Does anyone make custom PE parts?

[Oldmopars]

I know custom 3D parts are possible, I do them. But does anyone do custom PE?

I would love to get some 1:16 scale Willys scripts made for my Takom Jeep. 
I could 3D print them, but there would be several steps to really get what I want. PE seems the better route.

[NOBLNG]

I don’t know about the custom photo etching or what all would be involved in printing them…but I just cut mine from .010” styrene. Then I positioned the letters and glued them to another piece of .010” styrene. Then I made a mold an cast four of them. I sanded most of the second.010” layer away before glueing them to the model. Just another option.?

Edit: The scripts were stamped into the panels and painted body color also…unless there are variations I am unaware of.

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by NOBLNG

[robdebie]

There are companies providing that service, but I only know the ones on the east side of the Atlantic:

https://www.graingeandhodder.co.uk/

https://www.photofab.co.uk/

http://www.photo-etch.co.uk

https://www.ppdltd.com/

https://www.saemann-aetztechnik.de/

https://sites.google.com/site/tinyland/

I'm pretty sure there are many more, especially in Eastern Europe.

Rob

[Oldmopars]

Excellent, you seem to be doing the same CJ2A conversion but is 1/25. 
I may just 3D print some and do as you said sanding off most of the backing. My hands are not good enough anymore for that delicate work. Arthritis and taken its toll. However, I can work magic in Fusion 360. That seems my best route.

On 12/24/2022 at 7:57 PM, NOBLNG said:

I don’t know about the custom photo etching or what all would be involved in printing them…but I just cut mine from .010” styrene. Then I positioned the letters and glued them to another piece of .010” styrene. Then I made a mold an cast four of them. I sanded most of the second.010” layer away before glueing them to the model. Just another option.?

Edit: The scripts were stamped into the panels and painted body color also…unless there are variations I am unaware of.

 

 

[Oldmopars]

On 12/25/2022 at 5:59 AM, robdebie said:

There are companies providing that service, but I only know the ones on the east side of the Atlantic:

https://www.graingeandhodder.co.uk/

https://www.photofab.co.uk/

http://www.photo-etch.co.uk

https://www.ppdltd.com/

https://www.saemann-aetztechnik.de/

https://sites.google.com/site/tinyland/

I'm pretty sure there are many more, especially in Eastern Europe.

Rob

Thank you, but with shipping and everything else, this seems like it will cost more than I want to spend for a few little scripts.

I think I will try the 3D printed route first.

[OldNYJim]

Hey Scott!  I was thinking about your question today, and how we can maybe use 3D printers to create missing scripts and fine detail that would normally be something we’d have photoetched.

I wondered about the possibility of making a larger piece that could just plug into a slot or groove cut into the body.  

Quick sketch to show what I imagined (with exaggerated depth, for clarity…):

Printing tiny script in 3D is hard (near impossible, probably), but putting it on a ‘block’ like this, making a slot wherever it needs to be placed on the body and inserting this little panel into the body could be a way around that challenge…and achievable with a 3D printer.  The edges of the block can be sanded and bodyworked to get the perfect fit, and then prime and paint as normal 

[Russell C]

One these years (not this year) I need to dive into my retirement career of doing eclectic graphic arts servicing for model vehicles - decal creation/reproduction, 3D artwork for 3D printing, and photo etch artwork. Years back at one of my jobs, I was in the graphics department for a nameplate manufacturer that did pretty much all 'custom' short- / medium-run work of nameplates, machine tag items and some aerospace etched items. I can tell you from firsthand experience, photo etch is not as simple as you might think. First off, the process involves acid etching of metal, in which a photo resistant layer is applied to a sheet of metal, and then artwork is needed to produce clear/black film mask that's placed over the metal where all of that is exposed to light. The part of the photo resistant covered by the black mask remains resistant to the acid while the exposed part is washed away in the development process. After that, the metal is acid etched, and after that the remaining photo resist must be chemically washed off, and then the sheet is cleaned and polished. Here's a simplistic link illustrating the process:  https://www.iqsdirectory.com/articles/metal-etching/photochemical-etching/basic-photochemical-etching-process.jpg

There's no cheap way for any acid etcher company to do just a couple of logos. Photo below of what we did for a guy who sold limited edition 8th scale steam tractors, where in order to make the run worthwhile, he needed dozens of parts per sheet. This is an 18" x 12" sheet of brass. A hobbyist with his own home etching could do tiny runs, but would still need the artwork for the film mask, and even that is not as simple as just black lines drawn onto a clear film. Acid etches both down into the metal and sideways. In paper-thin metal, that's barely any problem at all, but the thicker the metal is, the more the artwork needs to be oversized around the perimeter of the object to compensate for the uppermost areas of the metal being eaten away the longer it stays in the acid in order to achieve a deep etch. The oversizing varies from one metal type to the next, and interior area holes/shapes need to be undersized. I think the brass sheet here was a reject because somebody forgot to undersize the artwork dots for the etch-through holes, and every single hole on this sheet ended up unacceptably too big in diameter.

For something one-off like what you need, either 3D printing is the answer where you could talk a pal into including the little bits you need into some other print job, or maybe you could find someone with one of those plastic sheet cutter machines (that operate like an inkjet printer) who could cut out what you need.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Russell C
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