Got my FSM the other day and this was one of the better articles. I've been saving odds and ends forever thinking this would make a cool spacecraft part. Now I just need to get off my butt and actually build it. 

Heya, AARDVARK, Gamera,

Thank you both very much for the very kind words!! :) 

I've always loved tanks and armor models (and ships, and airplanes, helos, etc.), but building sci fi model kits AND especially creating my own scratch-built craft out of odds and ends and discarded kit bits, has always been a fun, low-pressure way to blow off some creative steam, flex the imagination,  and cobble together a one-of-a-kind spacecraft or some other type of fantastic vehicle... 

And if you happen to be in L.A (Burbank, in particular). on Saturday October 1st, I'll be doing my annual "Make and Take Trash Modeling demo" for my club, the Los Angeles Miniaturists! 

And if ya can't, just pick up some junk, sprues, etc. and make something cool where you are!

Can't wait to see what you come up with!!! 

Thanks again, amigos!

With Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B. (aka John Brosnan ;) 

John, best article in this issue and one of the better articles FSM has run this year. Thanks for a great read!

L.A. is a little far for me to drive but I'd love to see any photos you might want to post.

Heya, AARDVARK, Gamera,

Thanks again for the kind words!!! Been a long time since I've posted anything, so I'll have to take a few pictures of recent projects to post. 

For the mean time, here is a link to my Gallery page for the Los Angeles Miniaturists, which includes armor models, boat builds, and of course some of my found object models, a couple of which you will probably recognize from the FSM article. 

http://laminiaturists.com/john-brosnan/

Will miss you both at the Club demo in October, but will try to take some photos... I used to do it as a class, but over the years it has evolved into a Make 'n Take hands-on workshop where the participants all build and prime their creations. And it is great to see what people come up with, especially first-timers or non-sci fi modelers giving it a try. Some of the results have just blown me away they are so cool and so much fun!

Every year I bring in about four or five large storeage tubs of found objects, sprues and parts, along with building supplies (CA glue, accelerator, primer, and a large fan to help with the fumes).  And we just start picking stuff out and building... 

And AARDVARK, hey, you hit it just right on the Post title: I half-jokingly refer to it as "Garbage Modeling" myself and the VP of our club has labeled it "Kit-bashing with Trash" so anything goes, brother! :) 

Yeah, guys, you've both got it figured out: once you start looking at all of the cool packaging, etc. in our lives, you'll see tons of potential for Trash Modeling projects! Can't wait to see what you "future garbage modelers" come up with!! ;) 

Thanks again and have a good one!

With Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B. 

Hey John - that was a great article.  Really great stuff - I was showing my wife the finished product and then showing her the source and like me she was shocked in a good way.  That is some hollywood modeling skills brother!  Fun and inspiring.  And are those whiteout tape dispensers????

It is an interesting and creative process. I will try that sometime.

Heya Keavdog, Bakster,

Thank you very much for the kind words!

Keavdog, you are correct, sir: the variable geometry wings on my NYPD hover cruiser --- one of my favorite builds, by the way! --- are indeed white-out tape dispensers!!!  The tall vents on the sides of the craft are the plastic holders for disposable razor blade containers, by the way...

Bakster, Keavdog, that's the cool thing about Garbage Modeling: it incorporates, many of the skills that we have all developed building traditional model kits... It also trains you to look at Real-World non-Modeling objects such as shampoo bottles, highlighters, hand soap pumps, computer mouses, etc. etc. with a "Modeler's Eye" imagining how they might look as a space fighter, robot, otherworldly colony building, etc.    

I'm getting over a lousy cold, but you can bet that that cool triangle-shaped Nyquil bottle went right into my stash of items slated for Garbage Modeling projects and the upcoming LAMS demo.  It will change the way you walk down the aisles of the drug store and supermarket...

And I guarantee that you've all got much of what you need to get started on one of these projects already in your bathroom, kitchen, home-office, etc.  

Just a reminder, please make make sure that you work in a well-ventilated area when using CA glue and accelerator --- like any hobby chemicals --- as the resulting fumes are not good for you.

Back to the fun stuff... 

There are no limits to what you can use or model with!!!!!!  Can't wait to see what you all come up with!!!

Thanks again, Folks --- enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!!!!

With Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B. 

Indeed an inspiring article. creative and resourceful ideas man.

Thanks a bunch, SprueOne!!! 

High praise, amigo! Love your M3 Lee multi-turret mashup! Talk about creative and well-executed! You nailed that, dude...

Thanks again, SprueOne!!

With Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B. 

Mahalo for your compliment on Yajaira's Victory Machine!

OH, WOW I'm on the same forum as a published author of Fine Scale Modeling. Now, That is exciting AsI too have wanted to create “things “out of Debris and left overs, but just never have.  Now I have a “Leader-Guiding Light-Master of the Art,” to follow I shall crawl back into the dark recesses of my lean-to and draw out the dusty, cobweb covered boxes of parts and pieces to start a new adventure in modeling

.....OK,  OK got a bit (well  a lot) carried away 

Seriously really great article. Very enjoyable and a bit of fresh air among all the Panzers, Spitfires, Star Wars models.  Thank You, Sir.

HA! Duster, yer cracking me up, dude! 

And thank you for the kind words!! I could not agree with you more: I LOVE building kits! Am currently working --- albeit slowly --- on the Tamiya M4A3E8, Revell CMS Colombo Express containter ship, and the Prodos Games 32mm (1/48?) Aliens Colonial Marines figures, amongst a myraid of other slow-moving projects...

But when I dumpster-dive into a Garbage Modeling project, I'm not following anyone else's rules or vision, or opinion or history: I'm following my own. These projects can also progress fairly quickly, so the likelyhood of projects lingering on The Shelf of the Unfinished is somewhat less...and yes, I do have some unfinished / partially-finished Garbage Modeling projects mocking me from afar. Hopefully yuse' guys encouragement will help me to get back those!

Looks like you might bein SoCal, too, Duster... So if you are around Burbank, CA, next Saturday, Oct. 6th, around 9:30 AM feel free to stop by our meeting of the Los Angeles Miniaturists! It is a great club with a lot of awesome builders of ALL skill levels and interests.

Coincidentally with the timing of the article, I will be doing my annual Garbage Modeling aka Trash Modeling aka Kitbashing with Trash  Make 'n Take demo at the meeting. 

The Trash Modeling Demo will start after the initial Show and Tell, so I'll likely to get going around 10:30 AM or so. I will be bringing TONS of tubs of trash --- er, I mean "Found Objects", kit parts, and supplies for anyone one interested to try your hand at Garbage Modeling.  No need to bring anything but yourself!!!

Have to finish getting the supplies ready for that today... Nice to get some of this stuff OUT of my garage for a change --- even my hero, Fred Sanford himself would be appalled at what a collasal mess my garage is. oofah. So I need everyone to build like TEN sci-fi models at demo so that I can get back into my garage!!!  Just kidding...er, sorta. ;)

Details: Next Saturday's Los Angeles Miniaturist's meeting and demo will be at the USS Gudgeon VFW Post 1006 W. Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, CA  91506 Right across the street from the car wash (same side of the street).  Again, that's October 6, meeting begins around 9:30 AM-ish, and the Trash Modeling demo will likely get underway around 10:30 AM or so. It'll likely go for an hour, maybe an hour and a half.

Your first LA Minitiaruists meeting at the club is no-charge, so nothing to worry about that... 

http://laminiaturists.com

Hoping to get a few other existing and in-progess Garbage Modeling projects photographed and posted on this thread soon-ish --- my phone has been dying and I no longer belong to an image hosting site, so I have to have to wrangle my kid off the electonrics so he can take some pictures his phone, register with Imugr or something similar so I can post pix, etc. etc. etc.

Thanks again, Duster --- have at it, man! Tear open that spares bin and boxes of half-built kits, raid the bathroom for some shampoo bottles and travel-sized containers and packaging, and cut-loose with some awesome sci-fi creations, brother!  The skies' --- the limit...or in this case, you could day"...the stars are the limit"! 

Can't wait ta see what you and the rest of the crew all come up with!

With Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B. 

PS. Yo, Duster, I'm a fan of the M42 Duster (and all things Vietnam) --- have got the AFV Club kit just waiting on the stash pile! No need for shampoo bottles or cut up headphone cords on that one! ;) 

Aloha again Havoc, 

I picked a set of Prodos Games Predators and Alien Xenomorphs myself. Sorry don't remember which exact ones though. I'm hoping to have the Aliens done in a month or so for our club contest since they fit into a Halloween horror motif. Hopefully will have them posted here when I do. 

Heya, Gamera,

I hope that life is good!

The sculpts on the Prodos Games AVP figures are excellent, but one word of caution: DO NOT give their figures a bath in Simple Green!!

I used Simple Green to do my usual cleaning routine with the Prodos USCM multi-part figures and APC... Alas, the Simple Green caused some sort of reaction with their resin, leaving many of the parts extremely tacky and shiny (as opposed to the few unaffected resin parts which remained in their original matte resin state)! These shiny parts became so sticky that you could pick one part up with the other, just but touching them together! Yikes!

Can't even count how many resin pieces I've cleaned with Simple Green, but this was the first time I've ever encountered anything like this...

Just use warm water and dish washing soap to clean 'em up, brother. 

As a footnote: the people at Prodos Games was very cool when I reached out to them after trying multiple times to clean up and reverse the process --- I detailed the issue, sent them pictures of the janked-up resin, and they sent out replacements for both items.  Took about a month and a half, but they absolutely resolved the issue to my satisfaction. 

How do you like the Xenomorph figures, Gamera, and which set did you purchase? Warriors, Stalkers, Infants, etc.?  

I've got to get two or three sets for a little Aliens-styled diorama I am planning, so I'd like to get your feedback on the Xeno figures that you picked up from them. 

Thanks in advance, brother --- you take care!

With Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B. 

Ouch! Sorry to hear about the accident with the Simple Green. Love the stuff for stripping paint but never thought about using it to clean resin parts. I used dishwashing detergent for mine and then sprayed them with a little Tamiya white primer and had no problems.

Mine are the Alien warriors set. They look great! The detail is fantastic. Each of them is only one part though, figure and base combined. I'm not sure how they did it, the Predators came with the body, both arms, and the base separate parts. As I said the detail is fantastic but a little hard to clean up the seam lines without removing some of it. 

Hope you'll post the diorama you're building. As to me, not sure what I'll do with them in the end, i picked up a couple sets of Mordiphius's Star Trek figures too. I am thinking of doing a small Xenomorphs vs. Klingons dio- we'll see...

Yeah, bummer, dude! Have probably washed hundreds of resin pieces in Simple Green over the years and never had an issue, but this time it was no love affair between Prodos' resin and SG...sigh.   

Anyway, like I said, the folks at Prodos Games were cool enough to make it right and send me replacements... ANd I learned what not to use on their magnificent sculpts.

Oh, yeah, those Unicast Alien Warriors are fantastic from what I've seen on the net. They only reason I don't pick up any of the figures that are unicast is I don't see how I can work those bases into my diorama... The dio will have alien Xenomorphs bursting out of a crashed Weyland-Yutani science ship (the ship's wreckage will be made with elements d'Garbage Modeling) as Colonial Marines disembark from the APC and unleash a firestorm on the Aliens. 

At some point I do want to pick up some of the Unicast Aliens and Colonial Marines to see how I can work them (and those attached bases for the figures) into a vignette or dio, but that's down the line. 

Dude! The Klingons vs. Aliens diorama sounds AWESOME!!!!!!! Now I can't wait to see that! I am assuming they are the boney-headed movie-type Klingons and not the "smoothies" from TOS?  

By the way, saw your avatar and I forgot to mention that I got to meet Jerry Doyle aka Garibaldi, before he passed... He was cool and and interesting guy --- definitely a loss. 

Okay, back to getting setting up for the Garbage Modeling-a-Palooza this Saturday. Hoping to have someone take pictures of that shindig and get some more pix of other projects to post here... 

Later, Gamera!

With Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B. 

Oh cool! You could probably cut the aliens off the bases but seems like a shame to do so since the bases are really nicely detailed too. 

And yeah the Klingons are the movie/TNG style bumpy headed guys, not the original ones and thank God not the awful 'Klingorcs' from STD...

I have to be a little envious of you getting to meet Jerry Doyle though. The only actor from B5 I got to meet was Richard Biggs aka Doctor Franklin a few years before he passed. Really sweet, kind, charming guy. Darnest thing about him passing at his age, he was in a tee shirt and jeans, all buff and pumped up, looked as healthy as a horse. Guess you never can tell (sigh). 

He had a few great stories like on 'TJ Hooker' he played a small time criminal and the script called for Hooker to run around the corner where he was hiding and he'd bonk Shatner on the head and knock him out. Well, it was a cold day and he wanted to get the shot done and in the can instead of redoing it a couple times so he bonked Shanter good but somehow in the face instead of the top of his head. And it was cold enough that the rubber 'stunt' gun was rock hard. He said Shatner grabbed his face and was ranting 'you sob you broke my nose!!!' and they carried him to the hospital. A few years later he appeared at a con with one of Shatner's daughters and was talking to her and she exclaimed 'yeah, you were the guy that broke daddy's nose!!!' I hope Shatner eventually forgave him, sounds painful but still the way he told it we all did have to laugh.