Hello again gang, its been a while since I last posted (before Christmas I believe) but I have been lurking since then, and I have some question regarding using styrene as my building material.
Has anyone made a good, durable pack completely out of styrene and worn it around with no damage? Would it pull the glue seams apart under its own weight? Is it too heavy?
I ask because I’ve researched these boards, and found that most people build mold masters out of styrene, then cast a shell. I’d rather not just purchase a shell, I wanted to make this with my own two hands.
Right now, Im planning to start small and make a movie thrower out of styrene and PVC pipe, and if that works, try my hand at a styrene RGB thrower with some movie-realism tossed in.
I have not finished mine yet to the wearing stage but have made the shell and by the time you glue it all together and fill all the gaps with filler its pretty solid.
In terms of scratch building, it’s more sturdy than foamcore and cardboard, but nowhere close to MDF. If you’re really worried about the integrity of the build you can always reinforce the inside with fiberglass resin and/or expanding foam.
Styrene builder here. It is plenty sturdy, but you definitely want to reinforce your corners with an extra layer just to make sure the joints are bonded well. I’ve banged mine against walls quite a few times and other than a little dent in the plastic it’s held up just fine.
WeeMadHamish I can cite your build thread as inspiration for me, I’ve referred to it already several times in the course of my build, which I started today. I ran into the same problem you did by noting that the front barrel was a major stress point, and I’m still not exactly sure how I will reinforce it.
It is wearable. But it also depends on what thickness you use. I built mine out of .080" for ease of building, but I don’t think that would be durable enough to wear around.
You can fiberglass the inside of them, but you need to be careful of using too much resin and having the heat of the curing resin warp your pack. My thrower, and Funkpunktwangs throwers, were scratchbuilt by me out of styrene, and they did tend to need to be repaired a lot. After a while, I just swapped our throwers out with TC kits.
I just started a thrower out of 0.06" styrene. I’ve reinforced all right angle joints with square styrene tubing, and I’m also double layering most of the external panels with another layer of thinner styrene. Seems solid so far, but who knows how it will hold up what with being pulled off the pack all the time. I have a feeling I’ll eventually wish I went with a kit for durability. Hearing the throwers needed to be repaired often doesn’t fill me with confidence either.
I’d rather not get into fiberglass, as I know nothing about it and don’t really have a workspace aside from my floor, lol.
Well it looks like I’m wearing it out in public (I’m the one in the center)
Yes, they can be very sturdy. I made mine from 0.125" styrene but then also fiberglassed the inside of it for added support. Is it sturdier then a fiberglass shell? I doubt it but it held up nicely for me until I retired it to storage in favor of my fiberglass pack.
Well I’m nearly finished with my styrene scratchbuild thrower. I’ll post a build thread later this week. (I didn’t want to start showing pictures before I had made enough progress.) I’m pleased so far.
