Unusal Stuff You Use For This Hobby?

I have a small glass, the kind used for orange juice or whatever. I have it filled a little past half way with bb's.

If I have a glued part I need  to dry standing up, stick it right in there.

The bb's are clean, they're round and smooth, so it doesn't leave any sort of mark or scratch on the part.

In fact, I have a tube of glue standing in it most of the time.

Speaking of syringes, they are extemly sharp !  I burned the plastic screw end off , wrapped blue painter's tape around it to fit in my pin vise and use it for micro scraping in joints and in corners.

I also use them for scale gun barrels (they're tubes after alll ) and you can get them on Ebay in any size diameter for proper scale.  I just cut then to length with a cut-off wheel in my Dremel.

I 'll stick the sharp end in the tip of my Crazy Glue bottle when the tip gets encrusted and use it for a micro drop dispenser as well.

mitsdude

I use small plastic communion cups for:

   mixing a batch of epoxy glue

   mixing paint

   making a wash

   holding small parts

The advantage of these over something like pop bottle lids is they stack really well.

Throw them away when done or reuse.

I reuse the small 'condiment' cups you get from take out restaurants for such things.  I have one I've been using to mix epoxy in for several months.  It's almost full of the unused, set epoxy.  About time to replace it.

My wife works in an OR, so I get discarded surgical equipment (all sorts of cool forceps and pickups, my favs are the titanium 'lolipops' and long stainless 'DeBakeys' (named after the good doctor himself), and all sorts of scissors and cutters).  No scalpels, though, those don't seem to get thrown out much.  the handles, at least. 

My wife is also into scrapbook making and card making, so I raid her stash often.

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

I have a couple of things that I don't see listed yet.

One is the foam noodles that are intended for kids to play with at water parks, etc. Cut them off into short sections and wrap tape around seven of them and you have a non-spill holder for paint jars.

Attach one around the circumference of a Sit-n-Spin, slice the noodle all the way around the facing edge, and you have a paint stirrer than can stir dozens of bottles at the same time,,,,,,,put a bead in each bottle, open the slice, and pop the bottle in there. Turn it very slowly while reading or something, and it will just go "shush, shush" as the beads drop, mixing all the paints you need for the next project. If you need them "right now", just put the bottles in the two positions opposite your handle, and move your hand back and forth, fairly rapidly,  the beads jump up and down.

To clean threads before chap-sticking them so caps never stick again, buy a bag of the proper sized wine tasting corks from your local home brewing store, they have a cap on them that looks almost like the paint caps. When you pop one of those corks into your paint bottle, you can lay the bottle on the side as you clean the threads.

Oh, and for the quick paint stir before you use each color, put a finishing nail into a cheap plastic WalMart fingernail sander, it goes slow enough to not make the paint rise, but, fast enough to knock down any bubble from shaking. With the bead in the paint, it takes less than a minute to mix any paint you have already prepped for use.

Rex

Uh, I'll never tell.  

Jim 

Okay , youse guys :

member no religious or political stuff ! But on that vein didja know that altar boy surplices (I won't go tech here ) (the robes they wear) . When old, make about a good one hundred forty six- x- six polishing cloths .

I once worked for a great guy who happened to be Catholic.  We were talking religion one day and he asked if I knew how "Holy water was made?  I admitted that I did not.  He said, "they boil the hell out of it"!

Gary

tankerbuilder

Don't let your pastor know that - LOL

Actually he does know. This may sound gross but I asked him if I could have the discarded cups. I sprayed Lysol disinfectant into the sealed trash bag they were in. I then placed them in a pot of water brought to a boil. Finally I soaked them in a container of straight bleach for a week. I also wore a pair of surgical gloves the entire time I was handling them.

I have a big craftsman compressor in the garage. I do my painting in the basement of the house. Rather than buy a small compressor for the house I bought a small air tank, some call it an air bubble, at Harbor Freight and fill it from the big compressor and take it downstairs to run my air brush.

The way I keep hulls from scratching, is I have an old miter box. Cover it with a small towel, and the hull will sit right in there perfectly. Not only is the hull protected, it's also sitting in a solid place, so there's no wobble.The beauty part is, if it's a smaller scale, just put another small towel, or fold the one already in there, and it's still a perfect fit.

Another thing I forgot to mention, (this is probably not news to any one) I bought a small el cheapo dremel for 5 bucks. Almost no power at all. Just enough to mix the paint in the small jars.

Hello :

I want to add another use for those earplugs .When I am building a large ship model ( The 1/350 Bismark ) I use them to set the ship on instead of scratching up the bottom paint .

Don't let your pastor know that - LOL

I use small plastic communion cups for:

   mixing a batch of epoxy glue

   mixing paint

   making a wash

   holding small parts

The advantage of these over something like pop bottle lids is they stack really well.

Throw them away when done or reuse.

Walmart sells a white plastic 3-tier spice rack (looks like stair steps). $5 ish

The middle and bottom tier slide under to make 1 or 2 tiers.

Great for all kinds of stuff we use that come in bottles of some kind.

I use small plastic squeeze bottles sold in the art dept at Hobby Lobby and Michaels. I use them for small quantities of acetone, thinners, cleaners, windex, water, etc. and use the above rack to store them on. Gets the large containers off my work bench plus they are easer to dispense.

I use bottle caps as paint mixers and a Hollenback tool (dental tool) for folding PE.

I once used dry ice to keep putty from melting a model.

I've started to use eye-shadow applicators for applying pigments.  They work better than paint brushes IMO.

I have to pipe back in here :

     I forgot to mention something .Those of you who take meds in those little blue boxes in which the card slides out with the pills .Yeah , those . If you carefully cut the foil back and DON'T squish the little plastic domes ,here's a good one . I had an airplane model that required each port be a shallow dome .( window to you non-plane weenies out there .) Take these sheets of perfectly formed , visually clear Domes and carefully cut the dome out with a NEW X-Acto . Viola ! You have those domed ports . Now my NIMROD looks great . It's 1/48 by the way .Don't ask where I got it . It was in a plastic bag in the bottom of an old box from storage .

    These little domes work great on just about every plane I've used them on .Oh and don't throw those pill bottles away ! they are great for holding formed P.E. Parts that need to be safely out of the way for a while, and mixing a certain amount of ACRYLIC paints  . And last but not least .Do you wonder what your wife or girlfriend does with those neat tweezers with the little teeth on them that she tweezes her brows with (if she's old fashioned anyway , You know , she hasn't gotten into that salon shaping thing .) . Those are perfect for stringing antennaes (are you shipbuilders paying attention ? ) and they can be held with a tiny " Gator clip " The teensy ones , for tensioning a line .I learned this on a 1/25 bridge model .

  I think the lady at Merle Norman thought I was nuts when I bought out her whole supply .Expensive ,yes , Usefull ? Darned tootin ! Now they are over thirty and still performing as planned .      Bye !

After gluing,  I've found foam earplugs are perfect for setting a part to dry the right way.

They're pliable, so you can roll them between your fingers, then put it where you want. It expands, and makes a snug fit, without 'over pressuring' or leaving any kind of mark the part(s).

I know it worked for me. My USS Constitution's masts are perfectly straight.

Also along the lines of gluing, I've found a short burst from a can of air gives the glue a bit more tack, so you don't have to sit there holding the two parts together waiting for them to meld. Just a little time saver is all.

Hand held Hair dryer - will often speed up paint drying - also use it to heat up and unstick a stuck screw-on paint bottle top.

Panty Hose - cut the legs into various sized squares - use to strain the paint used in my airbrush.

I keep a supply of whiskers that the household cat sheds rather frequently into her water dish.  Use them to paint or to make antennae for AFV's.

I've found a shop-vac useful for vacuuming up the pieces, after a short flight.

Suture scissors - had some stitches this summer from a box-knife incident. Doc gave them to me after taking out the stitches. Great little tool if  you can get them.

Beading wire in various colors, sizes.

3M Nexcare waterproof tape is fantastic to masking camo demarcation lines.  Cut it into thin strips and mask away.  It's extremely flexible and is great for masking compound curves.

I bought a few cheap picture frames at the dollar store simply for the glass.  I use them when cutting decals or Tamiya or Nexcare tape with a straight edge.

A friend who used to work in a hospital gave me a bunch of unused disposable plastic haemostats from ER room suture trays.  Great grip on them.

Small spinning carousel (lazy Susan type thing) for a microwave oven.  Place the model on it ans spin away for hands free painting.

Accordion file for storing decals.

I'm always looking for stuff that could be useful in the hobby:

discarded electronic parts- great for cylinders and engine parts

discarded electrical cords and electronic wiring- useful for armor tow cables, engine and aircraft wiring and plumbing and even aircraft seat belt buckles.

paper coffee filters- great for polishing

wood coffee stirring sticks- my go to tool for stirring and mixing paints

ladies emery boards- from the Dollar Store or Wally World, in multiple grits and some are padded.

discarded ceramic tile- used as the support cutting surface for pe.

discarded plastic tops from water bottles- used as disposable mixing palettes for paints and washes. Turn them over and use the other side to place a drop of any type glue for a precise gluing application.

left over kit's parts tree numbers- can be carefully shaven off and used as casting numbers on armor.

wood popsicle sticks- great for making wood fences, wood slats, and just about any king of diorama setting.

discarded plastic pill bottles- great for holding small parts and there are types with a double screwable top that will allow a figure to be temporarily secured to it, making a great handle to use while painting, and allowing the figure to be in the bottle until it's completed.

plastic food trays- I save some of the small Jello plastic cups to be used as disposable cups for decanting spray paints, holding small parts or mixing diorama terrain materials. The larger microwaveable disposable food trays can be used as temporary holding bins for a project's parts such as holding all those wheels for German armor subjects.

Cheap hair spray from the Dollar Store- great for the 'hairspray weathering technique'.

metal strainers from the Dollar Store- used for armor and aircraft engine and vent screens.

dried flowers and moss from the craft store- useful for diorama settings

wine bottle foil- great for making straps, belts, tarps, fenders and a ton of other things.

beer, soda, tea cans- for manufacturing parts such as certain aircraft seats, Schürzen for German armor, etc.

Kitty litter- best material I have found to use as rubble, sandy, or rocky terrain. Crush the material as fine as you like and is easily colored with craft acrylics mixed with water and white glue.

dried roots from the backyard- these make excellent trees. trim to size, spray hairspray on it and sprinkle ground foam to build up the foliage.

spices from the kitchen- spices like dried oregano, parsley or any leafy type will make great ground leaf debris.

sewing needle- I use one in my hand held pin vise with the eyelet slit open as a super glue applicator. The eyelet will hold the right amount of thin ca than can be precisely applied to the most difficult part to reach.

window cleaner from The Dollar Store- Huge bottle for a buck and works the same as Windex at a fraction of the cost. Great for stripping off acrylic paints from plastic parts, cleaning the ab, and it even works at cleaning glass! 

flaver 2.0

Sorry did you say they lock up pipe cleaners? Why? Cant you  buy them at art supply shops.

I found the art supply ones tend to be too large and are often made of synthetic fibers. Regular pipe cleaners are cotton.

As far as the other part, they have become very anal around here as far as sales to minors. They have signs up saying they card under 40 and things like that. Many retailers do not stock pipe tobacco and related supplies, unless you go to a so-called "smoker friendly" shop. Oddly enough, the check stands are loaded up with all sorts of Bic lighters and such. I think you do have to be 18 to buy lighters though.

Jim

Sorry did you say they lock up pipe cleaners? Why? Cant you  buy them at art supply shops.

I'm not sure where you live but here in Ontario they seem to be over the counter no prescription needed. If you ask for insulin syringes they shouldn't give you any funny looks. I doubt it's illegal to buy them anywhere, what's the worst they can ask, do you have a prescription or what are you using them for.

I just made a joke and said it was for gluing models not heroin. He laughed and gave me a pack.

I wanted to try syringes for modeling needs but a.) not sure what the laws are and b.) too embarrassed to ask for them.

I also use:

Q-tips

Sponge tip make-up applicators to help tamp down decals

Sewing needles-scribing

Pipe cleaners for my air brush- would you believe they lock them up here?

Toothpaste-polishing

Glass necklace beads- paint bottle agitators

Pump hair spray-dump out the hair goo and use the bottle for spraying water on my model railroad scenery. This always made them wonder: Why is this bald man buying hair spray?

Vaseline- I attempted to copy some parts using epoxy and modeling clay- it was recommended as a release agent.

Formula 409, Simple Green, brake fluid-paint strippers.