Brian king did a talk at our club night about 3 months ago, he also uses differing techniques to those i use when creating etchings, alot of brians etchings are half thickness to allow them to be folded or bent, he uses etchings as if they were ' kit parts ' as it were, he uses alot of etchings to build up into a detail or a section of model, - he was explaining how he built up a model seaplane for one of his models out of etchings, the fuselage was built up out of about 4 etchings all stuck together, the wing was about 5 etchings with the last one having sections only half thickness to allow the etching to bent over to create the aerofoil section and similar.... he is amazing !!!!
unlike me, alot of the etchings i have done a architectural details for models and so need to be totally straight, usually they are a single sheet that is applied to detail say windows or to act as railings or similar, i dont often use etchings to build up into model parts, they are used just as fine intricate detail additions
i have never actually etched my own parts but have obviously produced the artwork or masters for my etchings, - i usually send them away and the etching arrive back about a week later !
good luck with home etching, i am interested to hear your results !
oster_st