Cutting Koolshade for SS TIE. How?

Fett_Ish

Sr Member
What tool would work best? I bought the Koolshade 5 years ago from a member here and just unrolled it for the first time. I was surprised by how heavy and robust this stuff is, I guess I expected it to be very fragile. It's the vintage stuff and I only get one shot so any help is really appreciated. Thread on the build to come soon. I hope.
 
Nobody? It must be a trade secret or I'm just a terrible searcher. The most help I could find on hero wing stars is Moff Eatons thread, but if there was a picture of him cutting (which I doubt) its gone now. I guess I'll hit the Home Depot and let anyone who cares know what I use. Not sure a laser cutter will cut bronze if I could find one to do it anyway.....If only there was some sort of laser knife or sword,hmmm
 
I think Jason probably used tin snips. That's what I'd use anyways. They're a hardware item you'll likely find. I've only cut a small piece for a ROTJ at-st, and I think I used my xuron brand photo etch cutting pliers. That's a hobby item.
 
Thank you guys very much! Tin snips was my first thought but I was concerned with bending. Again, thank you guys, I hope I can make as nice a model as the ones I have seen here.
 
I just did this a month ago. I can add some tips:

Cutting the diagonal lines is pretty easy, but I found when cutting the lines parallel to the louvers could be tricky. My advice is to leave a few extra louvers and then trim the side even with a smaller pair of clippers (that are capable of cutting the fine brass wire that bind the louvers together). You can trim those sides up pretty neatly (and even)

I also found that if your piece is too wide (and you should cut them a little wide), instead of trimming the sides, you can use the small clippers to trim the top or bottom of the piece and simply shift the piece up or down until it fits (since the sides should still be at the correct angles with respect to the top or bottom)

The edges of the koolshade WILL bend. Not much you can do but bend them back. The plus side is most of that bending will be covered by the wing stars.

I still need to post pics of my TIE, but feel free to hit me up on PM.
 
Use tin snips and go slowly and carefully. Cutting this stuff takes practice! Also, I discovered it's quite easy to SAND/GRIND the edges nice and clean after cutting. So, you can make a rough cut with tin snips and then clean it up after. I use a large disc sanding station and it works great, although it heats the metal up enough to burn your hands. . .
 
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