Styrene Thickness for Bodies

[SteelRat]

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I'm looking at having a go at building a body from sheet styrene and just wonder what thickness people generally use?

Having never worked with styrene before I had a go with 1mm and that's waaay too thin, so I'm thinking 2mm is probably better, or do I need to go thicker than that?

Have to say though I can see why it's such a popular material to work with, it's an absolute dream!

[caprinut]

For my trailers I use 1.5mm, not too thin nor too thick.

If you want to make it bullet proof go for 2mm, but it's harder to work with..

Pardonmynoob is the man to talk to I guess or Dready when it comes to making styrene bodies..

[Dready]

Well seeing as I got name dropped here's my take on it.

Sides I layer mine so i get the door gaps easier

1.5mm sheet 2 Layers.

Roof and Pillars I normally use at least 4.5mm using 3 layers of 1.5

Its more to do with how many strengthing cross pieces in.

Bracing is key when making a body

Just depends how strong you want it really?

[SteelRat]

Aah layering.. pretty obvious when you think about it

As for strength, so long as it can survive a roll without ending up as a pile of cut bits of styrene, I'll be happy.

Cheers for the advice guys

[sloppy]

I agree with the layers and careful bracing. thicker material will not always make a stronger body. bracing and tight fitting unions are more important then thickness of material.

[jeffro]

Originally Posted by sloppy

I agree with the layers and careful bracing. thicker material will not always make a stronger body. bracing and tight fitting unions are more important then thickness of material.

X2 on what sloppy and Dready says..bracing is what gives it strength, and even the bracing don't have to be thick.

[SteelRat]

Any particular preference to the glue? I'm using a Plastic weld called "Just Like The Real Thing". I assumed this would be a better and cleaner bond than using ordinary static model styrene cement.

My initial tries haven't been that successful though, but I think this is probably due to the fact that that I'm only glueing a 1mm wide piece so there isn't much surface area for it to bond to, rather than a bad choice in glueing fluid.

Does that sound about right?

[roadie1960]

The platic weld is good best way to use it is be liberal with it and then slide the pieces together a couple of times so it melts the styrene a little then i wil make a good joint

[SteelRat]

Oooh nice tip Roadie, cheers for that.

Knew I'd come to the right place. Been lurking around here for yonks, but generally the answers to my questions I manage to find by searching!