Buildings from Styrene Plastic

Materials

Styrene plastic is sold to hobby and industry through a variety of outlets in the form a basic stock and off the shelf scratchbuilding products. The basic sheet is a white, relatively soft material, but can be colored.

Evergreen is a supplier to the hobby industry and is available direct or through Walthers online. Additionally, your local hobby shop can order it for you. It is sold in sheets, strips, and shapes. In the US sheets are marketed by thickness in inches ranging from .015" to .25", strips are sold in various widths and thicknesses starting as around .015 square and up to .25 square, but come in many rectangular cross sections as well. Shapes range from tubing and rod to half and quarter round to "steel" shaps such as "H" column, and "I" beam. Evergreen also sells patterned sheets marketed mostly at the model railroad industry with board and batten, clapboard, and many other textures.

Styrene can be solvent welded with a solvent and a disposable syringe. My current favorite is Tenax 7R, another is Ambroid. These solvents evaporate very quickly, so must be securely bottled, and attention must be given to saftey instructions. I also prefer to grind or file the tip of the syringe needle to avoid injury.

Plastruct is another source for plastic stock and products. Plastruct sells a number of products made from ABS, buteryte, styrene and other plastics. Most can be solvent welded, but some require specific types of solvents, Plastruct makes a catolog which addresses all of this. Among their products are steel shapes, textured wall, floor and roof sheets, and industrial shapes and fittings for making factories, processing plants, and plumbing installations.

Various manufacturers of model railroading products offer things useful in making gaming accessories. One in particular that I like are the windows from Grandt Line. they make finely detail injection molded window frames in a variety of scale, many of which can be used in gaming structures. I use these particularly when building 15mm buildings.

Tools

Most of the work is conducted using just a few hand tools. A steel ruler, hobby knife, adjustable protractor or square, and a sanding block will get you through. Additionally, I often use Squadron flexible sanding pads, and a Perma-Grit or similar files/rasps. More info can be found on the Tools of the Trade page.

Building a Plastic Structure

The first step is to design a building. Whether it be an original creation or an historical structure, I always make a simple scale floorplan with elevation views.

Next I design and layout the base. Usually the base will be .06" thick styrene plastic; for larger structures I may use thicker plastic, and if the structure requires a built up base, I will shape the terrrain out of blue foam and glue it to the plastic.

The base is layed out on the plastic sheet and may simply be a footprint of the structure or may include surrounding or bordering ground.

Once the base is cut, I layout the walls on the styrene sheet. Most basic wall shapes can be layed out, scribed a couple of times and snapped from the sheet; you usually don't actually have the cut out the wall.

Windows, dorrways, and other details can be layed out prior to scribing and snapping (or cutting out) the walls. After the wall sections are separated, I cut out window and door openings.

Cutting out the openeings can be a bit tiring, so I usually scribe the outline of the opening, drill out most of the plastic with a unibit on my cordless drill. Then I cut out the window the rest of the way with a hobby knife and steel straight edge.. Much less force is actually needed to cut out the final shape, and sometimes diagonel flushcuts can be used to further reduce the work involved.

Typically, at this point, I will glue the walls together, first fitting and trimming as needed, and then welding or gluing as required.

If the building is a simple shape, I will usually only put the outer walls together at this stage, adding the interrior walls during the detailing stage. More complex structures may require installing interior walls at this point.

Once the basic walls are together I usually rough out the roof. Simple sloped roofs are held together with trianguar frames, similar to trusses used in actual buildings. the adjustable protractor can be a of great help when dealing with odd angles that sometimes occur at roof joints.

Next is to add the out textured materials for the walls and roof. Details can be scribed in prior to assembly, but usually I use a textured sheet to finish the walls. Regardless of material, I try to glue, rather than weld the sheet in place, as welding can sometimes result in warping days or weeks after work is done.

The sheet is cut such that corners of the basic walls are overlapped slightly and bevelled before being glued in place. Window and door openings are cut out after gluing if possible. edges and openings are then sanded and files smooth and square.

Doors and windows are then finished by either installing purchased window castings, or by scratch-building the doors, windows and frames in place with Evergreen styrene strip and sheet.

Other details such as chimney tops, gutters downspouts, etc. are usally added after the doors and windows are completed.

The finished building is now primed, painted, and if needed, the basei is flocked. Be sure to prime the styrene before painting, particularly is using acrylic paints, as some will otherwise eassily rub or scratch off of the plastic.

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The first step is to design a building. Whether it be an original creation or an historical structure, I always make a simple scale floorplan with elevation views.
Next I design and layout the base. Usually the base will be .06" thick styrene plastic; for larger structures I may use thicker plastic, and if the structure requires a built up base, I will shape the terrrain out of blue foam and glue it to the plastic. The base is layed out on the plastic sheet and may simply be a footprint of the structure or may include surrounding or bordering ground.
Once the base is cut, I layout the walls on the styrene sheet. Most basic wall shapes can be layed out, scribed a couple of times and snapped from the sheet; you usually don't actually have the cut out the wall.
Windows, dorrways, and other details can be layed out prior to scribing and snapping (or cutting out) the walls. After the wall sections are separated, I cut out window and door openings. Cutting out the openeings can be a bit tiring, so I usually scribe the outline of the opening, drill out most of the plastic with a unibit on my cordless drill. Then I cut out the window the rest of the way with a hobby knife and steel straight edge.. Much less force is actually needed to cut out the final shape, and sometimes diagonel flushcuts can be used to further reduce the work involved.
Typically, at this point, I will glue the walls together, first fitting and trimming as needed, and then welding or gluing as required. If the building is a simple shape, I will usually only put the outer walls together at this stage, adding the interrior walls during the detailing stage. More complex structures may require installing interior walls at this point.
Once the basic walls are together I usually rough out the roof. Simple sloped roofs are held together with trianguar frames, similar to trusses used in actual buildings. the adjustable protractor can be a of great help when dealing with odd angles that sometimes occur at roof joints.
Next is to add the out textured materials for the walls and roof. Details can be scribed in prior to assembly, but usually I use a textured sheet to finish the walls. Regardless of material, I try to glue, rather than weld the sheet in place, as welding can sometimes result in warping days or weeks after work is done. The sheet is cut such that corners of the basic walls are overlapped slightly and bevelled before being glued in place. Window and door openings are cut out after gluing if possible. edges and openings are then sanded and files smooth and square.
Doors and windows are then finished by either installing purchased window castings, or by scratch-building the doors, windows and frames in place with Evergreen styrene strip and sheet.
Other details such as chimney tops, gutters downspouts, etc. are usally added after the doors and windows are completed.
The finished building is now primed, painted, and if needed, the basei is flocked. Be sure to prime the styrene before painting, particularly is using acrylic paints, as some will otherwise eassily rub or scratch off of the plastic.