Make Your Own Model Spaceships... Out of "Junk!"

Today I'm going to share a surprisingly fun and addicting (non-sewing!) project introduced to my family by my creative brother J. Clark... And everyone gets into the process -- me, my husband, and the kids! Today I am sharing a ship my husband is working on.

But first -- did you know that the original Star Wars spaceships were made through a process known as "kitbashing," where you take different model kits and mix up the pieces to create a completely different model? Well, today's project is somewhat inspired by that idea... except it's a much simpler, cheaper, dollar-store-esque version!


Basic Supplies You May Want:

~ Glue -- E6000 is ideal, but hot glue works okay
~ phillips screwdrivers in various sizes -- mostly small
~ drill -- you may be able to screw your ship together
~ glue dots -- to test out configurations before permanent gluing
~ spray paint
~ junk! raid your "donations" box, hit the thrift stores, and find interesting dollar store items!


Note: By the nature of the project, this cannot be a detail-specific tutorial. It's all about getting ideas!

About "junk" -- You are looking for any interesting toys or electronics you can take apart and use the pieces from. It is impossible to plan your ship until you're already elbow-deep in the process, so just look for things that look plausible as spacecraft parts.

Bust out your screwdrivers and start taking things apart! Be sure to keep all your screws -- you may want them if you decide to use a drill and screw things together.

After a little work, here are the parts my husband came up with for a ship!
(The steering wheel and "interchange robot" came from two different dollar stores, and the other items were thrifted.)

Glued together with E6000. (Pardon the crumbs in the background!)

Loving the guns!

After allowing the glue to dry thoroughly, it's spray painting time.

front

back (love that hair curler)

side
This one needs a little more "detail paint" love, but it is looking good so far!

Here are a few other ships we've worked on:

Buzz's creation -- with help from dad, of course.

Mr. S's ship (held together with hot glue -- one of the "wings" fell off, which accounts for my hand in the photo)

Here are those ships and a few others, pre-paint.
(Gotta love that one in the foreground with the toy hammer head on the front!)

a few more WIPs....
So far, that top left spacecraft has parts from a dollar store stapler, two thimbles from dollar store sewing kits, a dollar store slingshot, and the guts from a thrifted drink mixer of some kind.
The bottom ship is a "wonder steamer" (obviously) with wings made from the two sides of a toy drill.

These little "models" are surprisingly addicting to make! They won't necessarily hold up as toys that can be played with -- use your best judgment in that area -- but they certainly are fun to create and look at!