Materials for Scratch Building

[ikabod]

Am planning to try my newbie skills on scratch building, like for some bases, stands, gliders or whatever.

and i want to know what materials to use and where to get them locally. like for example styrene sheets, rod and what not. or is there a material other than resin where you can do mouldings, may be a plastic clay that hardens.

hope you guys could give me some 411 on these matters.

thanks in advance.

[dj898]

for building what some of Koran modellers are using is something called Hardrock(?).
this is basically compressed styrene foam sandwiched between think plastic sheet.
you can treat it as thick cardboard paper as you can use knife to cut it in any shape you want easily

one I use is from local railway model shop at around 2 mm thickness when they have some broken ones for cheap sale
I usually use it for the base of diorama

there is also modelling putty you should be able to source from arts supply store
it comes in large bucket as semi viscus form.
Good substitute for ground if you are not keen on using plaster of paris

and there are expensive g-coat stuff
haven't seen 'em where I live and attended one of session back in Korea and it's quite handy little numbers to get as they make several variant of ground materials as well as ground base plus clear resin(?) type for water effect

Google for diorama and you should find many web pages dealing with diorama and materials needed/used

[ikabod]

sir dj898 where are you located? are you from the Philippines too? thought you where somewhere else. . .

i was looking for local suppliers of these materials.

[dj898]

No I'm in Australia though travel to Korea/Japan on business trip few times a year

p.s. here's the link to check out for diorama and etc.

Armorama

[ikabod]

so i guessed it right.

my first project would be the flying armor for my 1/100 gundam mkII. at least it's all straights, not much curving parts ;D

thanks for the link

[dj898]

if I were you I'd just get the injection kit from Ako Hobby and save me the time & hassle
wait! I do have one sent to me some time ago... [running out to search the garage...]

[ikabod]

i can't afford it ;D that's the main reason. so am trying my luck on my God given hands, and find out if God load them up with scratch building skills. ;D

[no3Ljm]

hey sir ikabod... ayan na. ;D lumalawak na ang magiging career mo, bro.
i think, all of us here in GT forums will wish you good luck on your Flying Armor.

advice lang bro... before you spend money on those materials, better make it first on cardboards like illustration boards or artboards. look for the same thickness like the plastics that you're going to use. study the diagram, blueprints that you will find on the net, etc. so that later on, you'll have your own sets of blueprints to make your Flying Armor on materials like styrenes, etc.

good luck si ikabod. update mo kami ha.

[dj898]

how much is it over there?
can't recall for sure but my friend said it cost him about ~A$100 shipped from HK to AUS

only thing preventing me from building one is he hasn't made up his bloody mind whether to paint in AEUG or Titanz colour

[dj898]

n0eljm said:

advice lang bro... before you spend money on those materials, better make it first on cardboards like illustration boards or artboards. look for the same thickness like the plastics that you're going to use. study the diagram, blueprints that you will find on the net, etc. so that later on, you'll have your own sets of blueprints to make your Flying Armor on materials like styrenes, etc.

or if you are good with AutoCAD draw the plan and print out at 1/100 scale

I have no such skill but saw a modeller is Japan use this method to build 1/100 scale mass production guntank full scratch using 1/144 kit as the base and calculating the size from

[ikabod]

@noeljm
yup it would be prototyped on paper, paper modelling. then saka na on styrene, besides haven't found a shop where i can get them.

@dj
on the site it coast around $120 for that resin kit. very very pricey. as for the color scheme, it's shown on the series being used by the aueg, so why not go for that color scheme.

[no3Ljm]

if you know someone na may HG 1/144 na Flying Armor, hiramin mo yung box. or yung manual... oppsss... meron ba sa Dalong nung manual? from there, pede mo nang pag-aralan yung ratio, size, dimension into 1/100.

besides, if you're going to use boards... malay mo, maging ok, you're not going to buy, styrene boards anymore, right?

[dj898]

Yep!
best to use 1/144 scale kit and do the math

(measurement) x (144) / (100) will give you the actual size for 1/100 scale

I didn't based my Dodai variation on EX 1/144 Dodai II so it's quite off in terms of proportion.
If you want 1/100 scale to be properly proportioned like 1/144 kit use it as the base to work out the actual measurement

[no3Ljm]

actually, IMHO, any boards will do for your Flying Armor, bro. if there's some architects in the forum, ask him what boards is ok to use. after that, if you're happy with your prototype, then you can paint it na with our "magic paints" cover it up with Fixatif. then display away.

and if you still decided on using styrene sheets for your Flying Armor, then check the budget, and Go Go Go!!! just don't forget to update us even in prototype form only, bro.

[no3Ljm]

dj898 said:

Yep!
best to use 1/144 scale kit and do the math (measurement) x (144) / (100) will give you the actual size for 1/100 scale
I didn't based my Dodai variation on EX 1/144 Dodai II so it's quite off in terms of proportion.
If you want 1/100 scale to be properly proportioned like 1/144 kit use it as the base to work out the actual measurement

sir DJ, is this the Dodai that i've seen in your thread? the one with your RX78 Gundam? even though it's not scaled... still it looks awesome. i envy people who do dioramas. resources and budget... huhuhuhu.