|
|
Post by johnl5555 on Oct 19, 2011 9:35:09 GMT -5
Well, based on the recent AAR report posted here where the author used plexiglass basing I was completely impressed! I went ahead and ordered a couple of 2 foot sheets and a cutter to try it out. The plexiglass arrived already. The cutter should be here today. I want to try cutting it this weekend. I picked up 1/8th inch thickness. I'm hoping this will be as easy as the videos have shown it to be because the results certainly look great.
Thanks,
John
|
|
|
|
Post by warchariot on Oct 19, 2011 17:29:44 GMT -5
Show us some bases when you're done!
|
|
|
|
Post by stenicplus on Oct 20, 2011 7:07:38 GMT -5
Get yer bases out for the lads!! ;-)
|
|
|
|
Post by mpc2163 on Oct 25, 2011 15:45:53 GMT -5
I really want to see what your bases end up looking like. I've been buying acrylic bases from Litko but would rather make them myself and save a few bucks.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnl5555 on Oct 27, 2011 21:25:29 GMT -5
Well, I have an update on my plexiglass experiment. It was something of a failure. The scoring did not work very well. I am not sure if 1/8 of an inch was too thick or what the issue was. But it didn't want to snap. When it did it broke in a couple of places. Well, I tried my dremel. Too messy and imprecise. Next went to my band saw. That worked best but was very messy. I have decided that I probably will still use plexiglass. However I'll use it for my 1/700 ships and not my 1/2400. That'll eliminate all the small cuts I'd need to do. I'll also check to see how much it'll cost for me to have Tap plastics make the basic cuts for my 1/700 ships (at least for width). I still have a couple of hundred of those ships to base yet.
I went ahead and used thin basswood and went back to my wax paper method. I just did about 30 or so in about 30 minutes. I am happy with the look the wax paper provides on these so will roll that way.
Thanks,
John
|
|
|
|
Post by warchariot on Oct 28, 2011 16:10:32 GMT -5
I was hoping you would find a way to this.
|
|
|
|
Post by TheDreadnought on Oct 31, 2011 10:42:40 GMT -5
There are always the acrylics from Litko if you're willing to pay for them. . .
|
|
|
|
Post by mpc2163 on Oct 31, 2011 15:38:55 GMT -5
I have the Litko acrylic custom bases. I have a bunch of them and may buy more, but I found some acrylic from Home Depot that is thinner than 1/8th inch and is really cheap. I'm going to get some this week and try it out.
|
|
|
|
Post by warchariot on Oct 31, 2011 17:52:30 GMT -5
Good Luck! Again!
|
|
|
|
Post by mpc2163 on Nov 9, 2011 14:05:41 GMT -5
I picked up some material from Home Depot today with a cutter and tried to make bases out of them. The first one I tried was a small sheet of clear plastic by Plaskolite. It cuts very easily but is somewhat frosty on one side. It is also very, very cheap to buy. The second material I tried was clear acrylic sheet by Optix. It is thicker and harder material at .093" thick. It looks much better that the Plaskolite stuff but is an absolute pain to cut. I scored away at it for about 20 minutes without much success. One piece broke off that would be perfect to use but that was my only success with it so far.
|
|
|
|
Post by warchariot on Nov 9, 2011 19:22:34 GMT -5
Wow, that's a shame. Hope you find the magic bullet.
|
|
|
|
Post by regiamarina on Nov 9, 2011 20:08:57 GMT -5
MPC,
I based all my ships on thin hard plastic 1mm thick. It wasn't as tough as plexiglass as you could cut it with scissors but it wasn't soft enough to bend out of shape either. It was about $75 for a sheet about 1m by 1/2m, I'm in Australia and we use metric so I don't really know what this is in inches. It was a factory so they had heaps of offcuts for $5 which was more than I ever needed for 1/2400 bases. My suggestion would be to do a search online to see if there are any plastics manufacturers around you and see if they have any offcuts.
Martin
|
|
|
|
Post by mpc2163 on Nov 9, 2011 20:41:02 GMT -5
I'm going to check out a science surplus store to see if microscope slides could work out for me. I suppose I'll see if people sell scraps of plastic around here but I use a clear acrylic base right now that you can see through. It looks really good on my blue background and I think it would be harder to find stuff to match it.
|
|
|
|
Post by regiamarina on Nov 10, 2011 0:20:03 GMT -5
Yup my bases are completely clear too. The sheets came with a sticky peel on them to protect each surface when cutting and once you peel them off you are left with just the thin clear base. It's like a thin piece of acrylic but definitely not smokey and can be cut with scissors, just.
It did take us a while to find a good supplier as well for the clear bases we wanted and we did have to start looking outside the box as acrylic, as you've discovered, can be expensive and a pain to work with but just keep looking around you'll find somewhere.
I don't really know the exact name of what we are using as it is an offcut from a plastics factory for some product they make and they import it from France, if the writing on it is any indication, sorry I couldn't be more help.
Martin
|
|
|
|
Post by warchariot on Nov 10, 2011 0:38:05 GMT -5
MPC, I based all my ships on thin hard plastic 1mm thick. It wasn't as tough as plexiglass as you could cut it with scissors but it wasn't soft enough to bend out of shape either. It was about $75 for a sheet about 1m by 1/2m, I'm in Australia and we use metric so I don't really know what this is in inches. It was a factory so they had heaps of offcuts for $5 which was more than I ever needed for 1/2400 bases. My suggestion would be to do a search online to see if there are any plastics manufacturers around you and see if they have any offcuts. Martin This sounds promising, like the idea of easy to cut clear plastic. |
|
|
|
Post by mpc2163 on Nov 26, 2011 16:41:12 GMT -5
Well, I finally found the time to test out the Plaskolite stuff with a ship and a label on it and it looks okay. It costs much less that the Litko stuff I have been using, but it doesn't look that much worse. The only problem is I have to cut it up but if that saves me 15-20 cents per base and I need a couple hundred bases that is a worthwhile tradeoff for me. My time is cheap since I'm not really working and my gaming funds are really tight and spread out amongst a number of projects.
|
|
