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[ 13 posts ] |
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Directory of useful bitz |
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vanvlak
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz  Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:25 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am
Posts: 10348
Location: Malta
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Hi all,
spurred on by the camouflage and banner threads, here's a suggestion for a new thread describing materials useful for epic modelling, bases, scenery and conversions. This will take some time to compile, but could be useful. I'd suggest following a simple template for posts describing the materials:
NAME OF MATERIAL
DESCRIPTION
APPLICATION AND COMMENTS
SOURCE
PHOTO OF EXAMPLE OF USE, IF AVAILABLE
If this won't prove useful, it'll just die down and go away by itself; if it will, well, it could grow to quite a size seeing you can use practically anything...
cheers. 
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vanvlak
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:34 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am
Posts: 10348
Location: Malta
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SCRAPPED PRINTER COMPONENTS
Plastic bits from scrapped printers include several small gearwheels, the drive motor, and possibly sections of casing cut off the main body and used as thick plasticard.
Can be used as bits of machinery for larger war machines, as Ad Mech decorations, and for scenery.
SOURCE: well - scrapped printers! Watch out for equipment disposals in your vicinity, unless you're into scrap collection.
EXAMPLE: Scenery behind the Farseer in the attached pic - half a plastic gear.
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vanvlak
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:59 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am
Posts: 10348
Location: Malta
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WARHAMMER 40k BITS
Hopelessly out of scale, 40K bits can be used as components for Epic models, provided you take care they're not easily recognisable as the original object. OK, explanation time: if you use a fin off a Dark Eldar jetbike model and use it as a tail or wing on a Epic Eldar vehicle (see pic attached), that works ok; but if you use a 40K space marine bolter as an Epic Ork cannon without modifying it in any way, it'll look like the orks met Brother Gulliver, stole his bolter and tied it to a trukk. Now if the Aquila were filed off, and the magazine removed, and perhaps the barrel extended with brass or plastic tubing, well, THEN it might work.
40K bits can be used for just about anything, with each item having its own potential uses.
SOURCE - well - GW WH40K stuff sources, of course! And the old bitz box. Never throw anything away.
EXAMPLE - Firewing Mk.2: an old plastic Eldar Falcon converted by adding WH40K Dark Eldar jetbike fins.
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vanvlak
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:08 pm |
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Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am
Posts: 10348
Location: Malta
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CAT LITTER
Ok, my old favourite. Cat litter consists of little bits of absorbent material which (obviously) absorb cat - er - products making it easier to control - well, it's fairly obvious. It can be used as rubble for model and scenery bases, but be careful - the ideal type is called Fuller's earth (no, this is not a brand name, it's the clay-based material which is used), which comes in large but cheap sacks of small grey lumps which look a lot like concrete rubble. Don't buy the wood-shaving or sawdust based types - unless you can come up with an idea for their use (the sawdust-based litter comes as small packed cylindrical bits - tree stumps?). Oh - and don't use 2nd hand litter......
Applications are, as mentioned above, bits of rubble on bases and on scenery. Can be applied in a similar way to flock, using PVA glue. Can also be painted.
SOURCE - pet shops and supermarkets
EXAMPLE - you can see a single large lump next to the ruins o the left of the stand. Looks better combines with flock - in which caase the two can be applied separately or as a mixture.
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stormseer
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 6:03 pm |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 9:52 pm
Posts: 4598
Location: Suffolk, UK.
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One of my personal favourites....
AIRFIX BITS (or from any other plastic kits)- I have loads of old kits and boxes of stuff left over from my early days of modelmaking, and often have a root through to see what might come in handy for a current project.
There are thousands of different kits of all manner of different vehicles, buildings and other items around today, and they are often a lot cheaper than GW stuff new...
SOURCES; You can buy new kits from all model shops and good toyshops. Car boots and yard sales are also a good place to pick up second hand stuff.
EXAMPLE; Roof antennae from one of my research station buildings. Bits taken from the Bismark, aircraft landing gear, a motor torpedo boat and vehicle accesory fuel tank.
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Warmaster Nice
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:29 pm |
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Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 9:15 pm
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Location: Denmark
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I second Storms suggestion on the Airfix bitz. Personally I have a thing for landing gear. The pistons are great when you are scratch building arm mounted Titan/Gargant weapons.
For smashed concrete try using (empty) shellfish or clams ground into tiny bits Approx 1-3 mm across. If you live close to the sea it should be easy too pick up a big bag. I think it looks better than sand or gravel because the pieces have a distinct flat side whhich might have been the part of the facade of a building or something.
I'm afraid this is the best pic I had on my comp. It doesn't show it very well but you might get the general idea.
Cheers! 
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vanvlak
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:22 pm |
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Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am
Posts: 10348
Location: Malta
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DENTAL CLINIC MATERIALS
This is a speciality item, and includes a wide range of containers for materials and equipment used by dentists. You need good teeth and a good relation with your dentist to obtain these. She/he would obviously only supply sterilised or clean materials. Note that some dental tools (such as burrs and probes) can also be good modelling tools.
Applications vary, but several filling material containers are in particular useful as pressure vessels, and therefore bits of hulls and engines.
SOURCE: - well, the dentist!
EXAMPLE: the engine on my Storm Serpent conversion is a container for glass ionomer filling material.
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Tas
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 3:25 am |
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Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2003 10:01 am
Posts: 7823
Location: Sydney, NSW
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I hearily agree - my dad is a dentist and I scam heaps of stuff out of his office every time I am a good lad and visit him.
I use one of his old dental drills as my dremel - gotta watch those diamond drill bits though! 
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vanvlak
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 5:13 pm |
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Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am
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Location: Malta
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GREEN STUFF, MILLIPUT, TAMIYA PUTTY - BASIC TYPE
...and there are surely others out there. All these are puttys and 2-part epoxies used for sculpting, conversions, and filling gaps. Useful stuff all round - but very different:
Green stuff - GWs own, a two-part material which requires mixing of the two components by kneading for several minutes. Quite rigid and resilient in its 'raw' green form, can be shaped by anyone with patience and the right tools (e.g. a pin). Expensive, but generally quite good. Source: GW outlets and retailers.
Milliput - not a modellers product, but a general purpose 2-part material which again needs to have two components kneaded together. A bit cheaper than green stuff, comes in larger packets, very strong and very hard when dry - if mixed in the correct proportions. A poor man's green stuff - cheaper, but inferior. Perhaps better at filling gaps than green stuff, especially if you wet your fingers to rub it into the area needing filling. Messy, but gives a good finish. Source: most ironmongers.
Tamiya putty - basic type (there should be others, but I havn't met them): no mixing here, just squeeze the tube and out it comes. Hardens quite rapidly, but needs some hours curing time ideally. A bit too soft for sculpting, in my opinion, unless you do it after the stuff has dried! But can be textured (fur etc.) quite well before dry. Excellent for filling cracks and gaps (messy, though). Can be brittle in thin sections once dry. Source - modelling shops.
Ok, I broke the 'standard format' for this triptych of moulding and filling stuff. No pics here - I'm not getting my brand new camera near this messy stuff! I guess the local sculpting talents (Tuffskull, Warmaster Nice.....) could add lots more to ?this...
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stormseer
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 5:42 pm |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 9:52 pm
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Location: Suffolk, UK.
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PLASTICARD & PLASTIC STOCK
This stuff is fantastic for scratchbuilding, as I'm sure most of you will know... You can make everything from a simple wall with it, to a completely new model.
It is easy to work with; basic tools are a steel ruler and a sharp craft knife, but it can also be heat bent, vacuum formed, scribed and carved amongst other things!
You can get all manner of thicknesses of card sheet- generally increasing in price as thickness increases.
Plastic stock parts are really great for detailing models- girder sections, channel, half-round parts, thin plastic rod and strip are all great, and good for scratch builing scenery too.
Textured plasticard is also an excellent way of adding detail to models- mesh and floor tread pieces are great for industrial buildings like Necromundan refineries and the like, and corrugated plasticard makes good roofing.
It isn't especially cheap, but hardly expensive either, considering the fantastic results you can achieve with it...
SOURCE: Modelshops and some good toyshops.
EXAMPLE: Part of a basic box shape.
PS... excellent thread Vanvlak!
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vanvlak
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 6:03 pm |
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Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am
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Location: Malta
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Thanks Stormseer - and I agree plasticard is useful - other sources to try:
PRE-PREPARED PIZZA BASE BAG CLIPS
OLD CREDIT CARDS AND ATM CARDS
SCRAPPED FLOPPY DISCS
cheers and happy birthday again!
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vanvlak
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Post subject: Directory of useful bitz Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:53 pm |
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Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am
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PLASTIC SPRUE
Hi all - the oldest trick in the book. Plastic sprue can be used as beams, structural bits, or chopped down to use as rubble. It can be shaped with a knife and file and used for storage containers etc.; and it can be used as is, hidden from view, as web stiffening to help support delicate or wobbly bits.
Another good and ancient trick (from the Airfix 1978, or thereabouts, catalogue) is to use a candle to heat a stretch of sprue (preferably a uniform section, without bumps and cross-frames) over the flame, whilst rotating it continually. As soon as it starts softening pull the ends gently apart and hey presto! - instant aerial.
SOURCE - well doh! Plastic model sprues!
APPLICATION - as described above - see pic or aerial below.
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