hobby material alternative

[MrMiles]

has anyone used sintra before? i had never heard of it

 

[stitchdup]

I've never used it but when i googled it just now the first hit was a model of the villiage of sintra made out of sintra

[Oldmopars]

I was at a trade show recently with my company showing off our waterjets.  I needed some material to cut on a small machine and we found some Sintra.  It is nice stuff, cut great. I think it would be great for dioramas. 

[Phirewriter]

Sintra has been used in the sign industry for many years. Our company buys 4'X8' and 5'X10' sheets on a weekly basis. We generally shape it with  table routers and can be printed on and painted very easily. It makes great lightweight, rigid bases for dioramas. If you're thinking about using it for scratch building it does have some issues not discussed at any length in the video.

Once the surface is opened either through scribing or sanding it will need to be sealed as it will soak paint up much like wood. The upside it can take solvent based paint and adhesive without breaking down like foam core. Despite the fact that it's ABS it is harder to bond together with universal plastic adhesive and super glue and definitely requires ABS specific adhesive. I would definitely seek out online tutorials before spending any money on sheets.   

   Instead of buying some that may or may not work for your purposes seek out a local sign shop and see if they will give or sell you cut offs. We throw out lots of scrap or cut offs every week. Just be aware that you may not be able to get thinner sheets unless the shops make indoor signs, most of the outdoor signs we manufacture are 3/4" to 2" thick, indoor thickness usually is 1/4" to 1/2" thick. One more thing to consider is much like colored styrene, colored Sintra will bleed color through solvent based paint so unless you're using white you'll have to seal the surface. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Phirewriter

[Straightliner59]

4 hours ago, Phirewriter said:

Sintra has been used in the sign industry for many years. Our company buys 4'X8' and 5'X10' sheets on a weekly basis. We generally shape it with  table routers and can be printed on and painted very easily. It makes great lightweight, rigid bases for dioramas. If you're thinking about using it for scratch building it does have some issues not discussed at any length in the video.

Once the surface is opened either through scribing or sanding it will need to be sealed as it will soak paint up much like wood. The upside it can take solvent based paint and adhesive without breaking down like foam core. Despite the fact that it's ABS it is harder to bond together with universal plastic adhesive and super glue and definitely requires ABS specific adhesive. I would definitely seek out online tutorials before spending any money on sheets.   

   Instead of buying some that may or may not work for your purposes seek out a local sign shop and see if they will give or sell you cut offs. We throw out lots of scrap or cut offs every week. Just be aware that you may not be able to get thinner sheets unless the shops do indoor signs, most of the outdoor signs we manufacture are 3/4" to 2" thick, indoor thickness usually is 1/4" to 1/2" thick. One more thing to consider is much like colored styrene, colored Sintra will bleed color through solvent based paint so unless you're using white you'll have to seal the surface. 

Thanks, Michael. That is excellent information from someone with a lot of experience, with it.

[slusher]

Some really good information!