The other day, Frank Ducker was showing us details of his British Lancaster bomber.

He was particularly proud of the greenhouse-style canopy and the pivoting gunner’s turret in the nose of the plane.

“I made these by molding clear plastic on a wood plug, holding it in front of a heater at about 250 degrees,” Frank explained.

The clear plastic was left over from blister pack packaging, the stuff enshrouding most electronic devices, hardware items, toys, you name it.

Valuable Leftovers. Like Frank, I keep much of the packaging that accompanies my purchases. Actually, I don’t know if he keeps all that stuff, but I do.

I can always use a bit of cardboard for mixing epoxy, thinning glue or blending a bit of paint.

Blister packs are great little tubs for mixing larger amounts of stuff.

Many modelers have turned plastic beverage containers and other sources of clear plastic into canopies and windows.

I’m not one of them, but I keep thinking that one rainy day I might just need a canopy, so I keep plenty of supplies.

Rubber bands? How could a flyer ever throw out a rubber band?

Yummy Foam. And foam in a variety of delicious flavors: foam rubber, expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene (Styrofoam), Blucor, Depron, EPP and EPP variants such as Elapor.

Coffee cups, butcher’s trays, packing material, sheets of insulation, plastic lids, drinking straws, tubing, wrecked foam planes… You never know when you’ll need a bit of some special synthetic to build a new plane, patch a model, insulate a receiver or make something unusual.

I keep the scraps of packaging and plastics under my workbench, mingled in a rat’s nest with bits of lumber.

Elsewhere in the garage I have a small pile of foam scraps. And nearby, a sheet or two of foam insulation, plus sheets of Depron and Coroplast.

Never mind assorted carbon fiber rods and tubes, fiberglass and myriad adhesives. Tape, aluminum foil, wax paper, string, wire, magnets.

And don’t get me started on more natural materials: balsa sheets and sticks, light plywood, dowels and larger lumber pieces.

It’s Ugly. The truth is, my garage is a mess.

A month or two I vowed to straighten it out. My good intentions survived for about three days, during which I cleared out some years-old junk, then I backslid into my normal cluttery behaviors.

On the plus side, I’m ready for just about any contingency.

But on the other hand, the effort to meet most contingencies overtakes my ambition.

As Steven Wright said, “You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

After I post this, though, I’m going to give the garage at least one honest hour of attention, clearing some workable paths to my tools.

Tags: Life.

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