Creative Repurposing
Modelers are a creative, resourceful bunch. They go to great lengths to repurpose materials to use in their projects. One such incident that comes to mind involved a guy who built a radio control B17. He used only the best materials available until it came time to install an air reservoir for the plane’s retracts.
He thought ‘why buy something expensive when I can improvise something.” His choice was a 2-liter soda bottle. Not a good choice. When he tried to pressurize it, the bottle exploded like a bomb sending a cloud of balsa pieces spewing into the air. Yep, the B17 was destroyed.
A more successful repurposing was the diorama base made by Michael Bogle. He wanted a ruined building to stage his Gundam and started looking around to see what he had. When he spied the foam packing for a computer model, he saw the possibilities of converting it into a base. It came out looking pretty good.
Brian Hirsch wanted that something extra to set his Apollo 27 apart from other Apollo 27s. He wanted to lengthen it a bit and decided that the bottle cap to an aspirin jar would do the trick. The grooved vertical line of the cap fit in perfectly with this result.
Joe weathers was scratch-building a DH2 and needed something for engine cylinders. Rummaging around he found exactly what he needed: 5/8 inch set screws.
The possibilities are endless – limited only by your imagination.
- A Higher Call - December 27, 2017
- Creative Repurposing - November 26, 2017
- Thinning Ratios - August 6, 2017