Model Boat Mayhem
Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips => Detail Work, Rigging, Fittings, Figures Etc. => Topic started by: tonyH on September 13, 2006, 09:42:36 pm
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Has anyone a source of green transparent plastic sheet approx 1mm thick for windows. It would appear that butyrate is the right thing as used for drawing templates etc. but I can't find a supplier of the material itself.
The wheelhouse is like a small greenhouse (no pun intended) and the model is at 1:12, so using a paint or ink finish on clear could stick out like a sore thumb.
Any ideas please?
Thanks
Tony
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Maybe trawling the school section of supermarkets/Woolies etc might turn up cheap set squares and the like that could be sacrificed. ??
MikeK
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If you don't mind spending your money, then you could try asking for gelatine filters in a camera shop, expensive for what you want, but would do the job.
Voyager.
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Try "Badoit" French Mineral Water bottles which are green tinted plastic. I presume you only need small areas so the curvature of the bottles should not be a problem. The bottles, as sold here in France, do not have any printing on them, merely a printed, tight sleeve which is slipped over the bottle.
The water is available in UK supermarkets. But if you have a problem finding it I will cut a bottle up and send it to you, on request.
Roger in France.
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Thanks to all for the ideas sofar. Rogers idea got me thinking (at last). Each window (14 in all) is approx 50mm x 50mm so not small enough to ignore the curvature BUT has anyone tried softening and flattening sections from 'pop' bottles in the oven? 7UP bottles are not far away from the colour and the contents aren't too bad mixed with Genever!
Tony
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JP Perkins list green transparent plastic sheets on their website, but only 0.23MM think.
How about using clear plastic sheet, and buying a green indelible marker pen to colour them?
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How about lighting filters as used for stage lights etc? Try a local theatre or similar venue. Possibly Maplins might have something for their disco lighting and they're usually good value.
Mike
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Hi All,
Thanks for the thought on theatre gels, Mike, but they are generally too thin (Part time theatre techie!).
Thanks also MisT but I found that I couldn't get consistent with the marker over the size of window required.
HOWEVER, the 7uP system seems to work.
I checked with Delia and sandwiched the offcuts from the bottle between silicone baking parchment and then between 1/8 brass sheets. 10mins at 150ish (Regulo?). The pieces came out flat and stayed flat. The bonus was that they shrank by about 30% and thickened from 0.3mm to 0.5mm which is stiff enough for the windows.
So it would seem that green (7uP), brown (Shandy) and other colours are freely available.
Regards
Tony
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how about green cellophane? Dunno where to get it though! ???
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EMA's do polycarbonate green tinted sheet-
http://www.ema-models.co.uk/shop/prodpages/page-POLY-500G.html
These guys also do an exhaustive range of modelling materials, including tinted sheet-
http://www.modelshop.co.uk/
Finally, if you want to straighten out plastic sheet, you can use a heat gun (carefully) or clip it on a flat board in your oven for a while at a high temperature.
Andy
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As an alternative, hows about printing onto inkjet film - you can then choose whatever colour you want. To thicken it, perhaps you could laminate it or bond it onto perspex. - maybe worth a couple of experiments.
Hmmm, could be a way of doing glazing bars.....
Tim the Wombat
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Thanks all,
As I mentioned above, the 7uP bottle plastic works well in the oven and is free.
I'll get a sheet of the polycarbonate from EMA as well (Brilliant Site - Thanks SubC) to check for colour but it's been fun trying to resolve this one.
Now - All I want is a scarlet rubberised paint that will stick onto latex.
No.........
Tony H
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There is a paint called psycho paint made by Smooth-on. It's designed to stick to silicone rubber, so not sure if it's suitable for latex, but if you email Smooth-on, they'll advise you.
http://www.smooth-on.com/psycho%5Fpaint.htm
Andy
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Now - All I want is a scarlet rubberised paint that will stick onto latex.
No.........
Tony H
Off to a fancy dress ball are we, Tony ?? ;) ;)
MikeK
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Nudge, Nudge, Say no more!!
I learnt my style from Buster Crabb (Allegedly)
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Try looking in the school supplys section of stores. There are a number of transparant plastic folders for notebook paper. Not exactly the 'stiffest' plastic around but you should be able to find green ones.
- 'Doc