Thread: Oddball scale materials

How bout sand in a mold and add clear epoxy?

Just kidding.... I'm sure he last thing you want to be reminded of is the sand.

Even more so when you consider the U.S. armed forces choice of service rifle!



Went out shootin mine the other day and some jackass locked the bolt back and somehow got it full of sand (read "Dropped my freakin rifle in da dirt eh !") and man that thing was stopped up like a fat girl three days after an " All You Can Eat " cheese festival !!

Just for a little pespective for you non shooters.... A friend had his class 3 Mak 90 out there and the probably the same nerd left it open....so someone had some Walther knockoff in 32 auto and was blazin away at whatever and slingin cases all over the truck...Al grabbed the Mak and started playing anti-aircraft gunner at some birds (remote area) WHEN HIS GUN JAMMED!!!! (we need a smile of a man with a rifle shooting in the air)

AK variants rarely jam so we were all interested to see what happened.... and I was eager to make fun of his weapon in order to take the heat off of my "Overly expensive to jam on a little sand rifle" ....
turns out that ol slappy one nut had ejected a case right into the action of the Mak!
It still burned like 25 or so rounds on full auto before it jammed on a 32 auto case though!!

LOOK DAT MOOSE IS MAKIN FUN OF YOU EH!! SHOOT HIM !!!

OK I KNOW ITS NOT A GUN FORUM SO....

It seems to me that when I was growing bonsai trees (if you want to call a 10 year old tree thats only 7 inches tall " growing a tree") that sand and a little peat was the preferred "potting soil".

I'll bet those trees had super tight grain!

Might be a good idea to start takin a strap with you on patrol and the next shrub or bush you see that shocks you in its ability to grow in such harsh conditions... well... put it out of its misery!

Not sure if you get "out" much but just an idea....

Originally Posted by TomlinAS

I feel like SOME of the material ought to come from here. I'm not too terribly worried about sheer beauty.

Well, just thinking out loud here...

... what are the 2x4's used for? If they're from crates they're likely pine... too soft. But if they're from shipping pallets... hmmm, lots of oak and harder woods used in them. Should work.

... still have access to the MPool? Hmmm... brass and or aluminum roughly 1x6" and about 1/32 - 1/16 inch thick or so would make acceptable scale liners... eg, maybe cut from shim stock, or an old radiator tank, or anything else that doesn't rust and is roughly flat and the right size. You could rough cut with tin snips or a hacksaw and then further shape them using a file, bench grinder, sandpaper... whatever is available. You could cut/shape pieces of wood, plastic, metal, stone, colored glass, etc. to fit together like an inlay and epoxy them to the scale liners.

If you allow your imagination to run a little wild you'll find that you're not as limited by the lack of tools and materials as you think. The end result may take you longer to do with hand tools and the materials may be unusual, but in the end you'll make a keepsake you'll cherish forever.

OK now I have a real idea.....actually a modification of the other one.

How bout kevlar?? Get a vest thats been hit and saturate an area about the size you need with clear epoxy and work with that!

Not only will it be readily available over there BUT YOU WILL BE THE ONLY PERSON ON THE PLANET WITH A KEVLAR RAZOR HANDLE!!

I'm honestly not sure how hard it will be to shape but if you can get sandpaper that should do it.

I've done lots of fiberglass work and though it may be tedios to do by hand it IS doable.

Originally Posted by gratewhitehuntr

OK now I have a real idea.....actually a modification of the other one.

How bout kevlar?? Get a vest thats been hit and saturate an area about the size you need with clear epoxy and work with that!

Not only will it be readily available over there BUT YOU WILL BE THE ONLY PERSON ON THE PLANET WITH A KEVLAR RAZOR HANDLE!!

I'm honestly not sure how hard it will be to shape but if you can get sandpaper that should do it.

I've done lots of fiberglass work and though it may be tedios to do by hand it IS doable.

Fibreglass is not kevlar!

Kevlar is much more abrasion resistant, and a total nightmare to sand. Only a madman would hand sand it.

Second, sheets of kevlar and carbon laminates are used by knife makers for handles, and i very much doubt no-one else has thought to make a straight handle out of it.

didn't realize Kevlar was so hard to work with....just tryin to come up with something here.
I got some real nice teak the other day from the Chinese store from a pallet!
Thats right, a pallet all the way form china!!
Just got to be creative sometimes.

Hey Tom that reminds me! I've seen some SKS rifles with teak stocks!
Perhaps you could look for captured weapons?

Most rifle stocks are made with SOME kind of hard wood and communist countries never were known for their efficiency. They just made them from anything, a tree is a tree is a tree.

I bet if you look a little you can come up with some decent wood.
Even if you are REMF you should be able to find SOMETHING.

Ok thats my final answer...... CAPTURED WEAPONS

btw REMF should not be considered a insult if thats what you are TOM , if I were in Iraq thats where I would want to be!!!

Teak could work. I think burr wood looks nice on a razor.