hi all,

i need some advice on large vac forming 1/48 scale i.e. fuselage and wings etc, and any do's or dont's when it comes to vacforming this size.

i'm a total newbie at this but have a few ideas that i want to try over the winter.

cheers paul

Hi Paul,

I would recommend starting with a paperback book, "Do It Yourself Vacuum Forming" by Douglas E. Walsh 1990, which will walk you thru building your own rig, and hints on how to avoid newbie mistakes. One tip, that I'm not sure is in the book, but i use often, (or, often enough) is that if you get a bad pull, you can just leave the misshapen sheet of styrene in the frame, and when you re-heat it, it will snap back to it's original flat condition. Saves a lot of time and money. The most common mistake folks make is something called an "undercut"- Imagine vac'ing over a golf ball- when the plastic got pulled around the bottom of the ball, the opening wouldn't be large enough to remove the ball, which, obviously, is bad. also, elevate your mold from the forming surface, called the Platen. A small radius of plastic will form where the part rests on the platen, and distort the mating surface. Raising the part puts the radius on the scrap plastic below the finished part, which then can be trimmed away, leaving a nice, crisp piece. Let me know if i can answer any more questions, and good luck-

Chesley White

thanks for those tips, i'll try and find a copy of that book.

cheers paul

One of the members on this forum has written an excellent article on this very subject, it is simple to follow his directions and it will work, been there, done that.


http://automodeler.kitmaker.net/features/1243

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thats great, many thanks

paul