Sanding plastic help

[Guest]

Hi all,

Does anyone know of any tips that will help in sanding things smooth? I'm worried that there will be huge imperfections on the plastic and it will be uneven. I am thinning schurzen plates on a Panzer. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance

Adrian

[Guest]

Does anybody know of any tools that can help me get the "even sand" (which preferably can be made out of household items)? I remember some time ago someone mentioned fixing sandpaper to an electric toothbrush? Will that help?

Thanks

[stona]

Your second option sounds like a home made Dremel! If you really need a tool that's probably what you should be looking at. I rarely use my real Dremel but prefer to file and sand by hand.Just take your time and gradually thin the part down working from coarse to fine. I usually go through files to 400 grit and finally 1500 grit wet 'n' dry.

Cheers

Steve

[Gern]

Hi Adrian,

If you're sanding large, flat areas such as your Panzer side skirts, I'd strongly suggest you use a large piece of sandpaper (bigger than the piece you are trying to sand) laid flat on a board. Hold the sandpaper steady with one hand while you move the piece across it with the other. If you try and do it a bit at a time, you'll find it next to impossible to keep the surface flat. Try to keep an even pressure across the whole piece or you'll find one side will sand lower than the other and it will no longer fit squarely.

Like Steve, I do all my sanding by hand. Dremel tools tend to be too fast and you end up either melting the plastic or removing far too much material.

Your suggestion of fixing sandpaper to an electric toothbrush can be very useful if you need to sand in closed spaces - such as removing ejector marks from between surface details.

Gern

[Ian M]

I would cheat!!!

Either I would just thin the edges, to give the impression that the whole plate was thin, or I would scratch them out of plastic sheet in the desired thickness.

Sanding large parts flat is a pain. You need to fix the sandpaper flat and if possible fix the part you want to sand to a block with double sided tape. Otherwise you WILL sand unevenly. Just the tips of your fingers is enough that the plastic will 'bend' and you will sand more there where you are holding the part.

Ian M

[geegad]

Just a thought if you do go with sanding go to your local car spare shop if that make any sense they do all the kind of grades of sand paper you could need and it's cheek I paid 30p a sheet