The punch and die tools I’ll describe allow you to create round or hexagonal punch-outs. Some large, others incredibly small. You may want to make these punch-outs for many reasons; here are just a few ideas to start you off:
- Making Nut, Bolt and Washer units rather than buying castings,
- Making holes in instrument panel overlays,
- Making bullet hole punch throughs in thin styrene,
- Making cover plates, patches, bolt heads or complete NBW sets, and
- Last but never least individual rivets (in many sizes).
You can work in any soft material such as:
- Plasticard (styrene sheet) of up to 0.015″ thou
- Soda can aluminium (which is about 0.005″ thou
- Brass and copper sheet (maximum thickness of 0.005″ thou for brass)
- Aluminium foils and sheets of varying thickness, and
- Cardboard and masking tapes for spray painting masks (useful for German WW2 camouflage for example).
I’ll detail the punches I use, how I use them and sources for each type of punch or their replacements. To reach each page use the menu at the top of the page (under modelling articles > tools ‘n’ tips > Punch and Die tools > choose an option), or click from the links below:
A note on safety
When using any tool, but especially those that cut or punch make sure you are wearing eye protection at all times. Small parts can and will fly into your eyes if you are not careful. I’m not responsible for any damage to you or others from using the information presented here.
The Martin Family 