Dollar Store Modelling Accessories

1. One more Dollar Store item. I needed something to load up the cargo bed of the 1/24 Opel Blitz (pic at
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   There was a truck with a cargo of 44 gal oil barrels of the right "eyeball" size. The modifications done was to remove one lid and replace it with a card disk so as to create a recessed top with a rim. The barrel filler caps are small rings sliced from a ballpoint pen ink comtainer tube, one on the top lid and one on the middle of the barrel. Acrylic Sludge
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   to adhere the card to and the filler cap rings.

that sounds like one to try. more details?

I find a LOT of modeling material in Michaels craft stores- fine wire, little beads that make car shift knobs, metallic thread for metal hose lines, tools, etc. Michaels carries Testors paints, and every week the stores around here publish discount coupons in local shopping ads.

Also, basswood and balsa, and Krylon paints.

lucky stiff! we got nothin' in this hick dustburg. 40 miles to the nearest, and very poorly done, model shop. we go nothing.

Amazing. I really cannot figure it out. I'll buy a few more trucks to take apart. The motor itself is worth more than a buck so its a worthwhile investment. The 2-conductor wire (to the motor) each has a copper tab with a square hole to hold it in place on the fwd button and the rev button. Each tab sticks out to form a sandwhich with the tabs from the + and - of the AA battery holder. Its normally OFF. At any time you need both tabs to complete the circuit. So how do you press one tab for fwd and the the other tab for rev without having to switch the two tabs around to reverse polarity? I am very impressed with the simplicity and the minimal parts

Hobby Lobby has some interesting pliers and things like that in the jewelry section. Much cheaper than the model stuff and might be usable for metal parts. Sometimes its useful to walk around and look at stuff to use for modeling that's intended for something else. Paints and brushes and all the stuff to clean them come to mind.

The local Valu Hardware has these as well. I bought a set of needlenose pliers and cutters at a dollar and a quarter each there and saw the same items in Squadron blisters at a local Con a couple months later for five bucks each.

AC Moore carries basically the same stuff. In a bit of building planning genius, Michaels took over a vacant store abutting an existing AC Moore in a small shopping mall. It saves a lot of time when shopping for art supplies. :-)

Reversing the polarity? + - to - +

For some reason this reminds me of a Harry Harrison story about someone selling "antigravity" toys - a spaceship which floats in the air when you press a button. Of course it's on a concealed thread - except that if you try to lift the toy without pressing the button, the thread will break. Every time.

The story's twist is that a scientist accidentally discovered antigravity, but could only build a machine of limited power - when switched on it would remove just enough of the toy's weight so that the thread was strong enough to lift it. Since the government wouldn't take him seriously, he build hundreds of machines and put them in toys, knowing that people would take them apart to find how they worked, and somebody would figure out a way of building a practical machine!

it wasn't james degroot. he never gave anything away. or bill, he was still trying to get his right arm back on the right side.

Whoever thought of this solution is brilliant. I have never seen it before.

Battery -ve=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3Dtab Motor =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3DL R=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D tab tab

1. Each of the two wires from the motor end in tabs =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D (L &= R) Each of the battery terminals +ve and -ve also end in tabs.

2. The Motor tabs L & R normally rest on the -ve battery terminal (a tab). The circuit is not connected to the +ve terminal and is therefore open.

1. To rotate the motor forward the L button is pressed. This makes contact with the +ve. The R tab remains in contact with the -ve terminal. The circuit is closed. The motor rotates clockwise.

2. When the R button is pressed it makes contact with the +ve terminal. The L tab remains in contact with the -ve terminal. The current flow, thus the motor rotation, is reversed.

++++++++++++++++++

I have also come up with a simple speed control. The motorized pencil sharpener adapted as a boat motor will run on two D cells =3D 3V. I had earlier described making a battery pack by soldering the wire leads direct onto the battery cells with the cells still sealed inside the blister pack. Cut or solder-iron melt the holes for the wire runs. That saves having to buy and install a dedicated battery holder. It is easy enough to add a second twin D cell pack and wire it up to output

Looks like a fun project.