Iskelderon
Sr Member
People love to use them for kitbashed robots and the like, certainly cheaper than used Bandai Gundams and other robots.
Products that were not intended to be used in model making but work anyway
- Thread starter joberg
- Start date
These can be used to secure the ends of slits in plastics and cloth. If you are adding a slice, vent, expansion accordion or similar and need to keep it from splitting further when under stress. Punch on the end of the slit/split. It creates a very durable stop without a stitch, patch or grommet. It will not suffice in areas of extreme tension.
If doing this on harder plastics, where slits can run away quickly, punch the holes first and cut the slit from one hole to the other. If done with a score first, followed by a full cut, the split will follow the score to the other hole if it tries to run away. Not guaranteed, of course, so practice.
Iskelderon
Sr Member
Millenniumf
Sr Member
If you want some very tiny gun barrels, cable connectors, antennas, etc. and you can get them cheap, I highly recommend milspec contacts:
They are tiny, with extremely fine holes that can work very well for very tiny guns and such, if you get the smallest sizes. They can be pretty expensive, but lucky for me I work in the aerospace industry and we throw out broken ones all the time, plus all the extra ones the connectors come with that 'accidentally' make their way into my pockets when I clean up after my shift.
Here's a set of AMT/Ertl TIE Interceptor guns I made using these:
They are tiny, with extremely fine holes that can work very well for very tiny guns and such, if you get the smallest sizes. They can be pretty expensive, but lucky for me I work in the aerospace industry and we throw out broken ones all the time, plus all the extra ones the connectors come with that 'accidentally' make their way into my pockets when I clean up after my shift.
Here's a set of AMT/Ertl TIE Interceptor guns I made using these:
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Iskelderon
Sr Member
Great idea!
Years ago, I found out that you can buy those PCB connector sleeves in bulk without the plastic bits. They're perfect for stuff like RCS thrusters on spaceship models.
Sadly, I don't remember the technical name for them so others can easily order a bag as well. Anyone else know?
Iskelderon
Sr Member
That third type is great if you need to strengthen thin plastic elements with a cross-connection, especially if you melt them into the plastic you're working with, by way of a soldering iron.Sewing needles/pins are also a great add-on in your box of tricks
division 6
Master Member
Hypodermic needles are also used for guns on plane models.
Guitar strings used for cabling.
Guitar strings used for cabling.
The Noisy Cricket silencer
Iskelderon
Sr Member
Though for bigger stuff like props you'll have to use biopsy needles.
ICEE candy sprays at service stations are molded to look like the Cetacean submersible in MAN FROM ATLANTIS:
headhuntersholosuite.fandom.com
Cetacean
The Cetacean is a fictional submersible featured in the Man from Atlantis television series, which aired on NBC from 1977 to 1978. It was the primary means of transportation for the show's protagonists who were members of the Foundation for Oceanic Research. Allen C.W. Crawford Chuey Elizabeth...
JNordgren42
Sr Member
If you have a dead LED TV, it probably has some really good diffusion materials for lighting. The TV in our bedroom went kaput and I was able to salvage a huge sheet of approximately 1/8" thick translucent white acrylic diffuser and another of much thinner sheet of Fresnel diffuser. Together they do a really great job of evening out the light from LEDs.
The sheets salvaged from the dead TV:
Test of both diffusers layered in the nacelle of my 1/350 PL Refit. They work best if there is a small gap between the LED and the diffuser (about 1/8" to 1/4"). The diffuser is up tight against the clear grille part on the inboard half of the nacelle and the LED strip is taped to the inboard half shining directly into the diffuser. The camera is picking out a very slight unevenness at the edges but it's pretty much perfect to the eye.
More complete test with light blocking and the grill part painted. There is some unevenness here as well, which is caused by me testing an animation effect which randomly varies the brightness of the individual LEDs in a sort of water ripple pattern (it looks really cool in motion).
I carved a small piece of the white acrylic into a diffuser for the nacelle RCS thruster quad. It distributes the light from a single SMD LED beautifully.
The sheets salvaged from the dead TV:
Test of both diffusers layered in the nacelle of my 1/350 PL Refit. They work best if there is a small gap between the LED and the diffuser (about 1/8" to 1/4"). The diffuser is up tight against the clear grille part on the inboard half of the nacelle and the LED strip is taped to the inboard half shining directly into the diffuser. The camera is picking out a very slight unevenness at the edges but it's pretty much perfect to the eye.
More complete test with light blocking and the grill part painted. There is some unevenness here as well, which is caused by me testing an animation effect which randomly varies the brightness of the individual LEDs in a sort of water ripple pattern (it looks really cool in motion).
I carved a small piece of the white acrylic into a diffuser for the nacelle RCS thruster quad. It distributes the light from a single SMD LED beautifully.
Iskelderon
Sr Member
I thought everyone harvested the sheets from broken LCD screens to get diffusor plates and fresnel sheets?
Bloop
Sr Member
Good idea. It used to be that places like Best Buy would recycle your old electronics for free, now you have to pay them. If I had the space, I would've probably kept my last tv (that only lasted a few years) and try to break it down for parts too.
The matte plastic covers, yes, hadn't even thought of that and they come in numerous colors.For "light diffuser", I use tape (small area) or covers from note books (available at Wallmart for cheap)
There was a YouTube video on trash-bashing a 1950’s rocketship…out of the UK…
The fuselage was fine…but the nose threw me off.
I have the nose of an old Goodyear Blimp model somewhere that would have been perfect.
What he had was too futuristic.
It was a round plastic hemisphere with hexagonal tube openings…it looked like a more rounded version of missile pods military aircraft use.
Perfect for a Star Trek drone/photon volley launcher…anyone remember that video?
Not this
This is interesting
The fuselage was fine…but the nose threw me off.
I have the nose of an old Goodyear Blimp model somewhere that would have been perfect.
What he had was too futuristic.
It was a round plastic hemisphere with hexagonal tube openings…it looked like a more rounded version of missile pods military aircraft use.
Perfect for a Star Trek drone/photon volley launcher…anyone remember that video?
Not this
This is interesting
Formufit 1 in. Furniture Grade PVC Internal Dome Cap in Black (10-Pack) F001IDC-BK-10 - The Home Depot
The FORMUFIT 1 in. Furniture Grade Internal Dome Caps in Black attach to the end of 1 in. size Schedule 40 PVC pipe and have a gently rounded, dome end, which provides a neat and completed look to the
www.homedepot.com
jake88
Sr Member
Actually it’s pretty freakin strong!
I just watched Adam Savage's TESTED where he was inundated by free pencils.
I remember a type mechanical pencil with what looked like plastic bullets with cone like graphite leads only a half centimeter long or so.
They still make those?
Good greeble fodder.
Oh—here
stylesatlife.com
I remember a type mechanical pencil with what looked like plastic bullets with cone like graphite leads only a half centimeter long or so.
They still make those?
Good greeble fodder.
Oh—here
22 Different Types of Pencils for Drawing Enthusiasts
Complete your drawing by going through the different types of pencils mentioned in this article. Click here to learn more information!
stylesatlife.com
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