strange materials

Hydrocal plaster as body putty (P-39).

Baking soda with superglue (body putty). T-Rex

Tissue paper with superglue. Use to sculpt a 1/144 scale pilot figure and for scale fiberglass on an S-F kitbash to fair parts together.

Portland cement plaster for nose weights. (I forget what this was used in. Model no longer in existence.)

Drafting pencil leads for rocket nose cones. 

Brass cartridge cases in various calibers. Rings, fairings, and boxing in openings.

Aluminum arrow shafts. Same as above. 

I recently bought a yard of textured black ribbon from a florist shop to make into camera and tripod cases for my 1/24 scale tornado chase vehicle. Fortunately, I didn't have to buy a whole spool!

For the same model, when I made a drawer for the computer desk, the drawer face was made from an advertisement for a prescription asthma medicine. The ad was printed on a sheet of styrene that was thin enough to be in scale, yet thick enough to not flex too much when I operated the drawer. The one thing I was worried about was the purple color on one side of the plastic, but a darker shade of flat brown hid it pretty nicely.