Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've been lurking here for years, and trying to emulate some of the amazing projects that you guys do. King Kracker, Victor von domm and Wazzoo have done some truly brilliant things with this 'styrene sheets' and what appear to be styrene dowel rods. Is there any place near Springfield, IL, that you can buy them? I have already checked the Hobby Lobbies and such, and I know you can get huge thick styrene sheets at lumber yards and home improvement stores, but where do you guys get the thin sheets and rods?

I have ordered mine online from an architects supplier. They sell evergreen scale model polystyrene stuff. You might have to do the same and order online. Maybe searching of evergreen scale model can lead you to a webshop in your areas that sell it.
Or you could contact them directly on their site and ask them for a retailer close to you.
http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com

Evergreen and Plastruct are the main suppliers, at least stateside. Their websites should have a retailer list, as bt;doomhammer mentioned.

I was under the impression that Hobby Lobby carried some stock from at least one of the two, but I guess I was mistaken. A quick search tells me that there are at least two independent hobby stores in Springfield (Springfield Hammer's Hobbies and Castle Trains and Treasures), though, both of which claim to carry "construction materials" - rather vague, but a quick email or phone call would tell you, for sure.

Also, are you sure about the home improvement store/lumber yard thing? Most plastic "for sale" (and similar) signs are made of useable styrene sheet, but I've never seen large sheets sold by anyone but an industrial plastics supplier. Unless your stores carry very different stock than mine, you might be thinking of extruded polystyrene insulation boards (a rigid foam, usually pink or blue). That stuff is plenty useful in its own right, but a very different material.

If all else fails, there's always the option of ordering online. Plenty of hobby shops have webstores, nowadays, and there are lots of Ebay sellers that cater to modelers. As always, shop around a bit before buying - some have reasonable prices and shipping, others will try to gouge you on one or the other (or both...).

Whistle Post Hobby Shop sells Plastruct products out of Springfield IL. They should have all kinds of stuff you'll find useful for hobby purposes.

Okey dokey, thanks guys. Time to find the elusive Evergreen distributors and maybe some of those others.

raboesch does really good stuff. They do nice thick ones I use on large terrain pieces and bases for flyers. They are from holland but have lots of UK and USA suppliers if you look around. Bigger sheets in general than evergreen too.