Recycling pill bottles

[foulrift]

Aside from using old pill bottles for storing small items I found that they could also be used to make various types of tanks,so I put together a few projects.
First is a water tower.The tank itself was made from 2 large pill bottles that I cut to size and glued together.The rest of the tower was made from stuff that i has laying around.
The main upright supports are bamboo sticks,the support wires and railings are made from floral wire and the roof on the tank is from and old building.

Next are a couple of small tanks.One truck mounted and the other on supports.The truck mounted one was made by gluing two bottles together and when the glue
was dry I ran a piece of masking tape approx.12 scale inches wide down the center of the tank on both sides,cut on both sides of the tape and re-assembled the
tank yielding the squashed look.This tank is being used to haul water.
The other tank will be used to store fuel oil.


I want to mention a few things-I found that while building the water tower that AC cement worked the best.These bottles are made from some weird plastic.Also I found that
by lightly sanding the bottle,the paint stuck better.Before cutting the bottles,I ran masking tape around the bottle,ran a sharp hobby saw around the bottle,following the tape and then
made the final cut.
Enjoy-
Bob

[nachoman]

Especially nice work on that water tower!

[tomustang]

Nice work on recycling!

With the plastic, most pill bottles are made of polypropylene which tries its best to resist solvents, we use to sonic weld PP (polypropylene) for adhesion at a shop I worked at

[P5se Camelback]

Another fine example of "Model Railroader Resourcefulness!"

...and a renewable material resource for many of us!

Nice job on that water tower.

I've been using paper towel and bum wad cores and mailing tubes for water towers of years. but I'll have to try a Pill Bottle Tower!

Thanks for the tip!

[foulrift]

Thanks for the replies and compliments.I really appreciate it.
Bob

[Ralph]

That's brilliant Bob! I'm a big fan of making railroad model structures from ordinary every day items.
Ralph

[foulrift]

Thanks Ralph-I was pleased with the end result although the construction was frustrating at times.

[MadModeler]

Cool! I have a ton of them in a bag! Wife's gonna laugh when I tell her about this!

[foulrift]

My wife doesn't really care as long as I don't leave the mt's laying around.