OK, got me a 660 x 680 piece of 1mm styrene sheet for £3.15... it will form to a 150 or 200mm cylinder (will use some MDF formers) and can be glued with contact adhesive. That place is a treasure trove of interesting stuff for modelling... hard o get stuff like wire mesh sheet in small sizes (both mesh and sheet size) at reasonable prices.

Had a look at the laser and a long chat to the guy that operates it. Got a video on my phone that I'll upload shortly (once I've figured how to get it off the phone). They do acid etching as well. They also do on-site white metal and resin casting from own patterns.