Best/Worst smelling modelling materials?

 worst smell...laquer thinner,plastruct liquid cement (works good imho),and pastel weathering chalks.

good smell... new models no matter how old,they just have an interesting scent.

Worst smelling?

Humbrol Maskol... If you forget you've opened a jar of this stuff, you'll be checking the bottoms of your shoes to see if you've trod some... umm... stuff.. into the house.

Seriously - it smells like something died in the bottle.

Phil_H wrote:

Seriously - it smells like something died in the bottle.

That one made me laugh

Its not the best or worst smelling but an accidental whiff of the old Testors enamel can trigger a flood of forgotten memories. Memories that you recognize but are gone and forgotten again in an instant. Not memories of an particular model but just general stuff that was going on in your life at the time.

In a similar way Old Spice cologne will trigger memories of my grandfather.

What's wierd is the memory recall doesn't work if I intentionally smell these things.

Worst smelling?  Zip Kicker.  Just spill a bottle and see.

Best smelling?  Goo-Gone. I use it to get tape residue from canopies. MMMMM nice.

Worst smelling modeling odor?

Hmmmm.....

According to my wife, apparently its..... ME!

Tenax is a horrid smell.  The juries still out on Insta-Set as well, sometimes I like it and sometimes it is pretty repulsive.

I like Testor's liquid cement in the little black bottle with the needle applicator.  Obviously Future is a delicious smell. 

armornut wrote:

good smell... new models no matter how old,they just have an interesting scent.

  Plus, I also like the smell of Tamiya paint.

The worst for me is the smell of melting styrene, like when I heat it to stretch it.

Scientificly speaking our sense of smell had the best memory of all of our senses. Far outdoing sight and sound. That is why they trigger old memories the way they do. I also think Tamiya paints smell cool for some reason. The Tamiya extra thin cement is definetly irritating to inhale.

                                                                            Soulcrusher

apoxie 2 part exposy  -  smells something like old damp cloth to me (though i dont really remember smelling one of those before either).  at first i thought it had expired or something...

n i sniff dry erase markers... wait, did i just admit that?  as far as paint goes i as well always liked the smell from tamiya acrylics.  I really didn't mind the smell of enamel paint until I was told that they could kill me.

archangel571 wrote:

n i sniff dry erase markers... wait, did i just admit that?

One thing I can't beleive--has anyone else ever seen those big highliter sized "scented markers"  for little kids that smell like grapes or cinnamon depending on color?  Are you serious?  Are you TRYING to teach kids that it's fun to sniff markers?  sheesh. 

In elementary school I used to love smelling a black "Magic Marker". I remember thinking when I got bigger I was gonna buy one just to smell it. My parents wouldn't buy us one because they were to expensive and didn't last long. The sweet tasting white paste was also pretty good.

IanIsBored2000 wrote:

Found another bad one today---burning hair when you lean too close to the candle you are using to heat and stretch styrene sprue with.  Although I don't think burnt hair is technically a modelling material.

I've never seen any recipes call for it, even though there've been times when I've burned a bit of hair off my fingers while barbecuing.

Okay, I admit it. I like Testor tube glue. Stop laughing already. My brain isn't completely gone yet. haha

I detest 2-part epoxy.

Phil_H wrote:

Worst smelling? Humbrol Maskol... If you forget you've opened a jar of this stuff, you'll be checking the bottoms of your shoes to see if you've trod some... umm... stuff.. into the house. Seriously - it smells like something died in the bottle.

Best- another vote for Future and Tamiya paint. And I like the way some Vallejos smell.

Worst- "odorless" turpenoid. Yeah, it doesn't have much smell, but that didn't stop me from having an allergic sinus reaction from the ninth circle of hell the first and only time I've used it to try some oil washes. 

 My favorite non-modeling smells-

Old books, especially very old comic books. And of course the smell of a Half Price Books store. 

The smell of any piece of meat covered with a Cajun spice mix that I use and then thrown in a hot skillet.

Hickory smoke in my back yard. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, barbecue.    I'll be smelling that in probably 8 or 9 hours.

Oregano.

No, I don't like to cook.