Free modelling stuff....

[Paul]

...or at least cheaper than "brand"/specialist modelling products.

First Thomas´s List

"special plastic pins" for making spears and lances, (plastic bristles from a broom)
"special natural roots for making model trees and bushes" (natural roots, can be found in nearly every forest)
"special model plastic plants" (aquarium and terrarium plants, sold for little money in huge bags)
"special spray primers for model figures" (every cheap brand from a home store is also good),
"special washing fluid for model figures" (wood glaze)
"special weathering pigments for modellers" (pastellic chalk, available in 100s of colors in every artist´s or hobby store or even dried and grinded mud)...

[ColeF]

I've seen a couple guys use tree bark as rocks.

[Alanus]

There is a great comment about pointless modelling supplies here:

http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/models/twigs.html

This site has some really good suggestions about making terrain etc.

[T. Dürrschmidt]

I've seen a couple guys use tree bark as rocks.

Yes, I forgot that. Bark from a dead tree in the forest works perfect for this. Birch or Oak are best.

Some railway modeller brands like "Busch" or "Noch" sell Cork bark for making rocks. It is quite expensive. If you wanna do rocks made of cork, use Cork which is sold in Zoo shops for terrariums. You get really huge pieces for little money.

Abrasive dust and fine sawdust are also good as flocking material.

[T. Dürrschmidt]

There is a great comment about pointless modelling supplies here:

http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/models/twigs.html

This site has some really good suggestions about making terrain etc.

Thanks Alanus, that is exactly what I meant. I even saw some burnt twigs and roots from this brand in a local modeller´s store...they are perfect for creating battlefields and so on....

In the future I will sell my clipped off fingernail-stripes as medieval saracen-swords....and I am also developing a new universal modelling putty named "brown stuff"......

[The Observer]

Hey Thomas-hopefully you will not also provide us with yellow stuff and slimy green stuff....also i think these kind of "stuffs" will not last very long

Uhh-GREAT---This was my post#200

[Phersu]

Many trees have natural gook looking barks.
Especially cork tree bark (the one used for bottle corks) is good for large sections of stratified or rough rocks...

Here are a couple of examples.





If you search images of "corteccia sughero" on google or similar you can see the many beautifull shapes and colors of such tree bark.

Cork tree woods are not rare in several Italian areas, so I suppose in all Mediterranean countries as well, don't know elsewhere...
The bark of these trees overgrow every year so it may become very thick, it is also obviously elastic like the common cork.
Some trees can be quite big, with precise cuts the bark can be removed from the tree in long sections and all the way around, providing very large plates (without damage for the plant that will replace it with the growth).

[west1871]

I go walking a lot on the weekends,and I take along a couple of small zip top bags to put small twigs,sand,gravel(different types) and rocks in.
My son see's me doing this a decides to pick up the biggest rocks he can find(Gibraltar size) and tell me it's for "HIS" collection,only to realize a few hundred meters down the track its to heavy and"daddy can you carry it".to which I reply "yes son",then I "loose it" well before we get home

[Paul]

here´s one, and as easter is about to finish there might be some good bargains about in the local flower shops. The covering of these hollow plastic rocks can be pulled off to make "grassy" clumps



I`ve also found that some plastic flowers have a moss like covering in the middel that peels off and can be made into small "vegetation/dry grass" clumps, like the middle of this sunflower



and for really bloody cheap forests!!!!
http://www.bakingshop.com/cakes/animals/plants.htm

[Peter]

In this topic I used some "mos" from the garden and some needles of a pineappletree:

http://www.bennosfigures.com/forum/view ... t=hastings

Cost me nothing

[Phersu]

Despite the poor surprises in the Easter eggs, i find something eventually useful outside: the ribbon.



I have no idea if it's weaved on purpose as rough ribbon, maybe it's made with colored strips of jute cloth or similar.
I'm quite sure it's cheap, probably sold in sprockets of various colors like other common ribbons, hopefully in different widths too.

This is 1,2 cm wide and with some paint may already look good as a 1/72 fence netting.

If it's available in larger widths, it could be a good alternative for making camouflage nettings, instead than use other nets or gauges.

[Helveticum]

Here some example what you can do with plastic "acquarium" plants, or the simple use of natural stuff found in a wood.....




Cheers
Alex

PS
....this are all good and sized for 1/72 scale...

[Paul]

Safety razor blades for removing flash etc in hard to reach places. Just use a pair of old scissors (or alternatively break/snap) to cut to a blade shape. They bend to get to curved areas or can be cut to a fine point to get into small corners etc. And compared to a scalpel.....bloody cheap.

[dutchboyinohio]

I've seen a couple guys use tree bark as rocks.

... or used hair as bow strings

[bilsonius]

I used to break up my Dad's old razor blades for modelling when I was a kid; - my Mum used to despair at constantly finding bits of them in the carpet, so be very careful if there are kids around...

[Paul]

I used to break up my Dad's old razor blades for modelling when I was a kid; - my Mum used to despair at constantly finding bits of them in the carpet, so be very careful if there are kids around...

and I swallowed one when I was three

[Valion]

and I swallowed one when I was three

Tell me that was a very late April's joke !
You did WHAT ????

Did you survive ?

Gruss,
Marc.

[Paul]

and I swallowed one when I was three

Tell me that was a very late April's joke !
You did WHAT ????

Did you survive ?

Gruss,
Marc.

sadly not, but my twin did

[Phersu]

During the military service one of my comrades who couldn't take anymore really swallowed a fork...

For a while he warned everybody he would have done it, and then he begun to say he actually did it.
Nobody took him seriously.
Despite knowing he was a bit weird I didn't believed him either...
Eventually such unbelievable story was mistaken for "a special secret mission" (a prank) of the "idiot team".

After few days he clearly appeared sick, so he had to be hospitalized in the base first, and in hospital right away afterwards.
The fork was bent in two, and that suppose to explain how he bloody managed to swallow it (for God sake! ), it remained stack somewhere in the stomach or intestine anyway...
However the doctors didn't open him and somehow got the fork out by "the other side" ....

He was judged "insane" and sent home, so he finished his military service as he wanted.