Was taking apart a pen for parts today and looking for ideas. What do you guys use pen parts for(springs, etc…)?
Nothing.
What kind of silly question is that?
Decide on what train minature item you need FIRST then look for an item to duplicate it.
Not so Driline…[:D] I just used the empty tube from one to make a correct length drive shaft for an old Bach steamer. (Bach sent me the wrong part twice) Some of the metal parts crushed up and rust painted make good scrap loads.
I stuck one of the housing ends into my air blower on my compressor so it’s a finer air blast that comes out.
Loather check your PM.
Driline…
Driline, With the charm & manners your posts exhibit, you should work for a public relations company![V] When someone asks a simple question the next time, STIFLE YOURSELF DINGBAT![:D]
Back when ball pens used real brass tubing for cartridges, I used them to line the holes in the roadbed for the Anderson link portion of my point throw mechanisms.
The springs can be used for anything that might need a fairly soft spring in compression.
The barrels of the pens on my desk would make convincing PVC (white) or ABS (grey) pipe, 600mm (24") diameter, 10 meters long. A little paint would convert them to ceramics, or steel.
The cap of the Office Depot stick pen would be easy to modify into a base for a statue of the Town Hero. Just paint a plastic figure with greenish-bronze paint and install.
EVERYTHING is grist which comes to a modeler’s mill!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Ivanhen,NOW SEE WHAT YOU"VE DONE!!!
I used the empty ink tube from a ball point pen to lengthen a hex head drive shaft to fit in an Athearn AC4400 after the original shaft was damaged by a fire.
Oh NO! Somebody get him his binkey![:)]
spring, a spring switch.
ink container…piping, if it looks right maybe a firemans hose. Outer container, phat pipes on a refinery or industry.
Someone stole Driline’s pen for a model railroad project when he was young, and he never got over it… [V]
[(-D] OMG! Too funny! Looks like ole Dryline is a big cry baby!! [(-D] The ‘‘stifle yourself dingbat’’ advice is right on!![^], Poor ole Dryline must not have any imagination or he would’ve known that ANYTHING might be useful in modelling.
I take all sorts of stuff apart and save pieces, pens, butane lighters, old electronics. The amount of useful screws,springs and wiring in a typical piece of electronic equipment is amazing! I keep screws and springs in small containers and LEDs and wiring in my electrical box. It may seem like ‘‘pack-ratting’’ to some, but it’s sure cheaper than running off to the LHS or ordering online everytime you needsome little something.
On our club layout we use the springs out of retractable pens under printed circuit boards that we use at module joints, the springs allow vertical and horizontal adjustment, I could possibly explain a little more, but last time I mentioned the club name my post was removed for self promotion.
Teditor