Place to buy greebles?

darthviper107 · Post by **darthviper107** » Thu May 19, 2011 3:45 pm

I've got a kit I want to add a bunch of detail to. However, I don't have a collection of kits to pull details from for the greebles. Does anyone know of a reasonable way to get small detail parts like that?

The only thing I can think of is to look for some cheap kits and hope there's something useful in them, but that's probably too expensive.

My other option is just to build some parts on the computer and then get them printed. I'm thinking that might be my only option since I don't think I can reasonably build a collection of parts.

Tony Agustin · Post by **Tony Agustin** » Thu May 19, 2011 3:58 pm

What sort of kit are you trying to add detail too? Because that's important to know on the 'type' of detail you want to throw onto it.

The cheapest way I can think of is to buy lots of Evergreen/Plastruct styrene structural details and just start chopping.

darthviper107 · Post by **darthviper107** » Thu May 19, 2011 4:52 pm

It's a Revell Venator Star Destroyer, so pretty small parts. I saw the Kotobukiya MSG stuff and the parts from Wave, but most of those are very simple pieces. I'm thinking stuff like pipes with details, grills, vents and stuff like that.

darthviper107 · Post by **darthviper107** » Thu May 19, 2011 5:03 pm

Here's from someone else's build:

http://imageshack.us/m/219/158/img1144469280383810.jpg

I can do the styrene panels, but there's lots of little pieces from kits used as details. Obviously I don't expect to get the same pieces, but I don't have any extra kits at all to get pieces from.

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Moderator edited to change pic to link, as per The Forum Rules.

Tony Agustin · Post by **Tony Agustin** » Thu May 19, 2011 5:12 pm

How about getting 3-4 of those smallscale waterline battleship kits and just raid them for the small parts. You can then make a gang mold of the choice parts and make multiple castings for your project.

darthviper107 · Post by **darthviper107** » Thu May 19, 2011 7:46 pm

I checked some of those out and it looks like a good idea. I'm going to a model show this weekend so I'll see what I can find there.

Thanks!

srspicer · Post by **srspicer** » Thu May 19, 2011 8:16 pm

You might also consider investing in some styrene shapes, like form Plastruct or Evergreen Plastics. I have just about every shape they produce, half round, quarter round and even triangular shapes, 'i' beem, L beem, etc. When I mastered the TOS Galactica for Timeslip, I used only 5% kit parts for the surface, the rest was styrene shapes, sheet stock chips, wire and rod. Have look here;

http://spicerstudiosinc.com/spicer-stud ... p?album=69

You can also disguise the kit parts you use with this kind of detailing. Layers is the key to super-detailing. Looking forward to seeing progress.

Scott

darthviper107 · Post by **darthviper107** » Thu May 19, 2011 9:20 pm

Yeah, I'll be getting a bunch of styrene. The small parts are really just stuff that's really hard to make on your own

USSARCADIA · Post by **USSARCADIA** » Fri May 20, 2011 8:56 am

Try your local model railroading store. Mine carries a whole wall of detail parts like what you're describing. Better still, they don't look like ship parts, tank parts, etc. Easier to blend in.

karim · Post by **karim** » Fri May 20, 2011 10:48 am

You may also want to start a greeblie kit collection. If you look around, there are some great-looking armor kits that go on sale periodically.

For example, Squadron is currently selling a 1/35 scale Trumpeter M1132 Stryker ESV for $38 ($29 with the right coupon code)

Some detail pics: http://www.squadron.com/ShowLargerImage.asp?i=TR01575

This may not have the right bits for your model, but if you poke around at various online kit sellers, you can find some good deals.

Post by **LindaSmile** » Fri May 20, 2011 10:55 am

That's why we carry these two kits in the SSM store.... for greeblies:

http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/shop/ind ... on-set.cfm
http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/shop/ind ... on-set.cfm

There are pics of the sprues on the page.

Hope that helps,

Linda

darthviper107 · Post by **darthviper107** » Fri May 20, 2011 1:43 pm

Saw that one, the second is out of stock though.

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Fri May 20, 2011 4:02 pm

Find a local IPMS or other model club. Get to know the members. Then ask if any one has spare parts, or old, broken models that can be stripped for parts. Hit thrift stores for kits or partial kits. Rum-mage sales...

Kekker · Post by **Kekker** » Fri May 20, 2011 11:03 pm

Ditto on the train parts! There are detailing kits for rail cars, buildings, factories, chemical plants (I used a lot of these parts in doing the helium plumbing on my 1/12 Mercury: valves, angles, joiners, etc.).

And the styrene is good, too. Use the sheets like clapboard siding for grills.

Kev

kerick · Post by **kerick** » Fri May 20, 2011 11:49 pm

Don't forget found parts from everyday objects. Electronic items have many useful parts inside. Also wire and solder for piping.

darthviper107 · Post by **darthviper107** » Sat May 21, 2011 8:23 pm

I got a bunch of parts today at Scalefest. It was really cool to go there, tons of stuff at great prices. I was able to get 5 of the ships for less than half what they'd normally cost. The small parts are perfect for scratchbuilding. I later went to hobbytown and got some styrene parts as well. Thanks for the tips

http://imageshack.us/m/853/1975/partsb.jpg

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Moderator edited to change pic to link per the Forum Rules.

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ajmadison · Post by **ajmadison** » Tue May 31, 2011 9:53 am

Whatever you do, don't buy any 1/72 scale tank kits. *wink*

I did so, while investigating building a half studio scale Blockade Runner. They're relatively cheap, and even cheaper if catch them on sale. If you get any of the recent new releases, from Revell Germany or DML, you'll find they are very nicely detailed. The fine detailing, relatively low cost, and easily hidden box, cough, easily stored box, I was addicted in no time. I soon had all of the applicable kits for the 1/2 scale BR, I got onto a modern armor habit, and was buying those kits. Interestingly enough, in some cases, the pre-painted & assembled die-cast models are identical to the model kits, the M1A1 has the same problem as the kit, with the exterior basket detailing nothing more than some half rounds molded to the sides of the turret.

AbsoluteSciFi · Post by **AbsoluteSciFi** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:43 pm

OK. This is a subject that I pride myself on because I am in the same boat as you, darthviper107, you need parts or detail "greeblies" but don't have any kits to pull from. Every modeler had to start somewhere, and in the beginning we have next to nothing. Creating machinery and technical looking detail to a spaceship is not easy, it takes thought, unlike what most of the IPMS's tank and aviation modelers would tell you... "What's to get right? You just stick stuff on there and nobody can say its wrong, cuz it doesn't exist, haar, haar!" Well- it takes a very unimaginative and close minded person to think like that is what I have always thought... but, back to the subject of greeblies!

I don't buy model kits for bashing, and I am only interested in scratch-building my own designs, so, I have to look to alternative sources for gathering parts for greeblies. This has made me very open to looking at anything plastic that I see, no matter what it is, for parts that can be taken, or changed, or augmented into use as a greeblie. I find the best things are the ones that are hidden in plain sight.

Anything that is very repetitious, such as cheap disposable razors, from the Dollar Store, in a six pack are great. the handle is good for something, the tip that rocks on the arm of the handle, the blades themselves, and the spacers between them, the blade holder... just about the whole thing is packed with greeblies of different types! I have a diabetic cat, and I have to give insulin shots, the caps off the syringes are terrific for saving. I went to a garage sale and bought three old games, and the houses for Monopoly are now in my greeblie collection, along with some other obscure game parts. I often go to a salvage store, and look at the Mega Blocks stuff, and get some of the cheap kits for parts. Lego's are packed with stuff these days. Garage sales can supply you with a lot of that stuff. Dumpster diving can bring you a goldmine of fresh parts if you know the good sites: outside any automotive bodyshop, or a TV/Electronics repair shop. Car parts have plastic clips that snap the fiberglass parts into place, and headlamps have untold shapes inside them. VCR's are some of the best do-dads of all but you have to take damn the thing apart.

Even an organic part can have some value a greeblie if it is used in repetition. Take an ordinary cheap Dollar Store pack of army men, separate the different men, and cut them in half lengthwise. Now place them all next to each other, or nearly ontop of one another. You have made a very detailed and highly interesting irregularly regular pattern!

Not all of these things will be for everyone, but I can tell you that I don't look at my collection of junk as junk anymore!

Barnstormer3000 · Post by **Barnstormer3000** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 2:18 pm

Find a model railroad shop - a well-stocked one will have LOTS of little add-ons for HO trains and they're GREAT - very small, and individually packaged so you can see the actual parts. You can find a lot of sets for a few dollars each. I rely heavily on them these days.

kerick · Post by **kerick** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 7:03 pm

Ditto to all. I also find old computers and printers to have lots of parts for greeblies. Lots of gears and such from printers and some very unusual parts from hard drives. And I find it fun to take them apart. If one gives me too much trouble I can go "medieval" on it and get computer revenge. Just watch out for what kind of plastic the part is made of. They are usually marked with a part number and a code like ABS, PVC or POM. Plastruc cement will work on ABS or PVC but I'm not sure if anything holds POM. Of course there are usefull metal parts also.

scratchy · Post by **scratchy** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:40 pm

Why don't you look on Craigslist or something similar for old unwanted models or even place an ad. Twelve years ago I picked up a box full of 1/700 and 1/350 Tamiya battleships for that exact thing...... I still have greebles after all these years.

kenlilly106 · Post by **kenlilly106** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:06 pm

kerick wrote:Plastruc cement will work on ABS or PVC but I'm not sure if anything holds POM. Of course there are usefull metal parts also.

POM seems to be similar to PTFE (Teflon) and has similar bonding problems.

I love the metal parts in things like this, printers are a good source of high quality cold rolled shafting.

Ken

MillenniumFalsehood · Post by **MillenniumFalsehood** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:48 am

Regarding good sources for greebles, once you go Dragon, you never go back.

They over-engineer EVERYTHING, and consequently their kits are exploding with tons of tiny parts that are extremely useful, and one or two kits will last quite a while. I'm still robbing parts from a 1:35 Sturmpanzer and King Tiger I bought at a model show in 2007.

MedixWerkeShoppe · Post by **MedixWerkeShoppe** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:01 pm

I go find deal on Phot-etch parts online or in my LHS. Sometimes people order and the don't pic up...or the owner buys and can't sell. So you can get great deal on a product with extremely clear cut lines.

Mike

MillenniumFalsehood · Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:08 pm

Same with resin upgrade kits. I asked about it with my LHS owner, and he says if I ever need one, he's got a crapload of 1:72 F-14 exhausts that some guy insisted would sell. They haven't moved in five years, and I can have them for %25 their original price.

Andrew Gorman · Post by **Andrew Gorman** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:19 pm

Lego parts can work too!

kerick · Post by **kerick** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 10:37 pm

kenlilly106 wrote:
kerick wrote:Plastruc cement will work on ABS or PVC but I'm not sure if anything holds POM. Of course there are usefull metal parts also.
POM seems to be similar to PTFE (Teflon) and has similar bonding problems.

I love the metal parts in things like this, printers are a good source of high quality cold rolled shafting.

Ken

There are lots of springs of all shapes and sizes too. If you snip the flat type apart they make good conduit/piping. I'm going to use the shafts for mounting models in flight.

Springheel Jack · Post by **Springheel Jack** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:04 am

Plastic disposable knives and fork and drinks stirrers can also be used to good effect

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:57 pm

Gonna have to find someone casting gribblies on the side. Casting will let you use parts made from things you can't properly glue or paint.

The best thing to do is create a few gibbly pieces from stock styrene and other parts, then get them cast up in a gang mold. that way it looks less like a jumble of model parts.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:31 pm

Toy store.