Ballast????

BB's and white glue, BB's and 2-part epoxy putties, or shaped pieces of lead, it all depends.

I've heard of modellers using tungsten powder because of its high density. I believe its available at places that make/repair golf clubs.

When I was working on 1/44 scale VC-54C 'Sacred Cow', I had a heck of a time trying to put weight in the nose of the a/c without sacrificing space for the landing gear. Finally, I managed by pounding the crap out of a fishing weight just enough to be able to tuck it in. Of course, having the elevator in the down position helps too.

When I built the Special Hobby 1/72 Pucara, there was NO place to put weight. Slim little thing with turboprops in slender little nacelles.

Stuck a 55 gallon drum under the tail and called it a day.

Ya Know :

    Hi Don ;  Yeah I agree ! Now I was tickled when I got, I believe it is TAMIYA'S M.E.262 clear edition ,that the wheel well nose gun plate and cockpit base was all one piece of metal .She has never been a tail sitter !

I find that some models take a very high density of weight- limited space in nose but a lot of weight needed.  In these cases, round objects or randomly shaped objects just have too low a packing factor.  I have tried the shaping of wooden patterns to fit space and casting the weight from low temp casting metals, but this is a LOT of work and expense!  I wish in the case of this type of problem that the mfg would supply cast weights!

Ya know, I like that attitude, I said the same thing many a time when I was in SWA when we spilled fuel on the ground.

I always thought that lead came from the ground in the first place........

I use lead bird shot mixed with Milliput epoxy putty for the difficult jobs where there is limited space for weight.  If doing something like an airliner, I use whatever I have lying around, like nuts/bolts, strip lead weights, etc.  I used pennies once, and it worked fine.

I have noticed that mixing CA glue with bird shot causes some slight expansion when the CA cures, so I avoid doing that.  If I need to secure loose weights, I use epoxy glue.  I have also copied Fine Molds' silly nut and bolt set in a bulkhead attached to a plate method, and it worked great!

When I was small, I used dead batteries secured with plasticine, but found out the hard way that if the battery leaked, there would be, um, trouble.  Don't try this at home, kids.

BB's smushed into a wad of sticky tack. Just make sure they're in there good.

This is going to sound hilarious, but I actually work on my models at work, (I work at the VA for the time being), so bullets are definitely out.

I've found that 9mm and .45 ACP bullets, picked up from the berm on my shooting range, work well.  I epoxy them into nosecones on jets, or in other recesses.  I've also used lead shot mixed with 2-part epoxy, packed into anywhere I can in order to get the forward weight.  That "paste" could also be packed into drop tanks or bombs if they're forward of CG.

Gary

Yes to all but when your model does go to the landfill, so does all of that lead.

I buy 1/2" nuts and 1" short 1/2" bolts. Thread a couple three nuts on the bolt and you get a really heavy little nugget, all for about $ 0.75.

Wheel weights, they are plentifully available to me.

If you have very little room and need a lot of weight, see if you can find some tungsten fishing weights.  For their size, they're about the heaviest thing available.

I glue in some BB's

I'll use just about anything that will fit, just remember to use a white glue, any "hot" clue (ones that you'd use to join any styrene) will melt the plastic and distroy a piece.

You can have a look at "Liquid Ballast" or "LIquid Gravity" I hear they works well in small places

Phil

Usually I use lead fishing weights.  They come in various sizes and weights and if necessary you can always flatten them out with a hammer or pliers if you think you need a couple more that can be put into small spaces.