Using frozen dinner packages............

E-Dub · Post by **E-Dub** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 4:47 pm

as a cheap source of plastic.

I'm thinking of a project where I might need a lit of thin small sheet pieces. Is the kind of plastic used in Stoffers or Marie Calender frozen dinners basically suitabole to be used in lieu of regular styrene?

(Never tried it before.)

kenlilly106 · Post by **kenlilly106** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 8:00 pm

Is the recycling code on the bottom "6"? That's the recycling code for styrene.

"3" is PVC, the rest of the plastics with recycling codes aren't usable in modeling applications due to their lack of glueability or paintability.

Ken

E-Dub · Post by **E-Dub** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:09 am

They're all "Code 1"-Pete. Not good, eh?

Dr. Yo · Post by **Dr. Yo** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 12:28 pm

One is polyethylene, which doesn't respond well to most adhesives. I'd avoid it.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gr ... 21#slide-2

E-Dub · Post by **E-Dub** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 12:53 pm

Curses. I've accumulated a lot of those little trays, being a believer in the four food groups (fast, frozen, canned, and junk).

Guess I'll stick to using them for the little paint bottles of whatever project I'm working on or other utilitarian purposes.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 4:14 pm

Most food-safe plastics are polyethylene.

sleepymarine · Post by **sleepymarine** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:47 pm

They work well for sorting/holding parts, but that's about it...

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:14 pm

sleepymarine wrote:They work well for sorting/holding parts, but that's about it...

Yes I keep several sizes of bowls & what for sorting builds and parts.

JAYCOCK ALFRED · Post by **JAYCOCK ALFRED** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:47 pm

They can be used as decoration on 1:1 stuff, such as white ship interior wall panels and the like, (if they're white), think Blockade Runner corridor wall details, provided they're white and you just mechanically attach them with screws or something you CAN paint. I think the interior of the ship in Galaxy of Terror (1981) may have had actual food containers or something similar on the wall and it worked fine.

Chacal · Post by **Chacal** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:44 pm

If you have to mix epoxy adhesives, PE containers are your friends.

JAYCOCK ALFRED · Post by **JAYCOCK ALFRED** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 3:05 pm

I've seen people glue a thin styrene veneer to itself over un-gluable, un paintable plastic, sometimes with a mechanical such as a screw anchoring it. Then more of the surface becomes paintable, capable of having kit part details glued on, etc. If the food container or whatever is a suitable color for what you are doing, such as white for a spaceship, then maybe you can live with any compound curve areas which are impossible to cover with a styrene layer and will remain unpaintable. If you have a variety of whites in different panels and areas, it may not be that noticeable to have a few areas of bare white plastic.

naoto · Post by **naoto** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:50 pm

Hrm... if you build a female figure from the polyethylene parts, would you name her Pam? would she be so good looking but looks like a man?

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 9:39 pm

Recycling #1, PETE or PET, is Polyethylene terephthalate. At least some of it can be glued with CA and epoxy, primed with Mr. Surfacer then painted with regular model paints. The local hobby shop had a spaceship model made from TV dinner trays. I won a bronze at Wonderfest with a model that has PETE parts. Some vacuum formed canopies for models are made from PETE.

Recycling #2 HDPE High-density polyethylene and recycling #4 LDPE Low-density polyethylene arwe the types of polyethylene that can't be glued or painted wioth normal modeling materials and techniques.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_recycling_codes

Mike

JAYCOCK ALFRED · Post by **JAYCOCK ALFRED** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 10:24 am

I think it's time we had a sticky here in the scratchbuilding sub-forum with something like the following, (and correct me if I'm still wrong on some of these)

Type #1: "PETE or PET, is Polyethylene terephthalate. At least some of it can be glued with CA and epoxy, primed with Mr. Surfacer then painted with regular model paints."

Type #2 : Mechanical attach only, no paint, unless you mechanically attach a paintable layer of something that is paintable.

Type #3: PVC: Special adhesive and painting preparation rqrd.

Type #4:Mechanical attach only, no paint, unless you mechanically attach a paintable layer of something that is paintable.

5:Mechanical attach only, no paint, unless you mechanically attach a paintable layer of something that is paintable.

6: Styrene

And etc, to be amended as more accurate information new materials, techniques become available.

These questions have been coming up here referring to individual plastic types and then are answered in part by several people before being purged since the last century. I suggest we have a permanent post on this for the generations, so that people can stop hoarding things they think they can paint and glue, but can't, and might not have a mechanical fastening based or 1:1 use for.

Does anyone know Which No. clear blister pack is usually?

ajmadison · Post by **ajmadison** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 9:46 pm

I feel obligated to mention that "For Sale" signs and their ilk at big box discounters are styrene and cheaper than Evergreen. And there is a direct relationship between the size of the sign and the thickness, albeit cost per square inch goes up as the sign gets smaller. Still, my go-to thickness for most construction, 15 thou (.015"), is available through these signs.

JAYCOCK ALFRED · Post by **JAYCOCK ALFRED** » Sat Apr 18, 2015 2:10 am

Got two very cheap in a second hand place today. Funny you should mention those signs.

Patron Zero · Post by **Patron Zero** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:44 pm

I always wait for the signs to pop-up everywhere when there is a local election pending, in particular the night of the primary when polls close and the results of such are broadcast.

Then it's a dash to 'recover' the signage of the defeated candidates for re-purposing in my projects and repairs stockpiles.

Just play fair, remove only the signage of persons not to appear in the following elections in the Fall.