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Hey Dakka,

i'm just startig to use plasticard for some conversions (Making Eviscerators, Converting whirlwinds to exorcists.)
I've just never used it before, can you guys give me a few tips?

Thanks you

Measure twice cut once.

Howard A Treesong wrote:Measure twice cut once.

Best advice there is!!!

Also heat can be a real asset when trying to shape curves. I made some bad@ss riot shields for my Necromunda enforcers by cutting the shape out and placing them on a heated soda can. I've even made tattered parchment by cutting thin strips, gluing them to wire, and holding it over a stove for like 5 seconds.

Just keep in mind it doesnt take much time of heat and it almost acts like a shrinkydink (showing my age i think) where it will get slightly smaller and thicker.

Be safe!

If you want a straight cut, use a sharp heavy-duty modelling knife and a metal ruler. You'll neve rget nice edges with scissors. And alwas file the edges down a bit. Plasticard-cut is a lot worse then papercut...

A lot of great tips so far. Let me add my own two cents.

- Always use a sharp knife. Measure where you want to cut, and score along the plasticard lightly. I personally find a steel ruler with a cork back INDISPENSABLE.
- Buy several types of plasticard for your work. There's a variety of widths, lengths, and patterns available, as well as rods, tubes, squares, and hexes. An artist uses more than one color of paint, right? I find that I can never have too many types of plasticard. Gale Force 9 even has a variety pack of tubes and rods that will make your life all that much easier.
- Don't worry about getting it right the first time. If you're off, with plasticard, you can usually cover up or cut off your mistakes. Also, since it's so cheap, you can sometimes just scrap your work and try again! My first hurdle was being afraid of cutting in and making a mistake.

Hope this helps!

Try using a scribing tool to make straight-edge cuts, it won't curl the edge so no filing is necessary afterwards.

If you do use a hobby knife, make sure that it's SHARP. A dull blade can cause your cuts to be irregular, often requiring two cuts where one will do. Like a machine, the more moving parts (and the more those parts move), the more likely something will break or not perform optimally.

Lastly, make sure to invoke the runes of manufactotum, burn the holy incense of the Ad Mechanicum, and recite the devotion to St. Michel of Cadia, Protector of Craftsmen prior to any endeavor where the armor of faith will be tried in combat.

i was actually investigating making a home-made hot knife out of mono/razor wire and a couple batteries - like the polystyrene style hobby knives... will let you know how that works out.

this is the coolness you can achieve with plasticard and styrene rods and tubes:



dont mean to thread-jack

Depending on the thickness of the plasticard you can heat and mold it with a hairdryer.

There are small "hobby sized" dryers you can pick up at an art supply store like Hobby Lobby, Michael's, or AC Moore.

Remember to use the correct type of glue for your purpose, model cement will melt plasticard.

poptarticus wrote:Remember to use the correct type of glue for your purpose, model cement will melt plasticard.

Super glue works fine and you can scrape off any excess pretty easily once its formed.

thanks for the help, i'm starting on the exorcist conversions tonight, i'll post some progress pictures after my late class tonight.

This may have been covered already, one thing that is handy to know is that multiple soft cuts will give you a cleaner edge than one hard cut. It is less dangerous as well. Buy a 100 blade box for your hobby knife. I change out my blade sometimes as often as twice a week.

For anything over 0.5mm, you need to remember the 'score and snap' method. Do not try to cut all the way through, and simply snap along the cut line - it does work with curves as well (with paractice).

thanks for the help guys, in case anyone wanted to see here are the exorcist conversions

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/229450.page

Hell yea those look really good! nice conversions mate!

Anyone know where i can buy Plasticard sheet that look like metalfloor.

Q0rbin wrote:Anyone know where i can buy Plasticard sheet that look like metalfloor.

Try model railway suppliers as they always have these sorts of materials. There's one company called "Wills Kits" who do a whole range of textured plastic pieces as well as their normal buildings. They do various brick and stone effects, wood panneling, floorboards, corrugated metal, roof tiles and of course metal grate.

My tip -
Use a permenant marker to cover the area where you're going to cut.
Use a scribe to lightly mark out your design (you're basically scraping away the ink from the marker pen).
This will make setting out an acurate piece a lot easier.

I find usefull to use masking tape to fix both the plasticard piece and the metal rule to the table on the desired positions. When cutting thick plasticard you need to apply a lot of strength and that my cause the ruler to move while cutting.

And the obvious tip, given just in case, always stand on your feet when cutting, that will give you a better grip than when sitting.

You can also by steel rulers with rubber grips & figure guards - highly recommended if you want to keep your figure tips!!

Where can I find plasticard?

NEVER cut straigt through it it breaks knife blades rely easy(minebroke in half and lodged into my index finger)
score it to about halfway then gently snap it out(use a steel rule for straight cuts mind)