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I have seen many people talking about it. Where do you get it in the U.S.?

eBay. Just search plasticard or sheet polystyrene. Model train stores would also carry it.

Generally they can be found in hobbystores.

GW stores no, but generalized Hobbystores that sell plastic models, RC cars and everything all at once. The Hobbytown USA near me has 2 racks with plasticard tubes, sheets, I-beams and so on piled on them. Amazon and ebay or the great Interwebs beyond that.

Much of the plasticard I've gotten I've picked up from my local hardware store. Sheet styrene is on a little rack between the brass tubing and the PVC tubing.

For bigger stuff, there's a small industrial plastics wholesaler within driving distance that I get stuff from. They're more common than you might think - restaurants need custom signs and sneeze guards, etc. It might take a little searching, but you'd be surprised what you can find.

Go to home depot, look at their plastic yard/garage sale signs.

Works great.

If you want in bulk, I buy it in LARGE sheets for dirt cheap from us plastic supply.

best of luck!

If you cannot find a hobby store in your area that sells styrene, check out this website: http://www.hobbylinc.com/model-scratch-building-plastic-sheets-rods-tubes-strips

They have almost 700 different styrene products from the major manufactures, namely Evergreen Scale Models (which is what I buy because I can get it locally) and Plastruct. Like Dave said, the thin plastic signs from a home improvement store is great for building large items that need lots of support (like a Titan for instance). However, if you want things that like tubes/rods and stuff that looks like channel iron, angle iron, and I-beams you'll need to get it from from one of the a company that specializes in it.

I've personally found the various strips and square rods to be useful when working on Star Wars models to recreate any missing greebles and I use the tubes and I-beams a lot in 40K bases. Most of the stuff is pretty cheap and it never hurts to have a bunch lying around in case you need it for something.

Anyone know where I can get plasticard in Australia/Sydney area? :p

The US is the one place it's hard NOT to find it.

Both of the makers who do stuff for model railway/scale model work are located IN the USA.

Evergreen plastics and Plastruct.

The evergreen green and white display stands and the plastruct (generally) ORANGE display stand should stand out quite apparently - especially if the hobby store stocks model railway stuff.

Ask for "sheet styrene" NOT "plasticard" and you'll likely have more luck.

thank you for all the input gang

 chromedog wrote:
The US is the one place it's hard NOT to find it.

Both of the makers who do stuff for model railway/scale model work are located IN the USA.

Evergreen plastics and Plastruct.

The evergreen green and white display stands and the plastruct (generally) ORANGE display stand should stand out quite apparently - especially if the hobby store stocks model railway stuff.

Ask for "sheet styrene" NOT "plasticard" and you'll likely have more luck.

I'm not sure about Plastruct, but Evergreen is still quite expensive in the USA. It's ok if you just want a small amount of it, but it can definitely be gotten cheaper.

Oh, indubitably, but they are one of the MOST visible sellers in hobby stores.

FTR, Yes, plastruct is quite expensive, too.

OTOH, they do make stairs, ladders and stuff in scales close enough for 28mm gaming - they are also expensive compared to DIY, but handy to have.

If after larger amounts, look for plastics mobs that do "High Impact Polystyrene Sheeting" (HIPS).

Hobby Town USA, Hobby Lobby.

I’ve been buying the larger handicap parking signs form the local hardware stores. The signs are printed on .020”x19”x15” polystyrene sheets. A little thin but It’s good for most projects. Just, some time I have to remove the paint from one side.

An alternative is vinyl siding. It’s vastly cheaper, glues well with super glue but not as durable as the polystyrene and Testors plastic cement.

plasticard is polystyrene, which is the PS in a triangle or recycling number 6 for plastics.

I believe for sale signs you purchase at hardware stores grocery stores that are plastic to be put in the yard or on things are made from the same PS, and are very inexpensive.

I think the gaming aid company gale force 9 also sells some plasticard, I recall them have a a sleevepack of various thickness sheets, and maybe a second one of various thickness tubes which for the amount you get cost a lot less than evergreen.

For online, I recommend https://www.iplasticsupply.com/. It helps if you know what you're looking for, so you should be looking for high-impact styrene. This is bondable with any plastic cement.

Yeah, it's a LOT cheaper to buy it from the industrial places - even with the shipping charges.

On the other hand, I got something like 200 pounds worth of sheet styrene from a store that was getting rid of all of those DVD/CD dividers that they had. I'll never need to buy that thickness again.

davethepak wrote:
Go to home depot, look at their plastic yard/garage sale signs.

Works great.

I agree with this 100%! I get mine from hardware stores or the hardware dept. in Wal-Mart.

Amazon!

It's not hard to find plasticard, but it can be difficult to find the thickness you want. I agree the hardware store is the best place to find it.

You'd really be surprised how common this stuff is as packing material. A lot of retail stores just throw it away.

Down here in the antipodes, For Sale signs tend to be made from Corflute board (corrugated PVC board) or sintra (foamed PVC).

Aussies have been burned by suggestions from across the pond before ( ). We're all separated by that common language thing (but we get differences from UK AND US sources).

A large amount of the US signage is as well (especially the ones which are designed to last longer than a week or two) - though, the cheapest ones are still HIPS.

Like a lot of that sort of thing (when you are trying to repurpose things - for stuff they were not meant to be) you do have to go into it with your eyes open. HIPS does have a different feel to it than PVC and identifying foamed (cellular, sintra...) is pretty straight forward. Not that those things are necessarily a bad thing. PVC sheet is very useful as well. I actually prefer it for heavier construction.

For the signs though - I had started out doing it that way years ago...but generally speaking, you will get more bang for your buck buying from industrial suppliers than you will picking up for sale signs. No paint issues to deal with (many of the reflective paints used are quite good at repelling glues of all types) and you can specify thicknesses. $30 will get you several full sheets (40" x 72") in different thicknesses. You can eliminate shipping if you have a local sign shop tack it onto their order from their wholesale supplier as well. I often do that for the really thick stuff that they can't roll up and ship via UPS.