Kitbashing question

[AltoonaRailroader]

The post about New River Mine kitbashing question made me think of this question.

 

What do you use to cut the plastic when you kitbash. I need to modify my NRM to make a better fit in the corner it's in but I want to make my cuts are clean. Do you just score it with a exacto blade or is there a special saw i can get?

 

Thanks. 

[mbinsewi]

I've done just about all methods, depends on what I'm cutting.  I've scored and cut through with a knive, I've scored and snapped, and I've used a fine tooth razor saw.

Mike.

[UNCLEBUTCH]

I've used all that Mike mention, plus a hack saw.

Pretty good trick to get away without any cleanup,file or sand paper

[G Paine]

I do quite a bit of kitbashing, and bought a Proxxon Mini table saw. When I got it around 10 tears ago it cost just over $100, but I certainly have got my money's worth from it. The blade is fixed in depth and does not tilt. MicroMark and others sell saws that do all of this; they cost around $450.

My saw does just fine without all the fancy stuff. Still on my original blade and drive belt. SHown here on my full size Sears table saw

[j. c.]

i have even used my 10 inch table saw with a 80 tpi thin cut  blade .

[mlehman]

A stiff=backed jeweler's saw works well, Xacto and others make them. Score and snap also works, although the plastic on the NRM kit is thicker than would be the case with some other kits. Hey, it's been around like 30 years or so, so pastic may have been cheaper back the, who knows?

It's important to remember that saws take out material in what's called the kerf. Blades may not take anything out but sometimes the score and snap process will distort the surroundling plastic. This can be pushed around and smoother over that you don't lose much if any material. This can make a difference with tight fitting sections when you bash some things together, so that you want to consider your methods carefully and apply the best for a particular area or need.

While cuts often look square, it doesn't hurt to take a couple of swipes with a file at the cut edges in critical locations so you get a high quality joint.

On the NRM materials, check the fronts of the peices before you cut if you do your measuring and layout face down. With corrugated, you want the ending edge of the sheet where t overlaps its neighbor to land down "in the groove" so to speak. You may want to make minor adjustments one way or another to get the proper look of overlapping sheets on the visible side.

[hon30critter]

Something that hasn't been mentioned are nibbler shears. These are excellent for cutting square or rectangular holes for things like doors and windows. They are much easier on the hands than trying to do the same thing with a #11 blade.

https://www.micromark.com/Nibbling-Cutter

The openings should be cut a little undersized and then finished with a file.

Dave

[G Paine]

hon30critter

Something that hasn't been mentioned are nibbler shears

I have one of those as well, just used it a couple of days ago. I just drill a 1/4" hole in the middle of the opening I want to cut, square it off with an X-Acto to make room for the cutter head, then nibble away to make a nice opening. You do get a lot of plastic chips from the cutting, but that is why you should also have a shop vac. 

[SouthPenn]

I have used scissors on some of the thinner stuff. 

[hon30critter]

G Paine

You do get a lot of plastic chips from the cutting, but that is why you should also have a shop vac. 

George, don't throw out the chips. They can be used as part of a scrap load or to represent boxes on shelves.

Dave

[OT Dean]

I've been doing a lot of cutting of molded kit parts over the the last year or so, kitbashing an O scale "Big 2-Stall Engine House," from IHC (Heljan of Denmark).  Wanting accuracy--I cut down several wall sections and remounted the brick cornices, for instance--I made all the cuts in the brick mortar lines, mostly, starting with a handy score-and-snap tool from Micro-Mark called the "Plasticutter."  I bought two of these, since they're inexpensive and a logical addition to the pair of "Panel Scribing Tools" I bought from them some years ago.

Both tools score by removing a curl of plastic instead of raising a pair of ridges alonside the groove and once the groove is deep enough to keep the X-acto saw blade from going astray, I use the front corner of the X-acto #239 razor saw blade to refine the cut.  Once the blade goes through, I keep going until it break through in several places, then bend the piece enough to show a light line so I can finish from the back.  I square the cut edges with a large mill file and join the finished pieces lying flat on a sheet of Mylar to avoid sticking the work to my work surface.

I've actually done so much of this that I had to toss the first Plasticutter and start using the second.  (The next time I order from M-M, I'll order another; I like to have spares on hand [you know you'll need it, probably on a weekend!].)  I kitbashed an entire Western town from Kibri and other plastic kits for my old HO Colorado Western before these handy tools were so readily available.  It's very satisfying, sometimes even restful, and you can be proud of the fact that your structures are unique.  I kept the photos from the box lids and passed them out to my young cousin's Boy Scout troup when they visited, happy to see they had trouble discovereing which were which!  Happy Railroadin'!

Deano

[AltoonaRailroader]

[quote user="mlehman"]

A stiff=backed jeweler's saw works well, Xacto and others make them. Score and snap also works, although the plastic on the NRM kit is thicker than would be the case with some other kits. Hey, it's been around like 30 years or so, so pastic may have been cheaper back the, who knows?

It's important to remember that saws take out material in what's called the kerf. Blades may not take anything out but sometimes the score and snap process will distort the surroundling plastic. This can be pushed around and smoother over that you don't lose much if any material. This can make a difference with tight fitting sections when you bash some things together, so that you want to consider your methods carefully and apply the best for a particular area or need.

While cuts often look square, it doesn't hurt to take a couple of swipes with a file at the cut edges in critical locations so you get a high quality joint.

On the NRM materials, check the fronts of the peices before you cut if you do your measuring and layout face down. With corrugated, you want the ending edge of the sheet where t overlaps its neighbor to land down "in the groove" so to speak. You may want to make minor adjustments one way or another to get the proper look of overlapping sheets on the visible side.

 

Thanks, I learn something everyday, I never heard the term Kerf. Appreciate the tips. 

[dknelson]

OT Dean

I made all the cuts in the brick mortar lines, mostly, starting with a handy score-and-snap tool from Micro-Mark called the "Plasticutter." I bought two of these, since they're inexpensive and a logical addition to the pair of "Panel Scribing Tools" I bought from them some years ago. Both tools score by removing a curl of plastic instead of raising a pair of ridges alonside the groove

A variant on what Deano is getting at with his method - I first scribe the line to be cut using a dental pick, and follow that line with a fresh Xacto blade, repeated light passes.  There isn't much left after that for the score and snap technique to accomplish. 

Starting the line from the dental pick seems to lessen the usual side effects of starting with the knife blade followed by score-and-snap.

Dave Nelson