Looking to buy some Styrene strips for making a stowage rack for my Panzer 38t but not sure on what thickness to purchase.

This 38t has 2 stowage racks,one large one on the turret rear and a smaller one on the turret side looks like a jerry can holder.


Cheers
Karl

I would buy the absolute thinnest you can get. Steel gets it's strength from shape, not thickness.

Storage racks and stuff would be no thicker than a millimeter or two in 1/1 scale.

Even modern day racking that holds tons 9 meters in the air is not quite 2mm thick.

Gaz

For the rear rack I'd use Evergreen 0.60 angle stock for the edges, and maybe 0.010x0.040 strip for the intermediate bars. The X-brace on the bottom might be done with 0.010x0.030 strips.

The jerrycan rack is another issue - it looks like 0.010x0.040 for the horizontals and 0.020x0.060 for the vertical. But plastic strip hates being bent, so you may struggle. You could build it around a can, so it can be glued in place, or you can try to "set" the bends by wrapping strips around a block and dipping them in boiling water, but I'd probably reach for some brass strip instead. Good luck!

Or you could cut strips from an aluminium drink can, which is easier to bend than brass and holds its shape better than styrene.

Cheers

Wow bob - that's hardcore "Old Skool"!

But thanks for mentioning the aluminum. It may be old school but old school can still sometimes be the best idea!

Projects like this are why I never throw old used PE sprues away.