Cutting Clear Plastic

Hi,

I am planning to cut up my kit's window into 4 pieces ( front,rear,sides). I can't find PE Saw at my place. Do you think I can create a molding line with my P cutter and then cut the window? I hope the cutting wont crack the window.

You mean scribe and snap? (What's a P cutter?)

Scribe and snap can work fine for regular styrene, but wiht clear parts you're more likely to split/crack/shatter the plastic or end up with some other nasty result. PE saws are certainly the safest way to do this sort of thing.

The P cutter is this:

http://www.kenji.to/seisaku/images/dougu/p_cutter.jpg

I think it's call a little bit different in Japan. Maybe you have the same tool already hehe. Thx for quick reply. I am wondering if art store has one of those PE saw set? eg Micheals?

Looks to me like a scriber. Great way to cut sheet styrene, but it's asking for trouble with clear parts.

A craft store like Michaels will almost definately not have PE saws (they will probably have to be ordered online). However, they may have razor saws.

http://www.hobbylinc.com/gr/xac/xacx75300.jpg http://www.hobbico.com/tools/hcar0250as01.jpg

Hobby shops also carry them. They're not as thin as PE saws, but it will probably work for what you need it for. Find the thinnest one you can, with the most teeth per inch/cm.

I remember that in the days when I started modeling I cuted the side windows of my S2000 in the same manner you are willing to. I have to say that I was extremly careful and yet I damaged my clear plastic. I was lucky since the damage was hidden. If you are to use a scribber instead of a saw, use a PE one, like those in scaleracecars.com they are great!

To cut a window part into several pieces with a p-cutter, you have to be extremely careful. Like MPWR said, it's a scriber, so you need to scrive grooves. The key is not to apply too much force, but instead, scribe, scribe and scribe over and over again, until the groove almost reaches the other side of the surface.

Start from one of the A-pillers, place a template or something inside as a guide, then gentry scribe a groove 5-10 times. Then continue scribing 20-30 times or even more. When the groove is deep enough, don't separate that part yet, but move on to the next area, diagonal to the area you just worked on, like starting from the left front, and then go to the right rear, or right front to left rear. When two groves are deep enough, and only a portion of plastic is holding the window part together, gently do the final cuting job, so you separate the window into two L-shaped parts. Do the same scribing work on the remaning areas, and you'll be able to safely separate the part into four pieces.
Take time, gently scribe over and over again.

I've used this method to cut window parts successfully many times, but honestly, PE saw saves a lot of time, so if you're going to do this kind of job more in the future, I strongly suggest that you buy a set of PE saws.

Im almost 100% certain I saw photo etch saw sold at house of hobbies in Burbank, Ca. I honestly dont have a clue of what photo etch saws look like :p but if its a thin, flexible saw that looks like its made of or something close to photo etch then thats what I saw them have hanging in their tools area.

I am oldschool when it comes to building. I've always just used the back of a #11 blade, and gently scribed my way through. I'm a cheapo though, PE saws seem to be the answer. check hiroboy's website, or just google crazy modeler, their saws seem to be the most popular.