MIP panel thickness and RAL7011 equivalent...

[HondaCop]

Guys, couple of questions here...

1. Is a 6mm thick sheet of acrylic panel sturdy enough for a MIP panel? Is it too thick? Too thin? I am making a half cockpit (captain only) cockpit, so the panel will not be too long.

2. Does anyone know the color combo for RAL7011, if purchasing paint from Lowes?

Thanks!

[rhysb]

Can you guys get Plastikote spray paint cans over the other side of the pond? If so their medium grey is Boeing grey in a can for £5!

[HondaCop]

Can you guys get Plastikote spray paint cans over the other side of the pond? If so their medium grey is Boeing grey in a can for £5!

Hi Rhys,

Thanks for the response, but I would prefer to purchase the paint instead, so I can use my Wagner sprayer. ;-)

[blueskydriver]

Hey HondaCop,

You're going to use a Wagner Electric Sprayer? I have one and it doesn't work all that great on plexi. With plexi (acrylic) you have to do it in very light coats, it seems the Wagner sprayer can't get that nice, light and misty spray like an air sprayer, or so it was that way for me when using it. The Wagner is great for staining...where stain can be everywhere...but for light coats, it's not good enough.

If you have an air sprayer, you'd be better off to use it or use the premade spray paint cans...aka, paint bombs, like Rhys is talking about. Heck , you could get a little plastic handle that attaches to the spray paint can, and waa-laa, you have a hand-held sprayer unit. You'd be surprised how well that works.

John

[jackpilot]

Tamiya Gunship Grey (AS-27)
Those little spray cans do a very nice satin job,
No mess, no hardware needed.
2 will do your half MIP
After that, easy to paint little items like bezels, trim etc with a perfect color match
I have the FDS stuff and I painted my clocks bezels with AS-27. Unnoticable,
Jack

[HondaCop]

Thanks for all the replies, brothers! Actually, I will just take one of my panels to Lowes and have them color match it as best as they can. This way I will not have a multi-tone mess once I install all the panels on the MIP. lol

As for spraying it, I will give it a shot with the Wagner. I have used it to paint a home theater projector screen and it came out beautifully. Very very light coats and build up slowly. :-)

[HondaCop]

How about the MIP panel thickness? Is 6mm too thick? Should I get a thinner acrylic panel? If so, how thin? 2mm good enough?

[jackpilot]

2mm seems too thin to me as acrylic bends easyly and you may feel some movement in or out when you use switches.
Of course depending on the supporting structure.
My previous FDS MIP was HDF about 5-6mm and posed no problem.
I am not sure that laser cutting an aluminum MIP would be more expensive than using acrylic,..just a thought!

[HondaCop]

2mm seems too thin to me as acrylic bends easyly and you may feel some movement in or out when you use switches.
Of course depending on the supporting structure.
My previous FDS MIP was HDF about 5-6mm and posed no problem.
I am not sure that laser cutting an aluminum MIP would be more expensive than using acrylic,..just a thought!

Yea, that's what I thought. 2mm would be too flimsy. I will stay with the 6mm acrylic sheet I purchased at Lowes. Getting an aluminum sheet laser cutted will definitely be more expensive than the $40 I paid for the acrylic sheet.

[fordgt40]

Efrain

6mm acrylic can be challenging to cut because of heat build up. Have you experience of doing this before, if not, how were you proposing to cut the holes etc?

David

[HondaCop]

Efrain

6mm acrylic can be challenging to cut because of heat build up. Have you experience of doing this before, if not, how were you proposing to cut the holes etc?

David

I plan on cutting the least amount of holes. Since it's clear acrylic, no need to cut the holes for the DUs, backup gauges, chronometer and flap indicator. I will just mask those with painters tape once I get to painting the mip. Once painted, I just take the tape off and tada! ;-)

The only holes I will need to make will be the one for the panels such as the DU switches, korry lights and landing gear. Since those holes will be covered by the panels themselves, it will hide any rough edges due to melting of plastic while cutting.

[fordgt40]

Efrain

Ok, though I suggest you use a jigsaw on slow speed and most importantly lay a bead of oil on the cut line. This helps to reduce the friction heat and consequent melting

David

[HondaCop]

Efrain

Ok, though I suggest you use a jigsaw on slow speed and most importantly lay a bead of oil on the cut line. This helps to reduce the friction heat and consequent melting

David

Gotcha, David!! Will follow your advice and hopefully be happy with the end result. I will also buy a new blade to make sure it cuts easily. Thanks again, buddy!

[blueskydriver]

I remember talking about cutting acrylic/plexi a long time ago and the biggest thing that comes to mind is this; use making tape on both sides of the lines you're going to cut because it prevents micro cracking and rough edges. Use the real sticky yellow masking tape and not the blue stuff. Also, use it for where you want to drill out holes, just place masking tape overlaping a few times on both sides, and then draw out your hole line/points on the one side, on the tape. I can attest to using masking tape big time...

Additionally, if you clamp down a 2x4 on the acrylic/plexi to use as a guide for the side edge of you jigsaw to follow, you will have a nice straight line with a pretty nice edge. You should use a block of wood with a light sandpaper to further smooth the edge. Using a jigsaw blade made for acrylic/plexi will help things as well.

John

[HondaCop]

I remember talking about cutting acrylic/plexi a long time ago and the biggest thing that comes to mind is this; use making tape on both sides of the lines you're going to cut because it prevents micro cracking and rough edges. Use the real sticky yellow masking tape and not the blue stuff. Also, use it for where you want to drill out holes, just place masking tape overlaping a few times on both sides, and then draw out your hole line/points on the one side, on the tape. I can attest to using masking tape big time...

Additionally, if you clamp down a 2x4 on the acrylic/plexi to use as a guide for the side edge of you jigsaw to follow, you will have a nice straight line with a pretty nice edge. You should use a block of wood with a light sandpaper to further smooth the edge. Using a jigsaw blade made for acrylic/plexi will help things as well.

John

Outstanding tips, John! I will definitely get the new blade and use wood as a guide. I've seen videos where people use such a guide but instead of cutting with a jigsaw, they score the acrylic several times using a special tool, just like scoring a glass pane, and then just snap the acrylic. I guess this would be used on long straight cuts obviously. You recommend such approach?

As for the tape idea, I already had in mind covering the entire backside of the panel with black, contact paper. Reason for this was to help with preventing light leakeage coming through the acrylic. I guess I can also apply it to the front and once done with all the cuts, just remove the front contact paper. Would this work as well?

[blueskydriver]

Snaping the acrylic with a pre-scoring is fine, but it depends on what you're using the acrylic for. All sizes snap differently and that is based on the thickness of the acrylic...you can tryout things, but acrylic is expensive, so why chance it; unless, you know for sure. If you go to a hardware store and they have a acrylic table cutter (which cuts bigger sheets) you can ask them to cut or snap things for you. They might charge a small fee, but if they mess up they replace it for free...

Usually, for the unique cuts, you use a acrylic/plexi blade (which has a lot of teeth on the blade). The best thing I ever did was use a guide and don't force the cuts. However, as David says, if you go too fast heat will build up. Although, I never thought to use oil, I might not do it anyway because how does the oil effect the acrylic collectively? Maybe, David can chime in on his use of oil.

Finally, your contact paper is fine because it is sticky and all you need is a sticky tape like substance to stablize the acrylic. I suggest you do place masking tape on the other side and remove it after cutting. The thing is you want the acrylic to be stable as possible. Even the part you're cutting off should be clamped down; the vibrations is what you're trying to reduce when cutting acrylic.

John

[HondaCop]

Snaping the acrylic with a pre-scoring is fine, but it depends on what you're using the acrylic for. All sizes snap differently and that is based on the thickness of the acrylic...you can tryout things, but acrylic is expensive, so why chance it; unless, you know for sure. If you go to a hardware store and they have a acrylic table cutter (which cuts bigger sheets) you can ask them to cut or snap things for you. They might charge a small fee, but if they mess up they replace it for free...

Usually, for the unique cuts, you use a acrylic/plexi blade (which has a lot of teeth on the blade). The best thing I ever did was use a guide and don't force the cuts. However, as David says, if you go too fast heat will build up. Although, I never thought to use oil, I might not do it anyway because how does the oil effect the acrylic collectively? Maybe, David can chime in on his use of oil.

Finally, your contact paper is fine because it is sticky and all you need is a sticky tape like substance to stablize the acrylic. I suggest you do place masking tape on the other side and remove it after cutting. The thing is you want the acrylic to be stable as possible. Even the part you're cutting off should be clamped down; the vibrations is what you're trying to reduce when cutting acrylic.

John

John, you are the man! I feel more comfortable now going into this little adventure of mine with acrylic. Thanks again!