Household or Common Items that can be used in Building

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Robert Porter

Senior Master Sergeant
I would like to collect in one place the idea's and solutions we have all reached over the years in model building. Ideas such as sources for materials for scratch building or detailing. I am most interested in sources and tools that are outside of the box as it were.

Example, in a recent post, one user suggested using the ink tube from a common ball point pen, in combination with a candle to create thin clear tubes.

Another user pointed out that you could use the clear (or not clear) packaging that a lot of items come in, you know the stuff you have to use heavy weapons on to open? This can often be easily reshaped with the application of heat into canopies or small windows to replace components mislaid or otherwise rendered unusable.

I have successfully used women's hair elastics, stiffened with CA glue and then painted, to simulate realistic looking oxygen tubes or even exhaust pipes or internal conduit or piping.

We are probably surrounded with items we would never even think to use in our hobby. Hopefully this can serve as a thread to collect such information to share with each other.
 
And another, use of HVAC thin aluminum tape to wrap oleo tubes to make them look shiny like a used hydraulic cylinder would. Also aluminum foil as bare metal foil, or the afore mentioned HVAC tape for similar purposes.
 
I finally took the time to find the box of parts that I had mentioned in the other thread (a little dusty from years of disuse) and laid them out to give an idea of what I was talking about.

The vast majority of the items are of a styrene composition, so are immediately compatible in a project. A few other items are still plastic based and would be workable with alternate adhesives.

So a quick rundown of what's shown in the photo:
Top-center: old battery operated aquarium housing and "tank" - all styrene
Top-right: Compact Disk "jewel" cases - all styrene
Underneath the Jewel Cases is a remnant of an Acrylic sheet - I used this to create a 1/32 "rollaway" toolbox.
Top-left: diecast car display bases - reacts like styrene
Next to the diecast bases is a thin plastic display case (half clear, half colored) - all styrene
Lower-left: display windows from electronic devices (DVD players, Stereos, etc.), lots of great colors (clear, smoke, etc) or good for thin, flat material.
Center and Center-left: odds and ends like old clearance markers from a boat trailer (older ones were comparable to styrene), an old DVD player front fascia (display, button surround) that's opaque and has styrene properties, medicine bottles, a clear piece of plastic that came from a display package - while it's not styrene, it is firm and works well for windows and other applications. And lastly, there were a few old matchsticks left over from another project - these are great if building a diorama and "lumber" or fenceposts are needed.

Anyway, in short - there's a ton of stuff around the house that can come in handy! :)

IPN 1088[720x540].jpg
 
I finally took the time to find the box of parts that I had mentioned in the other thread (a little dusty from years of disuse) and laid them out to give an idea of what I was talking about.

The vast majority of the items are of a styrene composition, so are immediately compatible in a project. A few other items are still plastic based and would be workable with alternate adhesives.

So a quick rundown of what's shown in the photo:
Top-center: old battery operated aquarium housing and "tank" - all styrene
Top-right: Compact Disk "jewel" cases - all styrene
Underneath the Jewel Cases is a remnant of an Acrylic sheet - I used this to create a 1/32 "rollaway" toolbox.
Top-left: diecast car display bases - reacts like styrene
Next to the diecast bases is a thin plastic display case (half clear, half colored) - all styrene
Lower-left: display windows from electronic devices (DVD players, Stereos, etc.), lots of great colors (clear, smoke, etc) or good for thin, flat material.
Center and Center-left: odds and ends like old clearance markers from a boat trailer (older ones were comparable to styrene), an old DVD player front fascia (display, button surround) that's opaque and has styrene properties, medicine bottles, a clear piece of plastic that came from a display package - while it's not styrene, it is firm and works well for windows and other applications. And lastly, there were a few old matchsticks left over from another project - these are great if building a diorama and "lumber" or fenceposts are needed.

Anyway, in short - there's a ton of stuff around the house that can come in handy! :)

View attachment 360081
Great sources! I have begun collecting my own based on your thoughts. Already made my first scratch built window for a B-17G using a hair dryer and forming thin plastic from a product package that contained batteries. I formed the new one over the original that I had hopelessly clouded.
 
Almost forgot:
While digging out the spare plastic parts box, I also came across a couple of "painting stands" that I had made on the fly when I was doing some 1/32 automobiles about 20 years ago...I completely forgot I had them! :lol:

Anyway, I was in a pinch and needed stands for various projects, so I improvised by grabbing some toilet paper tubes and some flat cardboard and glued them in place. Then trimmed the tubes to accommodate the body's shape so they sat secure while being painted. I even put a small dowel through one of them for additional support.

So in essence, they were tossed together with common household items.

IPN 1089[720x540].jpg
 
Last edited:
Almost forgot:
While digging out the spare plastic parts box, I also came across a couple of "painting stands" that I had made on the fly when I was doing some 1/32 automobiles about 20 years ago...I completely forgot I had them! :lol:

Anyway, I was in a pinch and needed stands for various projects, so I improvised by grabbing some toilet paper tubes and some flat cardboard and glued them in place. Then trimmed the tubes to accommodate the body's shape so they sat secure while being painted. I even put a small dowel through one of them for additional support.

So in essence, they were tossed together with common household items.
Nice! With a little work something similar could become a display stand I imagine, for an "Inflight" bird.
 
Nice! With a little work something similar could become a display stand I imagine, for an "Inflight" bird.
I usually tossed out these cardboard stands after I was done painting unless they might be needed for another project...somehow, these two ended up being spared that fate! :lol:
 
Just about anything around the house or garden has a use somewhere in modelling !
Pull apart an old transistor radio, and you have an Alladin's cave of possibilities !
Even a wife is useful in modelling - after all, you can't make coffee and attach an antenna wire at the same time !!!
 
Yep. Got myself a 1 pint mug, so I don't have to stop work so often to make coffee. And it's cheaper than a wife !!
 

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