Decent article at Starship Modeler:

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

Micro Mark sells PE kits.

Link:

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Department&ID=98

Shaun

Most etch kits available were designed for the hobby electronics market and, therefore, work best on copper based alloys (they are used to make circuit boards). So, that said, your materials choices are down to copper & brass, with brass being preferred because it corrodes more slowly. There are etchants for other materials, but they are more exotic and harder to obtain. Stick to Brass first and then copper if you absolutely have to. The pros can etch in steel & nickel silver, but it's not as easy at home.

Thicknesses. Well, people I know who do this sort of a thing for a living have told me that anything over .006-.010" thick will have a LOT of problems keeping to size and shape, especially fine shapes. Once you get thicker than .006 you start to get etchant working significantly under the mask and the material starts to be eaten away from the sides as well as from the front. Don't even think of doing anything thicker than .010"

You can etch stock that's right down to .001, but it's hard to work with once etched. .003-4" is really good to etch and stiff enough to hold shape once formed. .010" is really, really stiff and things like the plastic Etchmate may actually be damaged trying to form it. Anything thicker than .010 and you're going to need a proper brake press like the Auswerks folder to get a half decent job and even that will have some problems.

There's a metal supermarket in my area and I've gone in there, but they generally don't hold much stock in the really thin sizes so I don't find them as useful as you might think. A good pack of K&S brass shim stock has been much more appropriate over the years.

HTH

Paul

The metal supermarket is pretty good, but .005 coppper & brass are really too thick for most applications. What are you using to bend 12 thou stock so easily? I've bent .008 thk before and just can't get a tight bend and I have a tool steel hand brake as opposed to an aluminum or plastic bender.

Let's face it, a 1/16: thick sheet in 1/35 scale is only about .002 thick and an eighth of an inch is about .0035. .012" stock is the same as about a 3/8 sheet. That's pretty thick stuff.

Paul