Depending on how ambitious and imaginative you want to be, a simple mold made of stuff you might find thrown away in the trash and some plaster might create a nice looking "concrete" foundation.
There is so much plastic thrown away in a business office, at least there is here in the USA, that some scrounging can provide a surprising amount of usable stuff. Presentations, binders, reports,all manner of things are often tricked up with fancy packaging which very quickly gets tossed. Perhaps someone you know is in a position to do the scrounging for you.
Dave Nelson
HI Hugo,
Where abouts are you in Australia? I live near Melbourne and we get all the stuff including foam core, and even small bits of styrene and acrylic we need for our local club from our friendly local picture framers who are more than happy to save their stuff from becoming landfill...
Feel free to PM if you are near Melbourne and I can arrange contact for you through the club... we have more than enough and usually disperse it between the members anyway to keep the supply up! You can do a lot cheaply in the hobby... we built a full range of business buildings using printouts and foam core and I doubt that the total cost was $20 max! Other hints here are also quite good. Talk to some local real estate agents and see if you can get some used signs but don't think that that that form of styrene will work like the Evergreen styrene with MEK etc
Regards
Trevor www.xdford.digitalzones.com - where you can also find a few other el cheapo items you can build and save a few bucks!
The best time to get Coroplast is the day after election day. Many campaign signs are made of coroplast. Stock up.
Gary
BroadwayLionstacks of advertizing boards mad out of this same corrugated plastic
Just so people know, you can if you are so inclined, purchase 4 ft by 8 ft sheets of the "corrugated plastic" at Home Depot, Lowes etc. By the way the correct name for the product is CHLOROPLAST.
Sign shops use the stuff all the time so that may be another source of supply for scraps.
Cheers
Dennis
CDN Dennis
Modeling the HO scale something or other RR in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies Alberta, Canada
last mountain & eastern hoggerI think you should put false fronts into those computer cases and use them for the start of your downtown Manhattan project
Your plan has merit! LION will keep this as an option, esp since they will back up against a back drop, nobody will see the open side.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Br. Elias
I think you should put false fronts into those computer cases and use them for the start of your downtown Manhatten project.. What do you think ???????
Johnboy out.
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
RedoreAs an alternate has LION ever seen the corrugated plastic sheet used by the Post Office for mail sorting boxes and the like? It's against a law to snag one but LIONs "don need no steenking laws". The stuff looks like a regular cardboard box material except it's plastic. It's probably a very interesting material to work with.
To make a short story long, allow me to set the stage: I was installing a new can of 7Up into our Pre-Mix pop machine. The gas line, (a jury rigged application created by a LION who shall remain nameless) broke in two and sprayed 7Up all over the room. LION shut off the CO2, but finally had to disconnect the distressed line from the pop canister as well.
Examination of said gas line decided the LION that he would have to drive 26 miles to Dickinson to get a replacement line from the Pepsi Dealer since nobody could have any pop if the gas line was not repaired.
LION got said hose, no cost of course (if you do not count $26.00 car fare.) But while at Pepsi dealer LION saw stacks of advertizing boards mad out of this same corrugated plastic. They were 31"x47" inches. And so I asked the salesman if he had any old ones he could give me for my model railroad.
Now LION has FIVE such boards to use on the railroad with an offer of more if I need them. ('thank You Pepsi Company!) Of course the LION *is* their biggest customer, him drinking 5 gallons of Diet Pepsi each week, but any way, be on the look out for materials that you can use.
Now if somebody has a use for used computer cases, I have a pile of them in the back yard, behind the power house.
Google "Australia High-Impact Polystyrene Sheet"
Turns up sites like: http://www.specialisedwholesale.com.au/plastics/signage-products/hips-high-impact-polystyrene/
When I needed large sheets of styrene I bought 10 24x48 in sheets from a local supplier (those sheets were cut down from 4x8ft sheets).
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Lion,
I hear they have some great,''Bars'' at Ft Leavenworth..LOL..
Cheers,
''Godzilla,rules''
Redore Looks like LION uses brass rail too..... As an alternate has LION ever seen the corrugated plastic sheet used by the Post Office for mail sorting boxes and the like? It's against a law to snag one but LIONs "don need no steenking laws". The stuff looks like a regular cardboard box material except it's plastic. It's probably a very interesting material to work with. We have a business in town that makes these boxes. Don't know if they have scraps.
Looks like LION uses brass rail too.....
As an alternate has LION ever seen the corrugated plastic sheet used by the Post Office for mail sorting boxes and the like? It's against a law to snag one but LIONs "don need no steenking laws". The stuff looks like a regular cardboard box material except it's plastic. It's probably a very interesting material to work with.
We have a business in town that makes these boxes. Don't know if they have scraps.
LION does have some brass rail, but it is not in service. It will be used as part of a static display. On that photograph you are seeing the reflection of the warm-white LEDs on the polished rails. Subway rails are always shiny on top, gooey black on the web.
Corrugated Plastic. What a wonderful idea. And yes the postman delivers our mail in these plastic boxes. But what the heck It is far cheaper to get them at Staples than at Ft. Leavenworth.
HappyWarriorI am up to laying the concrete foundations on my layout for a woodchip facility and am not prepared to pay the price for 10 sheets of styrene due to my high school budget.
LION would not pay for that either. LION looks at everything he sees. Him thinks: how can I use this on the railroad. Him thinks, why not just use cardboard? (Ok cardboard does get bent out of shape when you paint it, so clamp it down before you paint it.
Here the LION used corrugated cardboard for the platform shelters, and highlighted the corrugated edge since it now becomes the iron lattice work that holds the roof. Plastic lattice is even more expensive that styrene sheets.
HappyWarrior Hi all, I am up to laying the concrete foundations on my layout for a woodchip facility and am not prepared to pay the price for 10 sheets of styrene due to my high school budget. I saw a video recently of a guy using for sale signs but have had no such luck finding any in Australia. Also plaster is out of the equation as it is really not my things. Any suggestions? thanks, Hugo
Hi all,
I am up to laying the concrete foundations on my layout for a woodchip facility and am not prepared to pay the price for 10 sheets of styrene due to my high school budget. I saw a video recently of a guy using for sale signs but have had no such luck finding any in Australia. Also plaster is out of the equation as it is really not my things. Any suggestions?
thanks, Hugo
Hugo, after a quick search for a Home Depot equivalent located "down under", and I found Bunnings Hopefully, you have one near you. Check out their website, and enter "Plastic signs" in their search window.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
zstripe HAPPYWARRIOR, Are You saying that there are no,''Graphic Designer's'' down under??. The foam board that is used,is not plain paper,it has a satin finish to it,,,,takes paint very well,,,,advertising use's it all the time,to make promotional displays..You should be able to find it any any art supply store,,,unless of course there are no artist's in Australia either.. Cheers, Frank
HAPPYWARRIOR,
Are You saying that there are no,''Graphic Designer's'' down under??. The foam board that is used,is not plain paper,it has a satin finish to it,,,,takes paint very well,,,,advertising use's it all the time,to make promotional displays..You should be able to find it any any art supply store,,,unless of course there are no artist's in Australia either..
Frank
If Frank says it, it's got to be true!
By gosh, turns out, it is true.
http://www.foamboards.com.au/
Rich
Alton Junction
H.W,
have a look in k- mart, Coles or hardware stores etc, they sell packs of thin plastic type cutting- cooking sheets but they are in various colours with printing on them. I got some from the supermarket of varying thickness and have seen packs of thin sheets at k- mart in the school supply section. You can get thin sheets for putting hot stuff on and preparing food or similar for doing graphics, schoolwork etc. They are quite cheap & large enough to have a play around with ,make mistakes & not worry. Keep an eye out for cheap materials you can use whatever it is.
Have fun & take it easy.
Things like foam board are scarce and non existent in Australia, and wouldn't the paper coating on those things do strange things if spray painted?
I just purchased two 4' by 8' sheets of 0.040" white styrene from a plastics supplier for $40. Search the internet for plastic retailers/wholesalers in your area. I would be surprised if something comparable wasn't available in your area.
Hornblower
You don't have to pay hobby-shop prices for sheets of styrene. You mentioned the "For Sale" signs. Those can be found at most hardware stores here in the US, as well as our much-maligned "big box" stores like Wal-Mart. It's styrene. Also, styrene is sold in large sheets from distributers and manufacturers. I've bought it from US Plastic here, but I'd imagine someone makes the stuff in Australia, too.
Another possible source is a company that makes commercial signs. They use large amounts of styrene, and can probably sell you a sheet very cheaply. It wouldn't surprise me if they would give you scraps sufficient to do your job for nothing.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hugo,
Balsa wood,,,1/4 inch pieces of plywood, a vinyl floor tile,poster board,there are many alternatives to plastic sheet. Maybe ''Bear'' will chime in and tell you where you can go to get some of the things,,,,He's from,,down under..
Cheers.