Need Intro to Plasticard

Just as the title says. I know NOTHING about it except that it is used. How do you get it? Where do you get it? How do you make stuff out of it?

First off, plasticard is apparently the most common term for sheet styrene in Great Britain; on this side of The Pond, asking for plasticard will get you a blank stare.
The most readily available manufacturer of sheet styrene is Evergreen Scale Models; the sheets come either in black or white of various thicknesses both plain & embossed. There are also strips, rods, tubes, L-shaped, I-shaped, & other items in the mix. You can usually find it at a good model railroad or model shop; failing that Walthers ( www.walthers.com ) carries the complete line.
It's generally used for scratch building models of various types...the limit to it's use is you own imagination. I'd be delighted to answer any specific questions on its uses.

Well I was thinking maybe I could use it to make some green skin style armour plates and weapons for my black gobbos to make them armed and armoured to the teef. Any ideas?

The strips can be made into nice looking sword/spear blades...for wider axe blades the sheets could be cut to size. The rods or tubes make good poles/hafts; if you draw a jeweler's saw in the direction of the grain (top to bottom) you can get a nice wood grain effect.

I haven't tried making armor out of the sheet styrene, although I've see examples of other folk's work. If you heat the pieces you can bend them to shape...hot water or the careful use of a candle work fine. I use the really thin stuff for flags/back banners...careful heating allows the sheets to be bent into realistic looking folds.

How thick would you go to make black orc inspired goblin armour and weapons?

For the armor probably .020" (.5mm) the weapon either .030" or .040'...doing a blade with a .020' center sandwiched between two narrower strips of .010" makes for a nice sword blade; draw an Exacto type knife along the edge to sharpen it....you can actually get it sharp enough to cut

A good place to get Plasticard (rods, i beams, etc...) is at a shop that specializes in Model trains. Actually a lot of anything you can want is in these places and usually at a fraction of the cost then if you bought it in a Games Workshop or any other game store.

The one I frequent (lucky me I work right by it ) has tons of things for scenery, the Plasticard, various brands of apoxy (green stuff and variants), resin casting supplies, tools, brushes etc....

Also most of these type of stores cater to a lot of 'motorized hobbies' so if you are having a hard time locating one, also look for places that deal in remote control cars, planes, etc...

Also usually if you go into one of these stores and they don't have the supplies, talk to the owners and clerks as they can usually direct you on good places to go as a lot of times they are enthusiasts as well.

how do you get plasticard for free: easy: just cut up everything that's made from plastic:
- empty ice-cream boxes
- expired bank cards or other old cards (student cards, membership cards,...)
- plastic lids from any jar or pot
- ....

these are mine most frequently used forms of free plastic but i'm sure there's more.
I know it's not 100% the same stuff but it does the same job for free

why didnti think of that ... free plasticard! every bloody fish and chips store (no we dont actually have them here) has a vip card now

it'll make me feel better to cut them up ^^