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Recent discovery - Used tea bags make great seat fabric, headliner and carpet for a ragged out rust bucket! The fibers are very similar in scale to cloth. And the spent tea granules make great diorama dirt! My wife's an herbal tea NUT (emphasis added) so I always have plenty of ratty fabric for those crusty projects...

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Recent discovery - Used tea bags make great seat fabric, headliner and carpet for a ragged out rust bucket! The fibers are very similar in scale to cloth. And the spent tea granules make great diorama dirt! My wife's an herbal tea NUT (emphasis added) so I always have plenty of ratty fabric for those crusty projects...

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WOW that looks good.

I bet that can be used to make fiberglass pieces as well

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I've used old electric shaver foils and cutting combs for mesh grilles and custom grilles.These are the straight styles, not the rotary styles.The rotary style cutters might make interesting wheel centers or covers.

Edited by ZTony8
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Great ideas! I'll have to try the tea bags.

A few years back,I had an electric blanket and the controller fried. I was going to toss it,but started looking at it,and I thought 'that would make a great fastback for a custom'. I haven't used it yet,but I still have it.

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Masking tape! Spray Testors Dullcote on the sticky side and it completely neutralizes it! Now you have some great textured material to make stuff with. I've used it for roll up tarps (like on the side of a huckster truck), and I make seat belts that way. Just paint it any color on both sides, cut strips as needed. Cheap, near free!

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This is a box of neck ties in the back of one of my trucks. I built it with logos from a favorite old restaurant. It was a casual place in Denver whose gimmick was that if you came dressed up, they'd cut off your tie. Then they'd buy you a drink and tack the tie on the wall with a card you filled out with your info. So people wore throw away ties there for the experience. So I decided that a box of ties was needed. They are made from masking tape.

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Used dryer sheets make good simulation of fiberglass chopped mat surface, when glued flat to an inner surface, like under side of fenders or hoods

I've taken used dryer sheets and adapted them for seat "fabric". See my T-Bucket junker http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=73306&hl=

I cut the material to shape and put layers of it over the plastic seat using white glue to bond it. I then painted the top layer. After allowing it to dry thoroughly, I plucked it with tweezers to give it the look of old cotton seat batting poking through.

Another household item I've seen used on a model is the handle of a disposable shaving razor. A member of my local modl car club adapted the razor handle as the boom on a Model T tow truck.

I really like this thread! Keep 'em coming....

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Pull cords on those outdoor rattan blinds, and adjustable venetian blinds, both have anywhere from 6 to 20 feet of cord that looks exactly like braided line, and can be 'colored' with a silver sharpie. Even brand new (ahem) they have enough excess cord, you can swipe a couple feet, then re knot the cord.....'Z'

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I've used masking tape for vinyl tops and seat belts. Even headliners

Masking tape for under hood liners too, on more modern cars they are smoother surface, and often have a 3D layer to them, which cut layers of tape applied over one another can recreate

It finishes well with a coat of flat paint applied to the tape surface

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I get these gems from work they are isolators/ mounting tabs for the computer to set and align the glass on new cars on the assembly line perfectly everytime, I rob the round foam pcs from them when i get them and use them for various muscle car foam gasket material for muscle car air cleaners

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the orange "wheelwells" are made from walgreens discarded pill bottles cut to size then halved

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I have also used colored paper clips for various things large black paper clips to make brush/ pushbars on 4x4 trucks 9smaller black paperclips can be used to make rockguards for offroad vehicles head and tail lamp lenses)

also the cotton swaps with the plastic tubing vs traditional cardboard ones..... i have used the plastic tubing from those swabs to make spindles for the fron of my model cars to mount the rims on..... the kit supplied metal axels usually fit perfectly withing those tubes

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