Plastic Sheets

I'm playing with the idea of building a dome.
For the outside layer, I'm looking for sheets of plastic.
The type of plastic I have in mind is the type you see in oil tanks etc.
Something that is a few mm thick.
Perspex would not be suitable as it could shatter easily.
Anyhone know where I could get this sort of plastic?

Thanks,

Michael.

Outside layer?, so you're gonna have an inner wall on the dome also?.
Might not be a bad idea, just keep a eyeon the weight of the thing as it'll be you who'll be turning it around.

As for the plastic, don't know, you could always try sheet metal but again it would weight a ton.

by outside layer, i meant layer to protect from elements.
there would only be the one layer.

Having said that, I have seen some done with metal which have used two layers.
What they do is cover it in wood first and then cover the wood in sheets of aluminium to keep the wood dry.

However, what I'd like to do is build a timber frame and attach on plastic panels like in this one:
www.geocities.com/brianjohnson312/pages/DSC01795.html

Michael.

The only source fibreglass usage would be by someone who repairs fibreglass boats and the likes.
B&Q have corrugated sheeting, not sure its suitable though.

The plastic sheeting looks like it would be a lot less work than fibreglass. Given the wet conditions here in Ireland I would strongly suggest applying several layers of yacht varnish to the wood before putting on the plastic cladding, starting with a good soaking of varnish diluted with white spirit as a primer.

Dave_Lillis wrote:

As for the plastic, don't know, you could always try sheet metal but again it would weight a ton.

You'd be surprised Dave, the TAS dome is made of sheet aluminium. It is very light in itself, it's the box iron frame that makes it heavy. It would depend on the size of make-up of the dome structure, but I would go for sheet metal myself on a timber frame. Didn't David Bell custom make fiberglass domes? Finding out where he got his fiberglass source could be useful.

Seanie.