Styrene thickness

[blackandwhite]

Another topic..

Has anyone ever compiled a listing of what the typical styrene thickness for 1/24 and 1/25 scale general pieces would be. What I mean is what the dimensions would be for the square cut pieces and such to make something to scale. Same to be said for the rod and tube to make roll cages or tube chasis'. Lastly what the expected typical thickness would be for hoods, spoilers, door panels/doors, etc

I hope this isnt too broad and thank you for putting up with me and my typical new questions

[Casey]

I think the drag section is a good area to look/ask about chassis tubing sizes.

I don't think there is a "typical" size(s), but rather you find out how thick the 1:1 part or section is, reduce it to 1/25 scale, and buy the appropriate thickness styrene sheet/rod/strip.

[martinfan5]

When I need to add roll bars to a NASCAR chassis, .080 (2.0 mm) is the size I use, not sure if that helps .

If you look at a 1:1 car hood, its not very thick, and I am just guessing here, but if you were to reduce it to 1/24th or 1/25th, it would almost be paper thin, so I dont think all things can be scaled down and still have the strength needed as well.

Just a thought

[blackandwhite]

Thanks for both pieces of info. The roll cage helps as it gives a starting point. I dont mean to be sheepish, but I didnt want to spend a ton of money and play the guessing game if someone already has. I get what you mean with things always being scaled down, but I didnt know if there was a standard 'rule of thumb'

[Casey]

There are "common" thicknesses of sheet styrene- .020", .030", .040", .060", .080", but as Jonathan said, scale thickness styrene does not have the same properties as its 1:1 steel equivalent, so things don't always translate to smaller scales perfectly.

[Ace-Garageguy]

................................but I didnt want to spend a ton of money and play the guessing game if someone already has. I get what you mean with things always being scaled down, but I didnt know if there was a standard 'rule of thumb'

Casey hit it exactly, and I'm going to elaborate without, I hope, seeming to be mean.

1/24 SCALE or 1/25 SCALE (other SCALES too) means that the model you're building is ONE-TWENTY FOURTH, or ONE-TWENTY FIFTH actual size. Do you remember grade school fractions? That's what these are....simple fractions.

A typical size for roll-cage tubing in a full-size car is 2" (two inches). If you're working in 1/24 SCALE, you simply divide by the DENOMINATOR in the fraction (the number on the bottom) which is 24 in this case. 2" divided by 24 = .083". So, for a 1/24 scale race car, you'd use .080" round tubing for a roll cage to be very very close to correct. (they don't make .083").

ANY measurement on ANY car in ANY scale works the same way. No need to "spend a ton of money" and there's no "guessing" involved. You simply divide the full-scale (the big one) measurement of whatever you want to model by the denominator of the scale you're working on. That's the universal, always works, "rule of thumb".

And about the best way to determine what thickness to make hoods, spoilers or whatever (martinfan5 is absolutely correct....a car hood is never going to be more than .040" thick steel in full scale, which would be impossibly thin in reduced scale) is to make them about the same thickness as kit parts. Injected molded polystyrene (kit plastic) has slightly different properties from the extruded and rolled 'styrene' strip, sheet and tube, but it's close enough to be compatible in strength in similar thicknesses.

If you want to measure small things quickly and accurately, I'd also really recommend a cheap ($12 or less) digital caliper. Most of them have an automatic metric-converter built in. That and a $2 calculator, and you're set uop to do any math you'll ever need in modeling.

[blackandwhite]

this is all the info I was looking for! Thanks guys