I need to cut a large circle out of pe tread plate for my first scratch build/kit bash. I have a circle cutter, but it is far from sharp enough to do the job. I can't free hand it, with a razor knife. I thought about scissors, but am afraid they would warp the pe. I'd greatly appreciate anyone who knows how to do this letting me in on their technique.

Matt,

If you can have a hole in the center of the circle of treadplate, I would rough-cut a circle larger than needed, mount it on my dremel tool and use a file & emory board while the disks spins to make it round and of the size needed.

Otherwise, maybe use a really good set of PE shears.

HTH

I know this has been brought up, before. But, does anybody know of tread plate styrene close to 1:35?

Method A: Cut a circle the size you need from thick styrene, clamp the pe sheet to it and scribe around the circle. A carbide tipped scriber or the back edge of a chisel blade should do the trick. Patience and multiple passes. Dress the edges with a file or fine wet and dry and paper.

Method B: If you need a backing sheet to make the pe thicker, simply glue the pe to the correct sized circle and scribe as above.

The circle cutter just may do the job too, have to be careful with the pressure though. Oh, and scribe from the back side of the etch.

Kimmo

Just found Archer's surface texture for German vehicles. Now, all I have to do is cut a styrene disk to size.
Thank you for the replies.