Being a science-fiction modeler, I do a lot of scratchbuilding. So, I’m always on the lookout for inexpensive materials — and they’re almost always found in the most unexpected places around the house.
Take, for example, those large, frozen lasagnas sold at the supermarket and packaged in a disposable aluminum pan with a heavy foil lid. The lid is nearly flat, and it’s thicker than rolled aluminum foil. It’s several aluminum cans’ worth of material, minus the trouble and danger of transforming aluminum cylinders into aluminum sheet. (Don’t bother with the lasagna pans, though; they’re a lost cause once you’re through with dinner.)
Five minutes in the sink to scrub away the lasagna from the foil lid, followed by another two or three minutes of flattening with a rolling pin, yields a very large sheet of heavy aluminum foil. It’s enough to make many Panzer fenders, starship hulls, or appliqué armor for that Battlemech model on your bench.
Tip submitted by:
Kenny HaverlyBardstown, Kentucky