What's the weirdest thing you have done because you are a car modeler?

[Jantrix]

"I bought a pair of silky ladies panties to use as interior upholstery. "

Did YOU act like they were for someone special, or you have the composure to admit it was for a car model?

Nope I just smiled and let them wonder.

[Evil Appetite]

Passing up..ummm...'quality time' with my girlfriend because i finally found the motivation to paint...

[Rick]

Ok, how 'bout this one! I was fixing up an old Porsche, and after painting it inside and out, I was putting the interior back in. I had replaced the wiper switch with a better one, but the turn signal switch looked pretty bad. I used chrome repair tape as BMF to make it look better!

Rick

[VW Dave]

I'll have to go with buying as small a portion of material as possible at Jo-Ann Fabrics for seat upholstery. I'm pretty sure I had to get a fraction of a yard, and I was left with a lot of spare material....TWO colors, both of which were hideous on their own:

**DISCLAIMER** No muppets were harmed in the making of this model

[Crazy8]

Oh man I want to hear someone say they walked into some place that sells EVERYTHING and tell us how he went in and got lipstick, fingernail paint, sexy underwear, a bottle of rum, some clothes pins and a Q. Lazzarus CD with "Good Bye Horses" and then tell the cashier hes doing some "modeling tonight"....ROFLMBO

[VW Dave]

While not a car model, I did something off-the-wall for a C-130 cargo plane model I'm doing for my son.

We live in the flight path of the famous Stratton ANG 109th Airlift Wing's 'Snowbirds,' and my 3 year-old is crazy about them. A couple of years back I got one of those 1/130 Testors 'QuickBuilder' snappers, and I added the orange graphics to it before assembling it and hanging it from his bedroom ceiling.

A buddy scored me an old 1/72 MPC kit, and I began researching the paint scheme because I felt the larger model deserved more accurate markings. Google yielded almost no good views of the underside, which is IMO everything on a hanging model, and the 1:1 on static display @ Stratton is too far from the road to really get up close to. I called a number listed on Stratton ANG's website and pleaded my case to a very sympathetic Sgt; she said she would forward it to her Lt., but she couldn't make any promises. Lo and behold, about 10 days later the Lt. called me to set up an appointment for me and Dominic to come visit the base and get some 'face time' with the static display plane.

I got the needed reference photos I needed, and made Dominic's year....and I may even get an interview in the base's magazine when it's done.

Edited March 1, 2012 by VW Dave

[Crazy8]

@VW Dave That experience would be very cool and Im sure your son must have been having a hay day seeing that display. Very cool.

[Nick Winter]

Photographing equipment and tools at work and bringing home empty boxes to photo-reduce for my shop Diorama, my Co-worker and Boss weren't too sure till I started explaining, still think their unsure, they'll figure it out after I get around to doing that Camaro for my Boss.

Nick

[Austin T]

I know a guy in my local club that has a card for sally's beauty so he can buy sanding sticks cheaper,We all almost lost it when he told us about it.

[FASTBACK340]

"I bought a pair of silky ladies panties to use as interior upholstery. "

Did YOU act like they were for someone special, or you have the composure to admit it was for a car model?

I go out of my way to ask for my size... the facial expressions are priceless.All kidding aside, I've always been the type of guy whom could buy "anything" for my girlfriends, and eventually, my Wife. The most personal, intimate, embarrassing thing doesn't phase me. It's a part of life. Heck, I used to wear eyeliner & mascara myself when on stage with my bands back in the 80's.Back on-topic.... About the weirdest thing I've done because I'm a modeler? Does loosing your mind and spending over $300 for that "I gotta have it or I'll die" collector kit count? Or traveling almost a thousand miles round trip in a weekend to Toledo and seriously wondering if $2,000 is going to be enough for the swap area? Or why I continue to buy new kits, although my collection will out-live me by a factor of three?Nah.... can't think of a thing.

[Chief Joseph]

Priming, painting, clearcoating, polishing, and waxing... plastic spoons

But man, those spoons look nice.

[Guest Dr. Odyssey]

Oh man I want to hear someone say they walked into some place that sells EVERYTHING and tell us how he went in and got lipstick, fingernail paint, sexy underwear, a bottle of rum, some clothes pins and a Q. Lazzarus CD with "Good Bye Horses" and then tell the cashier hes doing some "modeling tonight"....ROFLMBO

Now thats what I'm talking about! LOLOLOLOLOLOL!

[ratnasty]

HMMMMMM this is a public forum so I can't tell you LOL

[JMChladek]

Well, when I was going through a NASCAR modeling phase back in the early 90s, I swiped this bolt of silver fabric tassle edge material from my mom's sewing room because it had the right look for braided line on a stock car motor (and it was cheaper than getting the braided line from the hobby shop).

As for you Fastback, didn't I see footage of you in concert once with Dee Snider of Twisted Sister?

Edited March 2, 2012 by JMChladek

[sbk]

The nail polish & nail files thing was nothing compared to asking the salesperson to point me in the direction of the largest size of panty hose, as well as the most ecomomical available. I didn't even attempt to explain that it's to strain paint.

[FASTBACK340]

..

Edited March 2, 2012 by FASTBACK340

[FASTBACK340]

As for you Fastback, didn't I see footage of you in concert once with Dee Snider of Twisted Sister?

Don't laugh... in the 80's I was playing the same clubs as Twisted Sister before they broke out. And make-up was the "thing" to do back then....But then you grow up...and older.

[donkeypuncher76]

It's just a hazard of this hobby. I've gone fabric shopping (lace for lace paint jobs and cotton flannel for polishing cloths) at Jo-Ann, "sanding stick" shopping at Sally, and stood in line behind twenty little old ladies with carts full of fake flowers at Michael's to purchase one little bottle of Testors yellow to complete a project after the hobby shop was closed. I've bought beading supplies, scrapbooking supplies, and beauty supplies, even though I neither bead nor scrapbook, and my beauty tends to be of the internal variety.

Wow, that you at the front of that line? You should have heard those women! lol. I too am now glad i am not alone alone, just yesterday was at that same chain with coupons for my merc. but ended up at the counter doing a juggling act, never thought i'd need a cart, geez i only went in for a 49 merc. walkjed out with an 60$ tab, with 40% and 25% coupons, i just couldn't stop grabbing more goodies on the way out. Long Live Models!

[Aaronw]

I've gotten a lot of wierd looks from guys I work with over the years. I started a website for fire apparatus models, so started taking photos of all kinds of equipment we had on the fire engines, hose, ladders, tools etc. Also detailed photos of any fire apparatus I can get to, and have even made up color matching sticks to find the right shade of paint. At large incidents I can often be found shooting photos of the "visiting" fire engines when I can spare a moment.

At first I was kind of subtle, doing it at times when not to many people were around, because it does look kind of silly, like a fashion shoot for a chain saw (or what ever). I don't bother with hiding it anymore, just accept the eye rolls and say yep, its for my models. Actually once they see what I am doing most think its pretty neat, not that it stops them from giving me a hard time about it (it is a fire house afterall).

Also a lot of the usual stuff, browsing the beauty aisle of the drug store for emery boards, checking out cooking shops and hardware stores for tools I can corrupt etc.

[lordairgtar]

Carefully going through cheap jewelry at rummage sales looking for that right piece of chain.