Photo etching at home

[drummerdad]

So I have officially reached the "I guess Ill have to do it myself" stage of life and modeling and have decided to try photo etching at home. Ive been back and forth for a year or two, but I have been making progress on the 1/8 scale Camaro and I am in desperate need of chassis tabs and a few little brackets. 

I went to Micromark and the kit they sell is sold out. I searched and didnt see any other places selling a kit. So, does anyone know where to get a kit, or do I need to build my own kit? What are you guys doing for photo etching? As far as I can see, no-one is selling 1/8 scale phot etch tabs and brackets. 

[Lownslow]

I went laser and cut my own from aluminum sheets 

[john sharisky]

I have the Micro Mark kit. I bought it about a year ago. Haven't used it yet. 

At one point in the instructions is has you sort of "developing" the image (onto the metal plates) under the UV light of a standard light bulb (I don't have those any more) or in direct sunlight. I live in New England. Strong sunlight this time of year is unreliable. I thought I'd start using it this past summer but things got in the way.

It's a comprehensive kit. I'm glad I bought it. I recommend that you sign up for notification when it's back in stock.

I see there's still a bad link on the MM site to the instructions. If you'd like a PDF copy, please feel free to contact me.

John

 

[drummerdad]

This might raise another question. What other types of cutting can be done for brass? Laser, CNC, photo-etch? 

Lasers are expensive from a quick search. About $900-1500 for an engraver. I dont know if the engraver will actually cut. Then I have to worry about learning software, or an autoCAD style program.

Photo-etch looks like I can do it, and afford it, but the only kit available (Micro-Mark) is sold out. I might be able to assemble my own kit, but I dont know what to get.

CNC would be great, except I would have to worry about the software (again, maybe even autoCAD). I would also need bits. IF I could learn to use it, I could maybe even cut other parts.

At the end of the day, its just a hobby. I dont make money, I only spend it. I cant justify spending $1500 for a tool Ill only use for model building. I have managed to sweet talk my very understanding wife into taking a chance on a 3D printer. But the truth of the matter is, this is only because the cost to have parts printed by someone else, even if there is a person that exists that will print something for you, is many times what I will spend on a 3d printer set-up before I finish these 1/8 scale models.

[Russell C]

5 hours ago, drummerdad said:

... Photo-etch looks like I can do it ...

How would you be drawing the artwork for the film you need to put over the photoreactive metal sheets? There's actually quite a bit to just that angle of the process. One of my previous jobs was in the graphics department of a nameplate manufacturer that did photo-etching of brass, stainless steel, magnesium, zinc, and aluminum, and the artwork setup for the films had to take into consideration what type of metal was to be used (each had different reaction times to the acid), what thickness the metal was and how 'aggressive' (or whatever that term was) the acid was. The outside perimeter of whatever shape was being etched had to be oversized by the right amount since the acid not only eats its way downward but also inward more at the top surface level, while any thru-holes in the shapes had to be undersized for the same reason. How many tabs were needed to hold the shape to the framework also needed to be considered so that the parts would not just fall away into the acid mix. Double-eched parts were another layer of complexity, say for example, logo letters at the original metal surface and a lower etched-away background area. Another example of that is panels with lines etched halfway into the metal, to create fold lines so that the panels can be turned into boxes, or folded into more complicated shapes. The photo below are some samples I saved from that job, all of 'em with the exception of the thin brass lizard at the bottom are double-eched. The "key tags" vintage race car sample at the upper right still has bits of the blue photoresist layer stuck to it which protects the metal from the acid, but it must be stripped off or sanded off later. The long thin rectangle is an aerospace-quality filter screen, while the "Karl Baisch" tag under it was an etched aluminum tag a guy wanted for replicas going onto his vintage Mercedes luggage.

From that work experience, I've been able to spot the difference between photo-eched parts that were done with quality level artwork and fine control over handling the metal sheets and the acid, compared to parts that were close to being unusable.

[Lownslow]

21 hours ago, drummerdad said:

This might raise another question. What other types of cutting can be done for brass? Laser, CNC, photo-etch? 

Lasers are expensive from a quick search. About $900-1500 for an engraver. I dont know if the engraver will actually cut. Then I have to worry about learning software, or an autoCAD style program.

Photo-etch looks like I can do it, and afford it, but the only kit available (Micro-Mark) is sold out. I might be able to assemble my own kit, but I dont know what to get.

CNC would be great, except I would have to worry about the software (again, maybe even autoCAD). I would also need bits. IF I could learn to use it, I could maybe even cut other parts.

At the end of the day, its just a hobby. I dont make money, I only spend it. I cant justify spending $1500 for a tool Ill only use for model building. I have managed to sweet talk my very understanding wife into taking a chance on a 3D printer. But the truth of the matter is, this is only because the cost to have parts printed by someone else, even if there is a person that exists that will print something for you, is many times what I will spend on a 3d printer set-up before I finish these 1/8 scale models.

Im pretty good about offsetting costs, especially the engraver, when im not making model parts im clearing about 200-400$ a month making slate coasters and pet headstones. The laser is pretty easy to manage its small and the software is user friendly. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 11/15/2025 at 8:15 PM, drummerdad said:

...So, does anyone know where to get a kit, or do I need to build my own kit? What are you guys doing for photo etching? 

You tube has several videos about the process, including how to put the tools and materials (or "kit") together yourself.

I've watched several, some are better than others, but you can get a good overview, enough to decide if you want to tackle it.

It really isn't all that difficult.

Model RR guys were doing their own fine detail parts in the 1950s.

Here's one vid:

 

[LDO]

There was an article on making your own photoetch in Fine Scale Modeler back in the 1990s. I believe it was by either Bob Steinbrunn or Paul Budzik. The subject was an instrument panel for a 1/32 P-47…IIRC. I’ll see if I can find it. Techniques have advanced in 30 years so the article may be obsolete. 

[drummerdad]

Thank you all for the replies. It helps with the decisions I need to make.

As far as the drawings for the photo-etch, Ive been talking to a friend at work, and he said it was pretty simple. He runs the panel pro we use for overlays at work. I work for a helicopter completion center, and we make formica overlays for circuit breaker panels and instrument panels and things. He runs the panel machine that cuts these overlays. I dont exactly know how he plans to do it, but he said if we could find an image, we could download it into a free program, and scale it and add tabs. I was planning on having him help me with the first run or two.

And I have watched a bunch of videos on YouTube about it. Thats one of the reasons I was looking into it. I have actually watched the very video you posted Bill, so thank you. I guess thats probably what Im going to have to do, build my own kit. 

I think for now Ill just have to find a way to make some of the tabs by hand. Its going to suck though. They are pretty small.