Making Model Cars from Trash
- 1). Find your pieces. Dig through Dumpsters and trash bins or scour the sidewalks and sides of streets for the pieces you'll need to make a car. These include at least one rectangular shape for the car's body, a smaller square piece for the top of the body, four rounded pieces for the wheels and miscellaneous items for headlights, bumpers, tail lights and whatever other details you desire.
- 2). Prepare your pieces. Hose off or clean any trash with a sponge and warm, soapy water. Allow to dry thoroughly. Use snips to cut down any pieces that need to be further refined, sized or shaped to fit with your car.
- 3). Set up the body. Position the pieces you'll use for the body of the car. Let's say you found a large rectangular piece of metal for the main body of the car and a square piece that's slightly rounded at the top for the upper body. Glue the upper body to the lower body with a quality craft glue. Good body pieces are gift boxes, small plastic or metal pieces or parts of water bottles. You can bend, cut or otherwise alter your pieces with pliers and snips.
- 4). Connect the wheels. Glue the wheels in place on all four sides of the main body. Wheels work best when all four are about the same size. Good wheel choices include washers, bottle caps and rusty coins.
- 5). Add extras. Glue on your bumpers, lights, windshield and all other details. Metal, plastic or cardboard strips work great for bumpers. Pieces of broken mirror, glass or CDs work well for lights and windows.
- 6). Decorate as desired. You can leave your trash car as is, or paint and decorate. Use small brushes, paint pens or spray paint. Stick on small appliqués for bumper stickers. Add broken jewelry pieces for door handles and hub caps.
