Ben,
You do want a plastic excluder available. I use them to make temporary queen includers for swarms. For nucs, I have round sections out of one and staple it over the entrance for a couple of days. On nucs with bottom entrances, I cut a rectangular one and staple it on. The first time I cut one was when I made my observation hive. The entrance has 3 positions, open , closed and queen excluder which is a round piece glued in. I never use them for queen/honey excluders bee t I do use them to keep the queen in.
Jim Altmiller