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[TCC]

I'm looking to etch a few parts, can anyone suggest a basic 'kit' I can buy to do a sheet or 2? I'd thik I could get by with 1x A5 size total area of brass... however that works out in the kit's sheets.

What am I doing? inclinded ladders with rails, funnel caps (the 'wires' that support the canvas when lighting the boilers) there's the funnel pulleys wheel & sheave that's I'd hope I can do in 'one'... and hand-wheels of various size.. maybe a few stanctions.. rowlocks for open boats, oars, grating for the bottom of carley rafts, just general ship detail.

The basic 1 level outline stuff will be easy, it's the items that I'd like to have indentations and that have 2 levels tha I think I'll have trouble with. For instance. for the gratings on the floor of the carley floats, some of the cross pieces are raised above the longetudal runs, thay should be raised.

I'm not sure if a newbie could do that?

Anyone done it, can recomend a kit, or a shop to go to, that will sell me what I need? I've an inkjet, scanner and I've a suite of Adobe programs but I'm only really conversant with Photoshop. So that's what I'd like to be able to use... if poss.

Cheers

[p.s. tried RTR 101 mould making last week and white metal and resin casting. That's a steep learning curve! What I didn't get with WM (& lead*), I got with epoxy* (resin).

* I'm waiting for my proper WM & resin order to come so used these materials for testing and learning..

[amdaylight]

Greetings

You might try Micro-Mark, they have two starter kits, one for the US and one for the Export market where you have to source locally some of the chemicals. They explain why they have the two different versions.

US Photo Etch kit ( http://www.micromark.com/MICRO-MARK-PRO-ETCH-PHOTO-ETCH-SYSTEM,8346.html )

Export Version ( http://www.micromark.com/MICRO-MARK-PRO-ETCH-PHOTO-ETCH-SYSTEM-EXPORT-VERSION,8347.html )

I hope this helps,

Andre
over yonder in Portland Oregon

[Circlip]

  http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/fh_pe.htm       

[TCC]

Thanks lads, has no one in the UK done it?

I just need a little 'how to' with a list of whats required that will use an inkjet... or should I say that doesn't use a toner or laminator.

You could scrub the laminator objection if there's an office supply chain that does it commercially.

[Malcolm Reade]

Robin at Cammett (based in Ludlow) does a lot of photo etch work for model boats on a commercial basis.

He's very approachable and I'm sure would point you in the right direction if you asked him nicely?

Laurie White at Model Slipway also produces photo etch work for some of his kits...

Malc

[TCC]

That's an idea Malc, I hadn't thought of 'out sourcing' it. If they can do it for 'whatever £ I'd have spent on materials', they may as well have the work.

If I can etch some of these parts, it'd save an awful lot of time & grief... plus they'll look better.

I did want the ability to etch whatever cropped up in the future, just like I'm doing with my WM & resin... jeez... if I had the WM years ago... when I think of all those mushroom vents I made with 2 diameters of tube! And the hatches, cable reels, etc! 

[hollowhornbear]

as i understand the main problem with etching at home is quality art work, with a pc that shouldn't be a problem.
Maplins do kits for etching at home.
i'm just reading up on it mtself at the moment.

[TCC]

I'm not really that concerned about the artwork, I think I can do that. Let me do mine and if anyone needs a hand in that direction...

Thanks for the maplins tip

[Proteus]

This may help


http://www.ppdltd.com/

Proteus

[TCC]

Hi lads
that link looks OK proteus, I'm looking into that. The only bad point from my point of view is you have to submit your image in a a non-photo format. I'm used to jpgs or tiffs, etc, and Photoshop.. they want CAD files or whatever Adobe Illustrator will output. [There's a few CAD & drawing programs listed but I've only got Illustrator and that's a new one to me] I'm just having a moan... nothing is easy, is it?

The maplins kit (about £10) is brass sheets, a tray, tweezers, chemicals (ferro chloride?), etc, but you need to find a way of applying the mask yourself.

[Pat Matthews]

Here's how I did my last PE, using applied resist film:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1009007