Pla Plates are plastic sheets of styrene long used by plastic modelers to repair and/or modify their kits. The possibilities of these plaplates are endless, all it takes is imagination and a hell lot of planning. Im going to share some techniques that i use which may give you ideas on how to apply them on your works as well.
See how the detail on this piece has flattened out due to sanding and that nib mark is a sore to the eyes. So instead of risking loosing the detail, im gong to replace it with a plaplate alternative instead.
I start bay laying some tape over the area i want to "duplicate".
And shade it with a pencil afterwards. I try to focus on the edges, that's where the graphite sticks on to the most.
The pencil was able to accurately highlight the edges of the raised detail on the piece.
Time to take out that fresh pack of Pla Plates!
Separate the tape from the part and lay the strip on a sheet.
Use this as a guideline as you cut out the shape you need.
Tah Dah. Now attach the pla plate with some plastic cement or super glue.
The edges are still quite rough, but some putty and sanding will take care of that.
Now this technique may also be applied in modifying. After taking the outline on the tape, you may use it to design extra detail, and that would be used when cutting out your desired shape.
Like so.
I had to use some tweezers when applying the plastic cement to avoid getting them on my fingers.
Final out put after placement and sanding.
And that should be enough to start you guys off when using pla plates!
Till next time!
