Plastová destička černá 1,5 mm

Black styrene sheet 1.5 mm thick

A smooth sheet colored right through its thickness, so no light stripe is left on the edge after cutting and the cut does not need to be covered with paint. The fifteen by thirty centimeter format gives enough room for several parts from a single sheet, and the offcuts come in useful for shims or spacing wedges.

Where a thickness of one and a half millimeters helps

Heavier material will already carry a load: it is used for the base of a display plinth, the supporting board under a diorama, a bulkhead inside a fuselage and as a replacement for a broken part that thin sheet would not hold in shape. It also serves as a template against which the same shapes are cut out repeatedly.

• Thickness 1.5 mm, format 15 x 30 cm
• Material colored black right through the section
• The unit of sale is one sheet
• A surface with no texture, ready for scribing and sanding

Working it is simple. Run a sharp point along a metal straightedge several times to make a groove and then snap the sheet at the groove; cutting all the way through the material is not necessary. You true the edges with a file or abrasive paper, and for joints reach for solvent cement, which briefly softens the surface and joins the parts. On larger areas it is a good idea to let the joint harden until the next day.

Storage and offcuts

Store the sheet lying flat. Propped against a wall it will bow within a few weeks and straightening it out again tends to be extra work. It pays to keep the offcuts: they are usually what becomes the stiffeners, angled wedges and supports that let the next build do without lengthy measuring and cutting a new piece.