Building supplies

lou210 · Post by **lou210** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:33 pm

I may be wrong but I thought you could buy sheets of plastic like you can buy balsa wood? If so does anybody know an online store that sells it? Also what can one use to make rifle slings?

grunt1 · Post by **grunt1** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:19 pm

Plastruct makes a ton of basic plastic sheets for hobbies. They also have a wide variety of textured sheets (bricks, stone walls, roof tiles, etc..) and various dowels and studs as well. Trees, buildings, and the list goes on..

http://www.plastruct.com

You can buy directly from them, through one of their online dealers or any HobbyTown USA carries a decent supply of their stuff in stock.

echoes · Post by **echoes** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 6:51 am

grunt1 Thank you so much I have been trying to find a site like that for so long thank you

pickelhaube · Post by **pickelhaube** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 8:28 am

You can make your slings from old tooth paste tubes. Easy to cut (kind of) and it bends and stays were you put it.

lou210 · Post by **lou210** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 5:31 pm

Thanks for info guys....I'm trying to build a bulldozer version of the Sherman tank or at least a hedge row cutter

WGP Klaus · Post by **WGP Klaus** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:23 am

You can also try your LHS (local hobby shop) as most that stock plastic models carry Plastruct products, or perhaps your local craft store (Michaels, AC Moore, Hobby Lobby).

Jesse James · Post by **Jesse James** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:48 pm

If you need lots of simple sheet ABS (styrene) plastic, do NOT buy from hobby shops... Avoid at all costs.

Find a plastics distributor near you that sells sheets of styrene first... For $60 you'll walk away with enough plastic to do 30 1:18 tanks and have scraps left over. Hobby plastics are usually shapes, or vacu-formed patterns (brick, wood siding, corrugated steel, etc.), and they're expensive. The plain sheets are equally expensive. I tend to only buy plastic at the hobby shop when I need a shape, a design/pattern, or something specific (tubing, ladders, etc.).

When I just want plastics for scratch-building models, I buy from distributors or elsewhere. "For Sale" signs at WM are simply sheets of styrene... They're cheaper than buying at the hobby shop. Don't let them suck ya in! I got like 50 of those For Sale signs one year for $.10 each on clearance at WM... Tons of a good gauge plastic for hobby work.

Slings on rifles, if we're talking 1:18 scale, I'd personally avoid plastic in general and go for a thin elastic band in the color you want... A 2-part plastic welder like Devcon's would bond it to the weapon quite well I think.