N Scale Junk

[Anonymous]

Has anyone found any creative ways to make "Junk" in N scale, to litter around a repair yard ie Barrels, Crates etc.
Thanks

[Wdlgln005]

Check out any plastic bottle caps or pull tabs you get for free! A little paint or weathering make them look like something else. Make pine trees from bumpy chenille at thr craft store.
Use old wheels/couplers as spare parts. Ties & rails can be saved also.

[leighant]

Ever have the tape pull out from a home video cassette where it will never play right again? The cassette has some interesting parts inside.

Old DIGITAL wristwatches

the silicate "keep dry" cannisters than come in some pharmaceuticals to soak up moisture.

Have any of that toothpaste that comes out of the tube in STRIPES? After you have squeezed all the toothpaste out of the tube, there is an interesting little gizmo inside the toothpast tube that extrudes the different elements of the product.

The square tops of certain varieties of 99 cent tubes of Elmer's Super Glue look like cast concrete box culvert pipe from one end. I usually need a new tube after the epoxy has been open 6 weeks or so, whether I have used it all or not, so I have bunches of tops. Paint end concrete color and stack em so you can only see one end.

And lots of throwaway stuff is usuable with a little modification. Would you call that JUNK-bashing???

[ndbprr]

My favorite addition to gondolas in HO which should work for N is the gunk that forms on the wheels. I use a screwdriver to peel it off and just dump it in the car. It can look like grease or castings or a variety mind induced other objects. Also a little dirt with oil in it looks really good in gons.

[der5997]

Whenever you have to file, drill, or otherwise work metal, do so over something to catch the fillings and drill swarf. Dump the collected bits into a gondola and see what it looks like.
Still have cassette tapes? When you are through with them, or when they die, take them apart too. There's big N scale fans in there for buildings.
When you are working with track, keep the small pieces of ties that inevitably break (if you are like me [:D]) and similar small plastic odds and ends. Painted rust, they are the basis for all sorts of junk around yards, etc.
The tags by which abels are attached to new clothing have to be cut off. Save them and take a close look. In my HO days they were power line insulators, etc. In N they are either the same sort of thing, but larger, or some kind of building vent system, or what ever. Taking a look is the thing.
The rod on which cotton swabs are mounted is actually a tube. Lamp posts in HO, pipe loads in N.
and so on ....

[GGOOLER]

i have my friends save lighters for me.
i take them apart and theres all kinds of neat little parts inside.
glenn

[Jetrock]

And, when all else fails, just take everything larger than 1/4" long out of your parts box--when done, shake remaining contents of parts box onto a sheet of paper, paint it all Rust, and dump it into a gondola! If your parts box looks like mine you should have enough for a pretty good drag to the scrapyard...

[krump]

perhaps this is more lego scale than N scale... in my HO scale railroad, I'm filling a few gondolas with broke lego pieces or other one of a kind plastic (toy) junk... small parts that woulld normally just get tossed. I've also made a Lego container for a flat deck - I guess I'm at the Lego - Brio - model R/R junction with the kids. By putting lego on "daddy's train" the kids will hopefully get into the World's Greatest Hobby. That way I also influence the gifts for dad department at Father's Day, Birthday...
I have another container filled with broken model pieces, grab rails, bennt joiners, tiny model r/r twisted nails - removed when they traack plan changed, rail ties that I've cut away...
what scares me is that almost everything can be incorporated in some strange way into my railroad, transforming me into the
pack-rat-conductor-o-all-things-junk.

[snowey]

cut up pecies of the sprues from plastic kits can represent peices of pipe...pieces of scrap wood or plastic can be peices of concrete or cement...also use peices from a cheap car that you bought

[Anonymous]

Any old Bachmann ,Tyco or lifelike engines cut up and painted rust.These earned a place on the railroad,just not in actual running form!!!Use the old motors for special effects.Mount them under the layout and soundproof them as they are a bit noisy!!

[Anonymous]

Add clean out the bottom of a 5 year old's toy box or under their bed. Lots of bits and pieces of plastic there. Also take all the broken toys ( late at night of course). Start by breaking them with a hammer. Finish with rust paint ( also disguises them so baby don't scream "there's my pokey, blahh!!!!"). No kids? Two word, go to yard sales with a buck or two. FRED