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I think I'm going to be ambitious and try to scratch build a thunderhawk from plasticard / styrene. I have done very little serious scratch build work, and zero work with plasticard. I was looking online at different plans and examples of scratchbuilt thunderhawks, and they seem like something I can manage.

So here's my question Dakka - what do I need to know about working with plasticard? What's the optimal thickness to work with? How easy is it to cut? How well does it glue? How much will it need in way of cross beam supports, etc?

Thanks!

I would say 1mm. Thinner and it is too flexible. Thicker and it is too difficult to cut.

You will probably need to build some internal framing to make the card body more rigid. Where necessary you can sandwich two pieces of card together.

Plastic card is either polystyrene or ABS and cements very well with liquid poly cement or Revell cement. Avoid the GW glue which is too thick.

Use the score and snap technique to do straight cuts. Cut along a steel ruler, then bend the card along the line of the cut and it will snap easily.

Arcs, circular cuts and curved cuts can be done with a circle cutter and/or a swivel knife. You'll often need to do several passes of the blade to cut through.

You can use file, sandpaper or emery boards to true up rough cuts. Don't despise the use of putty to cover any cracks in the final build. It will be concealed by the paint job.

I've got two other bits of advice.

Firstly, do some cutting and assembly of something simple before you tackle the main project. It will help your hands get used to the feel of the tools and materials.

Secondly, Measure Twice and Cut Once!

Finally, Good Luck! And please post some pictures!!

^What he said.

Killkrazy seems to have covered it.

what I did when building my warhound titan is to print the patterns out on adhesive paper that way I just printed out the patterns and stuck them directly to the plasticard. you still want to use a straightedge as not to cut inside the lines though..

that reminds me I need to finish my warhound!! just need to get tubes for the hydraulics and weapons!

on my ork vehicles I'm making right now I have discovered the difference rivets make. a mcgill 2 hole button punch and very thin plasticard can make a lot of rivits quickly

My tip - use a parmanent marker to colour in the rough area of the cut. Then use a scribe to mark out the piece.
If your gentle enough you won't scratch the plasticard so a mistake is easier to recify. Also the mark will not get rubbed off easily (like with pencil) and is thin (unlike a marker pen / sharpy).