I've got this older Life-Like diesel that I should have pitched long ago, but I keep breathing life into it so the kids have something to run on the layout...
Anyone have any interesting stories of frugality? I've got plenty of them....
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
Chopped up pieces of an old layout that I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate into the current one!
Craig
DMW
Ripped up old brass track to use on a new table.
Ran a Trainset engine for quite a number of years because Athearn Blue Boxes with all wheel pickup, drive and flywheels were too expensive at the time.
Repainted wild colors of the tyco cars into something resembling barn-red in a attempt to duplicate popular road names with decals. Let's say that the paint required equaled the cost of a brand new Athearn Blue Box freight car.
The more frugal I try to be, the more it seems to cost at the end of the day. So.. screw it... buy top shelf and be done with it. lol.
How about the exotic materials used in my switch point drives:
On the electrical side:
Just a few examples in one area. I also make heavy use of 2.5v white mini Christmas string light bulbs, purchased in bulk after Christmas for less than a bulb, socket included.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
All the wiring on my new layout was salvaged from my old layout.
I got the plwood--4 sheets of 1/2" ABX painted grey--for $2 total, at Lowes. Each had a corner dinged and the word CULL on the unpainted side.
All the foam for my mountains came from the remodel of my local Junior High.
My trees are Sedum Autumn Joy from my garden.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
The coffee machine at work gets these little individual-cup packets. They come on a throwaway plastic holder, which I salvage from the trash can, cut in 2 lengthwise and use for U-channel that holds the girders in the subways. I "liberated" a handful of tubular plastic stirrers to use for "conduit" to run wires through the pink foam. When they "went green" and switched to flat wooden stirrers, I had the perfect material for plank fencing. Oh, and the boxes the coffee packets come in make nice storage for extra cars and locomotives that don't fit on the layout. Those are the boxes I use when I can't find computer keyboard boxes lying around.
Go to www.acmoore.com. They are an art supply place. If there's one near you, click on the link and find the coupons. They seem to have 40% off on any one item (your choice) pretty much every week. Not worth much on a 79 cent container of cheap acrylic paint, but it will save you some dollars on that bottle of Envirotex for your water, or on plaster cloth. (Oh, and if you wait, the paint goes on sale, 3 or even 4 for a dollar.)
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I saved all the scrap pieces of house wiring various projects and additions over the years. Now I have enough for main power feeds, AND, with the price of copper through the roof, I have enough to buy more MRR stuff.
Also, I have some old Tyco cars from the kids Christmas train gift way back in 1970's, the cars look cheap and lousy and some all need repair, but I can't part with them.
tomikawaTT wrote:How about the exotic materials used in my switch point drives:Very small screw eyes.Monofilament fishing line.Used (stripped out!) 1/4"-20 nuts.Bent paper clips.Brass tube - from old ball pen ink cartridges.The cheapest least expensive SPDT or DPDT switches I can find, used where there is no need for an electric point actuator.On the electrical side:Hot probe instead of panel switches.Two-for-a-Quarter diodes, which simplify the under-layout circuitry and actually save money if the lead to the switch machine is more than five feet long (as the wire travels, not in a straight line.)Basic filament transformer (cheap) instead of a dedicated power pack (not so cheap.)Just a few examples in one area. I also make heavy use of 2.5v white mini Christmas string light bulbs, purchased in bulk after Christmas for less than a bulb, socket included.Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
By "hot probe", do you mean like the old operation game...touching a probe to spots on a panel?
While I agree paper clips and brass tubing might qualify, things like screw eyes and fishing line might be classified as part of the "job"
For a small sheet of plain, flat styrene, go to Wal-Mart and pick up a For Sale sign. It's a lot cheaper than buying the stuff from a hobby shop, and it's really the same material.
I went to www.usplastic.com and ordered a couple of large sheets of .030 styrene. Even with the shipping, it's very cheap to buy it this way. Plus, I've always got styrene sheet around for when I need it.
LD357 wrote: Sifted kitty litter for ballast, shovels full of dirt and rocks from the driveway, screened, sifted and used for terrain [what looks more real than REAL dirt]
I never thought of kitty litter as ballast! Maybe I can find the bin of it from our dearly departed kitty!
MisterBeasley wrote: For a small sheet of plain, flat styrene, go to Wal-Mart and pick up a For Sale sign. It's a lot cheaper than buying the stuff from a hobby shop, and it's really the same material.
I just got home from Wally World where I picked up a House for Sale sign and what going to post about it. Paid, $2 for a 15 x 18 inch sign.
Really freaked out my mother in law though. She's 90 has Alzheimer's and couldn't wrap her mind around me buying it for the plastic. She thinks we're moving.
SpaceMouse wrote: Really freaked out my mother in law though. She's 90 has Alzheimer's and couldn't wrap her mind around me buying it for the plastic. She thinks we're moving.
Next time, go for "Beware of the Dog."
TrainManTy wrote: LD357 wrote: Sifted kitty litter for ballast, shovels full of dirt and rocks from the driveway, screened, sifted and used for terrain [what looks more real than REAL dirt] I never thought of kitty litter as ballast! Maybe I can find the bin of it from our dearly departed kitty! I also use sedum as trees, and any random junk I can find that's going to to be thrown away will eventually end up on the layout if it's sutible!
I use one of those wire mesh cake cover things, it's just the right size wire for ''scale'' ballast, I dump about 5 cups of kitty litter in it and shake it over a bucket, out of 5 or 6 lbs. of litter I can get 2 to 2.5 lbs of usuable ''scale'' ballast and gravel, and when you wet it and put some white glue on it, it sets up like concrete, but later on if you want to take it loose, a liberal dose of water loosens it up in a few minutes. I've been chastised by the ''experts'' for using kitty litter, all sorts of stuff like'' well if you have a cat it'll poop all over your trains'' or ''its just not ''scale'' ballast and it'lll look stupid''......pffffffttttt!!! my cat couldn't care less about the layout and no one who visits my layout has noticed it's not ''scale'' ballast!! LOL My philosophy, if it's stupid and works, IT AIN'T STUPID!!!
Always be on the lookout for ANYTHING that might be usuable, dollar stores are full of useful items as are the thrift and second hand stores.....you just never know what you might find.
I get most of my supplies like stripwood, styrene, brass, modeling tools etc. from Pearl, Michaels, Bicks and other discount craft stores. Their acrylic and oil paints come in hundreds of colors and are much cheaper than Floquil or Poly Scale. I use coffee stirers, craft sticks, and improvise from the many other common items available at home, dollar stores, craft stores, etc. For styrene sheets I use those plastic "for sale" type signs available at Home Depot for $.79. Soda straws and turkey basters, make excellent water tank spouts and piping.
I get these great white masonite strips from a local cabinet guy in town. They measure 1/4" thick and are 8' long and 1' wide. I've used them for removable backdrops for some time now. The girls and I have been working on different scenes, and more recently, we're working on a tank farm scene.
Funny you guys are talking about the "Wally World" signs....here's one of my short stories. My two dogs consume 1-4 lb. container of Purina mini kibbles per week. We saved a few of the containers and cut the bottom portions between the container "ribs" and gained 40 scale foot high bendable material that we're using as tank reliefs for the backdrops.
That was the oldest's idea. I tried different containers (milk containers were my first "guniea pigs") but most of them have some sort of imprinted design on them....the squared off dog food ones yielded the most material for the project.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
I built a large scale stock car two years ago by cutting used 2x4 into stripwood. Car was built to 1892 plans from a TrainShed Cyclopedia I bought in 1970. Car was about 3 actual feet long and used left over cedar siding from when I built an addition to the house.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River RR
Kid's toy packages supply more clear "windowglass" than you are ever likely to use.
Frugal?
30 locos, all Kato, Atlas or Proto, and a fleet of raggedy old blue box cars, as well as some klunkers from the 50s that I had to saw off the metal horn-hook mounts before I could even run!
Go here for my rail shots! http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=9296
Building the CPR Kootenay division in N scale, blog here: http://kootenaymodelrailway.wordpress.com/
Hmmm,
My first HO layout was on a 4x4 board made for me by my friend's father as a birthday present when I was 5 or 6 for my wooden Thomas trains.
Mountains were made with brown paper bags with styrofoam chunks under them for support, the water fall was made with glue from a hotglue gun, Most of the buldings were made of cardboard, the train station was plastic from an old battery operated train and made sounds, and my trees were made of twigs with lichen glued to them.
Most recently (as in yesterday) I traded an old Bachmann 4-8-4 "Daylight" and an On30 2-6-0 that had been lying around for years for an almost brand new MDC/Roundhouse 3-truck shay, which will become Seveir County Railroad #1.
Cheese
Nick! :)