Generic polystyrene vs. Evergreen?

[Jens Andrée]

Recently I had to buy some Evergreen polystyrene sheets to use for strengthening a wonky kit.
What sort of chocked me a bit was the price... £7 for a small piece of polystyrene?
That would make scratch built models silly expensive...

Are there any generic polystyrene substitute one can buy and use or is it hard to find this in the normal retail market?

With those prices it's almost worth having a go at dissolving all the empty sprues in acetone and pour this out on metal trays to evaporate and harden. Nowhere near the same precision though...

You scratch builders and tweakers, are you using Evergreen or have you found a cheaper solution?

 

[m1ks]

I bought a couple of sheets years ago, I think if memory serves, 0.5mm and 0.25 ish about A4 size from a model shop that no longer exists in my local (75 miles away), town.
I don't recall if they were evergreen but I do recall they were something like £2 and £2.50 respectively, even with the intervening years, £7 for a small piece seems excessive!

 

[Thorbrand]

Are you refering to plasticard? Plastics in sheet form are normally expensive, take clear acrylic sheets for example theyre about £10 per sqaure metre. I would suggest looking around to see if there is any scrap you can use. That way its free! The only thing to worry about is the thickness and whether it reacts to poly cement

 

[Gern]

Hi Jens. It's always worth looking on ebay. I found this under model kits:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-Sheets...hash=item3f86101145:m:mccpYNTjYLa6uTootfXBGng

Much cheaper than what you paid. You can quite often find job lots of assorted strips and sheets as well.

PS I forgot to mention you can get endless supplies of thin sheet material from yougurt pots and ice cream or butter containers.

 

[Jens Andrée]

Hi Jens. It's always worth looking on ebay. I found this under model kits:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-Sheets...hash=item3f86101145:m:mccpYNTjYLa6uTootfXBGng

Much cheaper than what you paid. You can quite often find job lots of assorted strips and sheets as well.

PS I forgot to mention you can get endless supplies of thin sheet material from yougurt pots and ice cream or butter containers.

Hmmm... as a rather senior user of eBay I should've thought about checking there of course...

Plasticard prices were a lot cheaper than Evergreen so case closed I think. Thanks!

Trying to dissolve my own sprues in acetone is something I will try anyway I think because recycling always wins if you can pull it off.

Cheers,
Jens

 

[PaulTRose]

Trying to dissolve my own sprues in acetone is something I will try anyway I think because recycling always wins if you can pull it off.

what you actually going to make is known as Mek after the solvents name (methyl ethyl ketone....had to look it up!)......what its actually best for is if you keep it an air tight jar and using as 'filler' on big gaps.....afterall you are using styrene so it has the strength of the same thing you are filling,.......easy to sand but can be a bit 'gooey' to apply

 

[Jens Andrée]

what you actually going to make is known as Mek after the solvents name (methyl ethyl ketone....had to look it up!)......what its actually best for is if you keep it an air tight jar and using as 'filler' on big gaps.....afterall you are using styrene so it has the strength of the same thing you are filling,.......easy to sand but can be a bit 'gooey' to apply

I'm regularly using polystyrene dissolved in MEK as filler on my models but the plan here was to use acetone instead (cheaper) and create my own sheets of polystyrene.
If it'll work I've got no clue, but unless my chemistry is too off, acetone should be rather effective doing this.?

 

[Gern]

what you actually going to make is known as Mek after the solvents name (methyl ethyl ketone....had to look it up!)......what its actually best for is if you keep it an air tight jar and using as 'filler' on big gaps.....afterall you are using styrene so it has the strength of the same thing you are filling,.......easy to sand but can be a bit 'gooey' to apply

Phil Flory uses his own liquid plastic filler made from liquid glue and polystyrene chunks - he does it in various mixes of cement and styrene to get different 'thicknesses'. I think he did some experiments with other additives to set up a commercial venture to sell the stuff but I don't know if he ever marketed it.

 

[rickoshea52]

Something to bear in mind with Evergreen and Plasticard product lines is that the sheets are extruded to fairly accurate and regular thicknesses, you know that you will get what the label says time after time. I would think that the price of such material factors in this quality control.

 

[col68]

I've just picked up 2 plasticard sheets of 1mm thick a4 size for £3.90 at my local shop £7,00 is a bit excessive.

 

[stillp]

I'm regularly using polystyrene dissolved in MEK as filler on my models but the plan here was to use acetone instead (cheaper) and create my own sheets of polystyrene.
If it'll work I've got no clue, but unless my chemistry is too off, acetone should be rather effective doing this.?

Isn't MEK a restricted substance now? I seem to remember that it is carcinogenic, or mutagenic, or possibly both?

Pete

 

[stillp]

To answer my own question, apparently not - see the UK Gov't info:
 Toxic by all routes of exposure
 Chemical classification: irritant
 Inhalation of high levels can cause irritation of the nose, throat and lungs and chest tightness.
 Ingestion causes inflammation of the mouth and stomach upset
 Skin contact may cause irritation, redness, drying and dermatitis
 Inhalation, ingestion or prolonged skin contact can also cause headache, dizziness, tiredness, slurred speech, low temperature, fitting and coma
 Eye contact can cause irritation and in severe cases permanent eye damage

 

[spanner570]

To answer my own question, apparently not - see the UK Gov't info:
 Toxic by all routes of exposure
 Chemical classification: irritant
 Inhalation of high levels can cause irritation of the nose, throat and lungs and chest tightness.
 Ingestion causes inflammation of the mouth and stomach upset
 Skin contact may cause irritation, redness, drying and dermatitis
 Inhalation, ingestion or prolonged skin contact can also cause headache, dizziness, tiredness, slurred speech, low temperature, fitting and coma
 Eye contact can cause irritation and in severe cases permanent eye damage

Peter, that reads like a batch of my home brewed wine!......:eek:

 

[Jens Andrée]

Isn't MEK a restricted substance now? I seem to remember that it is carcinogenic, or mutagenic, or possibly both?

Pete

Tamiya cement is MEK.
I take bottles with only 1/4 left and put pieces of sprue into them and the next day I've got liquid polystyrene as putty/filler.
Got a few different ones ranging from very liquid to really sticky. Works perfectly!

 

[stillp]

I was thinking of a solvent we used to use to remove epoxy potting from electronic devices, which contained MEK, but also toluene and a few other things.

Pete

 

[Gern]

To answer my own question, apparently not - see the UK Gov't info:
 Toxic by all routes of exposure
 Chemical classification: irritant
 Inhalation of high levels can cause irritation of the nose, throat and lungs and chest tightness.
 Ingestion causes inflammation of the mouth and stomach upset
 Skin contact may cause irritation, redness, drying and dermatitis
 Inhalation, ingestion or prolonged skin contact can also cause headache, dizziness, tiredness, slurred speech, low temperature, fitting and coma
 Eye contact can cause irritation and in severe cases permanent eye damage

So absolutely no need for any precautions then. If this is classed as an 'irritant', what's Ebola classified as? 'A viral infection with flu-like symptoms?

 

[stillp]

Well, our beloved Government does give this:
If you have got methyl ethyl ketone on your skin remove soiled clothing, wash the affected area with lukewarm water and soap for at least 10 – 15 minutes and seek medical advice. If you have got methyl ethyl ketone in your eyes remove contact lenses, wash the affected area with lukewarm water for at least 10 – 15 minutes and seek medical advice. If you have inhaled or ingested methyl ethyl ketone seek medical advice.

Pete

 

[Jens Andrée]

Well, our beloved Government does give this:
If you have got methyl ethyl ketone on your skin remove soiled clothing, wash the affected area with lukewarm water and soap for at least 10 – 15 minutes and seek medical advice. If you have got methyl ethyl ketone in your eyes remove contact lenses, wash the affected area with lukewarm water for at least 10 – 15 minutes and seek medical advice. If you have inhaled or ingested methyl ethyl ketone seek medical advice.

Pete

Seems a bit extreme considering how often you get MEK on your fingers when using Tamiya extra fine cement, but I agree I got a blistering headache when I spilled out a whole jar of a freshly opened such bottle a couple of weeks ago - in the bedroom...

...but those processes are probably in place for industrial use, or large volume use, and to protect themselves.

 

[Jens Andrée]

After my recent treatment by the postman, the new Swedish post office (now owned by the Danish PostNord) screwed me on no less than three different scale models two days ago and just sent them back to China without delivering them to me, nor notifying me that they'd arrived (well they told me they'd arrived three days AFTER they sent them back... sigh) so I decided to order from someone with proper tracking facilities and found a seller in Spain.

I bought a set of 5 A4 1 mm sheets and two sets of various rods, tubes, profiles etc (20 pieces in each set) at the total sum of £31 including shipping. Much cheaper than the £7 each for the EverGreen pieces I'd looked at!
That should be very helpful in my modelling adventures onward - especially since I lost one tiny part for my Maybach HL230 engine to my Takom King Tiger which I now can replace/remake with help of a hex rod of styrene in one of the packs!

I don't know why I didn't think of eBay when I buy so much else there, but the issues with receiving stuff from far overseas the last two years have put me off ordering since I've lost so many packages due to the postman not delivering since I live somewhat rural... I miss Royal Mail. Not the fastest in the world, but refuse to deliver post would never happened! Not in Guildford where I used to live.
Sweden has gone to #&/%¤ the last couple of years and instead of getting better it's only getting worse - and on all fronts!

Sorry for rant but I'm currently trying to get the three different sellers to resend those packages to me once again and one thinks I'm trying to scam him somehow... It's an expensive Dragon model too with lots of extras... I filed a complaint with the post office but they ignored me and my claim. They're too busy with everyone else trying to find their packages...

Thanks again Dave for the somewhat obvious tip on eBay that I somehow missed... :oops:

 

[Bugatti Fan]

I have read a number of references to using acetone in this thread's posts. Check out Nail Varnish Remover as I believe that it may be acetone under another label and may be less expensive to buy as such.
A long time ago in a galaxy (whoops wrong train of thought!) I mean modelling magazine, there was a description about dissolving sprue in CTC (carbon tetrachloride) for working up a paste of polystyrene for modifying Historex figures. CTC was used many years ago as a fire extinguishing agent to top up those little brass pump action extinguishers often seen in vehicles.