I’d suggest contact cement - it’ll give a better bond to styrene than will ca, and will last longer, too. For very large areas, such as shingles over a styrene sub-roof, I use a 1" brush to apply lacquer thinner to the styrene, as a “prep”, before applying the contact cement.
Wayne
That station looks amazing (and so do the other buildings) - how did you make the ‘stone work’, on the wall, is it scribed with a knife or how is it done?
Jesper
Thanks, Jesper. I used a #11 blade in an X-Acto to scribe in the lines between the “stones”, then flipped the blade over and used the dull back edge to widen the grooves. After each wall was completely scribed, I sanded off the material raised by the blade on both sides of the scribed lines.
Wayne
Absolutely beautiful work, Dr. Wayne!
Thanks, dante. [:)] Here are some more scratchbuilt styrene structures, although these were done using Evergreen siding and strips, with .060" sheet for the roofs and unseen backs.
(The grain elevator in this view is from Walthers)
Wayne