discussion Scrimpers & Tightwads corner.

[wonwinglo]

There used to be a TV programme called 'Scrimpers' which was full of money saving hints and tips,the adage that if you save cash on the simple things then this will leave you with more money to spend on the expensive bits and pieces is true,after all everything we purchase really has two uses 1/ the original application and 2/ what you can use it for afterwards,to this end this little corner is devoted to those people like myself, who use resourcefull and thrifty ways to subsidise our hobbies,we throw away far too many bits and pieces that can be used in model building,here are a few ideas,no doubt that you will have more,come here and share them with us,we want to know your uses for everyday items in modelling !

Dont throw away old rolls of masking tape,a quick zap in the microwave will quickly restore them for further use.

How many use pop wrap for protecting delicate models in storage or carrying in the car ? you can buy it for 90p a small roll, but why bother when supermarkets just throw it away by the ton ?

Old lollypop sticks are great for stirring up paint.

Walk any street and you will find enough elastic bands dropped by our post men to keep you going for ages.

The plastic film containers have lots of uses for storage of small screws etc,you can even use them for keeping liquids such as small tins of paint that have become unuseable,make sure that you label them up so that you know the contents.

Strapping from packing cases makes a great substitute for the mylar hinge making material.

Visit your local pound shop and you will be surprised how many goodies are on the shelf ideal for our hobby.

Ceral boxes makes great card for cutting out templates.

Cereal boxes with one corner cut off at an angle make good storage containers for your magazines,just add the year on the end in marker pen.

When building balsa models,economise by buying balsa bundles for internal pieces of your model,the bargain wood may not be as well finished externally but can be ideal for internal areas.

Look out for the lead weights that drop off car wheels on our roads,you will not only be protecting our environment but they make great ballast material for your model.

Always be on the lookout for broken domestic items that you can pull apart,they can yield useful parts and materials.

Large biscuit tins such as sold at Christmas time are ideal material for making up fuel tanks and other scale bits and bobs.

Car boot sales are a treasure trove for modellers.I have purchased complete kits and discarded materials,but make sure that plastic kits are not bodged or incomplete,unless they are cheap enough to buy for spare parts.

Many of our nations refuse tips have small shops that sell off discarded items,do not overlook them but dont pay fancy money.

Skips are well known for treasures,look for timber for work benches etc and anything else that is useful.

Plain wallpaper or shelf paper is ideal for drawing up plans.

Come on fellow scrimpers or tightwads as our American cousins call us,we need your valuable ideas.

 

[Guest]

Alarm system standby batteries are normally lead acid type,

i beleive they are changed on a regular basis whether functioning or not and due to teh make up of teh battery it costs companies too discard these bateries, so a vist to one of these companies warehouse/workshop may pay dividends to looking for this type of battery, some gladly giv e them away for free, some might charge a small amount for a batch.

 

[wonwinglo]

Alarm system standby batteries are normally lead acid type,i beleive they are changed on a regular basis whether functioning or not and due to teh make up of teh battery it costs companies too discard these bateries, so a vist to one of these companies warehouse/workshop may pay dividends to looking for this type of battery, some gladly giv e them away for free, some might charge a small amount for a batch.

*** Any idea what voltage these are Adz ? I did have some 12 volt starter batteries once that were from alarm systems,they were of the gel cell variety.

 

[Guest]

"Skips are well known for treasures,look for timber for work benches etc and anything else that is useful."

Just a little legal note on this one. If you are caught taking anything from a skip you could be charged with theft!!

Items being put in the skip belong to person throwing them away, however, they become the property of the skip owner once in the said container. Best thing is to ask the person ditching the stuff first.

Regards

Chris

 

[Guest]

*** Any idea what voltage these are Adz ? I did have some 12 volt starter batteries once that were from alarm systems' date='they were of the gel cell variety.[/quote']normally 12v barry, but i tink it depends on the system they are backing up .

 

[wonwinglo]

"Skips are well known for treasures,look for timber for work benches etc and anything else that is useful."Just a little legal note on this one. If you are caught taking anything from a skip you could be charged with theft!!

Items being put in the skip belong to person throwing them away, however, they become the property of the skip owner once in the said container. Best thing is to ask the person ditching the stuff first.

Regards

*** Valid point there,I think that these TV programmes convey the wrong impression about this when you see people salvaging things,apparently students consider skips fair game for lucky finds in London,but probably still best to check with the people ditching it,the same applies to refuse tips where you just cannot take anything without permission,most of the tips these days have shops that sell unwanted goods,not sure what the situation is in other countries ?

 

[Guest]

well i often 'skip raid'..................( i can hear the police sirens already !!!)

i usually get the permissions first !

perspex is often found in skips near sign makers, this makes great material for turning when making up your own fittings, i have also got plenty of decent timber offcuts from skips, - offcuts to the building trade are ideal for building models

also as stated before security alarm batteries are often ideal for model use, usually 12 volt and sealed lead acid type, but also look at the other items like emergency power supply batteries for computer systems, these also usually contain high capacity lead acid cells inside too- as they are constantly trickle charged until they are needed they are usually in tip top condition......

also look at the flourescent strip lights from commercial buildings, these often contain 4ah nicad D cells as standby power in the event of a power cut, these often have to be repalced on a date basis irrespective of the battery condition.....I now have over 60 of the D cells in regular use, - they are fantastic.... so keep you eyes peeled....

there are treasures out there in those skips ! ( dont tell the wife i go skip raiding !!!!)

 

[wonwinglo]

You are a true Scrimper Guy,amazing what you have found to date,what about those pieces of correx that you seeing blowing around in the wind ? you can build models with this material,someone actually made a trainer model aircraft with it.

 

[wonwinglo]

Srimpers & Tightwads-Todays tip.

As mentioned previously a visit to your local £ shop ( we even have a 99p one !) could be kind to your pocket,one thing that I discovered yesterday were large bundles of barbecue sticks,these have endless uses in model building apart from aplying adhesive and stirring tinlets of paint,they are strong enough to become part of your model when you need thin round dowel,I would imagine they would be also ideal in boat modelling for all those little fittings etc,the material is not only easy to cut but glues with ordinary woodglue.

Keep your eyes peeled for interesting items,and above all let us know here of your discoveries.

 

[Guest]

Check-out S.P.A.D (no not the WW1 planes) this one stands for "Simple Plastic Airplane Designs", more than just trainers ! Tons on the web, mainly U.S.

 

[Guest]

OK then this is the cost effective thread

Please put your suggestions or recomendations for use of whatever in our hobby (rather than buying expensive dedicated bits) if you get my drift ???

1 my first one is cannisters from 35 mil film make superb paint storage receptacles or you can use them for those really small parts (they seal brilliantly)

 

[Guest]

Why not combine this thread with Barry's "Scrimpers and Savers" thread. We don't really need to re-invent the wheel do we?

 

[John]

Why not combine this thread with Barry's "Scrimpers and Savers" thread. We don't really need to re-invent the wheel do we?

Threads merged

 

[wonwinglo]

Here is todays Scrimp-We all use PVA adhesive at some time or another in our hobby,this material is so versatile as well especially when thinned down,before you buy that next expensive bottle check out your local schoolastic suppliers,here you can buy a gallon sized container of this stuff for a lot less than those small ones,all you need to do is decanter it into the bottles with a funnel ( obtainable at £ shops again.

Also builders merchants use it for sealing floors etc and they sell it in much bigger quantities as well.

As before the savings can be used for other more costly items,it all mounts up.

 

[Guest]

Why not combine this thread with Barry's "Scrimpers and Savers" thread. We don't really need to re-invent the wheel do we?

I we can find a cheaper alternative then yes Its a bit like Lamb English is best but along comes frozen New Zealand Stuff it does the job so everyone is happy Aint that right Kiwi !!!!!!! LOl :nana:

 

[Guest]

super scrimper saver tip !

instead of using tiny tinlets of tamiya acrylic paint, take a trip to the local DIY superstore, have a look at the stencil paints...... lo and behold acrylic paint !

thinned down these stencil acrylics spray beautifully, ideal for large sections or for weathering or for diarama painting, plus they are about 5 times the quantity for the same price-

not so good if you are looking for a quantity of say USAF grey or a specific colour but for those routine jobs these paints are ideal !

 

[Guest]

another tip....

when using double sided tape to hold down model parts when spraying or maybe you stick material to the bed of your mill to fly cut or whatever to remove the sticky tape without damage to the model part or paint finish use lighter fuel..... it totally evapourates, leaves the part unmarked, and removes the 'sticky' from the double sided tape.... perfect !

 

[wonwinglo]

Have you ever wasted paint that has dried solid in the tin rendering it un-useable ? well here is a tip that will avoid all of this wastage,when the contents get about half way air gets into the tin and starts the drying up process,to avoid this store half used tins upside down,this way no air can get into the tin,simply put a dab of colour onto the base in order to identify the contents.

It also goes without saying that keeping the lids free of excess paint to ensure a good fitting lid will also help the storage life.

 

[wonwinglo]

Flight Sim savings for scrimpers.

For the flight simmers amongst us here is another money saving tip,quite a few of us have earlier additional add on software that was intened for FS2002,I was just about to purchase a replacement disc for some extra airfields for use in FS2004, when the manufacturers told me that there was no need to buy another disc as there was a way around it to install my older discs.

Basically all it entails is downloading a simple add on file which when activated with the earlier discs brings up all of the additional airfields,brilliant it really works and really does save you some cash,to get the sequence just log onto Realflights web page and sign up to the support section,here it gives a blow by blow account of what to do,it is easy,saving money extends to all avenues of our hobby.

 

[wonwinglo]

More money saving tips-paint brush care.

Sometimes we do things that are just a bad habit,the outcome is we waste good materials and in doing so waste good hard earned cash,as this scrimping thing is all about the later it is important to get the very best from the things we use everyday,here is a good example of this-

Most modellers use a jar of thinners to clean their paint brushes,what usually happens is that so much crudge builds up in the bottom of the thinners jar that it does more harm than good to the paint brushes,on top of this the one thing that should not be skimped on are good brushes,look after them properly and they will serve you well,a quick dip and shake in the thinners is not the best way to clean them properly,after each session work some washing up liquid in the palm of your hand and swirl the bristles of the brush around,just see the colour that comes out,this paint collects in the ferrule of the brush then hardens and will wreck a brush after a few uses.

Now back to the thinners jar,use two seperate jars and in the bottom of each place a piece of perforated zinc or something similar,fold back the edges so the gauze stands just proud of the base of the jar,when removing paint from the brush use jar#1,then take the brush to jar#2 and clean again,this is the correct way to clean brushes,one of my interests is oil painting,over the years I have used dozens of brushes some of them are still in good condition despite lots of use,because care has been taken with them.

Every week or so decanter the thinners and get rid of the sludge in the bottom of the jars,the rubbish as you know sinks to the bottom of the jar,this is where the piece of zinc comes in,the tip of the paintbrush is not stirred directly into the sludge and the perforated edge gives something for the brush to strike against.

All of this sounds like a lot of extra work,but rest assured it is not if carried out as a matter of course,clean thinners,washed brushes at the end of the day=good tools and money saved,so think about it ?

The crusade of the eternal scrimper continues.