Was cleaning out the office fridge on Friday - self imposed chore, but when the swill level gets so high! - and found a whole bunch of those single-serving plastic jelly thingies. I was going to throw them out after opening one and finding it semi-solid, but then I got to thinking … nice, thin, white polystyrene …
I was neatly stacking about 50 of them to take home when a co-worker walked in and asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m taking these home … I’m going to make … something … out of them.”
“Ummmm, right,” said she, backing quickly from the room.
LOL, it’s no worse than me opening a yogurt that I purchased at the chow hall and immediately sticking the plastic lid into my cargo pocket in my BDU’s. That’s gotten me a few weird glances before. I just tell 'em I use them for palattes for painting, which is exactly why I save them!
Great story. I was in the drug store with my mom (88 years old) and told her I needed to go to the cosmetics isle to get some nail files and she gave me a very strange look indeed, “Mom it’s for my models” …yeah right! I also got some strange looks from other customers in the isle when I was browsing. BTW the dental isle has great stuff for cleaning airbrushes.
It’s even more fun when you are looking for parts from found objects…
Even among my friends, there is always a bit of surprise when they are about to get rid of a broken cell phone, a plumbing part from a sink, a busted pen, etc, only to have me declare “Hey, wait now…I could use that!”
Some people who have known me long enough now actually keep a “junk bag” of various parts and scraps for me, rather than throw those things away. [8D]
the last time we moved, my fiancee and her mother were at the house unpacking all the boxes and decided they wanted to get the kitchen stuff unpacked first. they started going through the bins looking for cooking-type items. at one point, the future mother in law declared victory prematurely when she found a pack of bamboo skewers but was shot down with a “nope, that’s modelling stuff”.
I opened a can of instant folgers chapachino and pealled the aluminum seal off of it and looked at for a while and said hey i can use this the next time i build a amor viacale for bet up renders and stuff. my mom looked at me and said only you would think of that, you always find thing you can use on your models.
Try going in that isle alone, in the middle of a packed store! I would have just said they were for your mother, me, nope, i was pretty much up a creek with a paddle if somebody would have asked why I needed nail files… ummm… well, its like this, I chew on my fingernails, so i use these to file my teeth???
I just hope that modelers don’t find a really great use for tampoons or other feminine products. I avoid that department at Walmart like the plague
I had a buddy who turned 40 a few years ago and as a gag gift I was going to get him some adult diapers. My wife had to get them because a wasn’t going to be caught dead standing in line at the check-out with those things in my hand!!! Chances were that some friend of mine would have seen me and that would have been it for me!!
Thats like certain death to a male isn’t it? I have only had to go to that isle once by myself. Being there by myself is what bothers me. I thought, ah, how bad can it be, but when I got there it was packed with middle aged women… jeez, a bunch of grouchy women and I got to stand here and look for something like an idiot! What a day…
how about asking your friendly neighborhood barkeep for liquor bottle caps, wine bottle foil, those round containers good scotch comes in to use for styrene, while you’re having a cocktail. the rest of the patrons will give you seriously strange looks.