I don't know about you guys, but I have a fairly tight budget, so I've found it worthwhile to buy the cheap stuff and kitbash/rebuild/combine with cardboard and other various parts and pieces to make a nice building or car or something. Not all of us can afford those expensive craftsman kits. If you're willing to spend a little effort, some of these projects can look really good.
What about you guys? anyone else do this?
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OzarkBelt wrote: I don't know about you guys, but I have a fairly tight budget, so I've found it worthwhile to buy the cheap stuff and kitbash/rebuild/combine with cardboard and other various parts and pieces to make a nice building or car or something. Not all of us can afford those expensive craftsman kits. If you're willing to spend a little effort, some of these projects can look really good. What about you guys? anyone else do this?
OB:
Preach on, brother. I've done plenty of this, and when I get past the mockup-structure stage on my V & E, I'm going to do plenty more. Why would I pay $20 and up for a 6 x 9 building, when I can build my own from sheet balsa or cardboard, with windows printed out on overhead transparencies, for less than $5?
BlueHillsCPR wrote:Sure! As long as we are aware of the old adage, "you get what you pay for" using the cheap stuff is fine IMO. We all have to model within the constraints of our budget, time available, space available etc. That's why Rod Stewart's layout and my layout don't really compare and likely never will.
BHC:
But that's the thing - you don't always get what you pay for, and you don't always have to pay for what you get. You can build a first-class structure with a minimum of expensive material. On the other hand, I would never disparage Mr. Stewart's way of enjoying his hobby, but I don't by any means think his city scene is that great. It's a work of art, in its way, and just the kind I'd expect him to come up with - it's a sort of Hollywood dream city. I could imagine any number of movies taking place there. It's exactly the sort of vision I'd imagine he'd have - but it's not at all like mine. I don't "feel at home" there.
loathar wrote:This was built from kit leftovers and masking tape.http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a277/loathar/Structures/2007_08170064.jpgMy budgets what I can beg or borrow these days.
L:
I like it. Honestly, it has a real look of authenticity about it. I think a Coke machine would look good next to the "No Smoking" sign.
Here's a house I built for under a dollar, from cereal box cardboard, homemade grocery-sack shingles, and bits of wood bracing. The picture is extremely bad, having been taken by webcam...
The detailing is a bit coarser than I'd like. I'll do better next time.
I resort to that way of doing things alot. On my last layout, only 2 out of 10 structures were kits i'd bought the rest were made of balsa, steyrene, and other materials. Alot of that was becuase i couldn't find what i want or what i wanted was too pricey at the time. Alot of times it can be really fun because it's like having a blank canvas in front of you, make what you want, make what you need. It's also a really good way to make your layout look NOT like everyone elses.
On my upcoming layout i'm going to have 6 to 10 coal mines of various sizes and types, I will have to make those. That will be alot better than having 8 New River Mining complexes everywhere.
As far as the cheaper cars go, you can strip, retruck, kadee, and detail them and have some good running, nice looking cars. Sometimes i like buying older Athearn locos (you can sometimes find decent ones pretty cheap at train shows) and reworking them, motors, gears, shells ,whatever.
The best layouts i've seen don't have same old, same old, structures. And some of the best scenery i've seen is where the modeler used "creative" materials and techniques.
In other words "think outside THE BOX"
"Back in the day..." most things were either Craftsman or Scratch. (My first copy of MR was January, 1960, so I really am OLD.) We used cardboard, aluminum foil, whatever it took.
A couple of decades later Art Curren changed (for me) the face of the hobby with his kitmingling philosophy. To me, the RR Bible was his "Kitbashing HO MOdel Railroad Structures." It actually took me quite a while to assemble any plastic kit without altering it in a major way.
Now I'm happy just getting something up to represent what I want. Somewhere in the future I will finish the building and detail it really well (yeah, sure,) but for now I am happy just being able to see a building in the intended place.
In this day and age - IMO - building something with your hands is a lot better than playing video games (or being hooked on the computer?)
To each his own.
Good luck and have fun.
By "Cheep" I assume you mean inexpensive. I look for cheep plastic building kits, cars or locomotives that can be kit bashed or detailed. The problem is that a lot of the old kits have become collector items and aren't cheep! I attended a GTE train show last week and was shocked at the prices being asked for old Tyco and Bachman stuff.
JIM
Jim, Modeling the Kansas City Southern Lines in HO scale.
Yes, I'll gladly pick up useful "cheap" stuff, especially if I want to try a new weathering idea, etc. Why not?
By the way, the cereal box house looks very good.
You can make a lot of cheap suff look good if you put time into it. I look for items on eBay that have a lot of details and use paint to bright them out. This takes time. Here is a $9 LifeLike church that I bought and built. The paint job took 6 weeks of nightly work. I know a lot of you have seen this before. The model was white plastic.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
I agree on the church. Im sure HE smiled to see such good paint work.
Im too much of a coward to knock together anything I dont have to. Sometimes I invent something out the parts box to solve a problem with something else during construction on the spot at the workbench.
Ive been months into my Paceline industry and you might notice a spot here and there that came from the parts box.
Mostly I find cheap ways to cover up my boo boos in the final product.
"You get what you pay for"?
So this would mean the more expensive the better?
Not by a long shot!!
I've seen the expensive stuff that runs like a blender full of bolts and structure kits so crappy and slip shod that it takes hours to get the walls squared!
Those old TYCO kits....go together nicely and lend themselves to detailing and kitbashing. Some of the expensive kits, no detail parts, just 4 walls a roof and some ugly windows.....and at 10 times the cost of an old AHM or TYCO kit from EBAY.
A ''cheap'' Bachmann loco that out performs one of those expensive ones. Cheap price doesn't mean cheap equipment and expensive doesn't mean top-of-the-line.
Autobus Prime wrote:BHC:But that's the thing - you don't always get what you pay for, and you don't always have to pay for what you get. You can build a first-class structure with a minimum of expensive material.
But that's the thing - you don't always get what you pay for, and you don't always have to pay for what you get. You can build a first-class structure with a minimum of expensive material.
Exactly right! I have a need for a number fo bridges on the layout we are working on. Rather than buying a bunch of plastic kits I am going to fabricate my own plate girder bridges from cardstock and build a trestle or two out of re-sawn wood.
On the other hand, I would never disparage Mr. Stewart's way of enjoying his hobby, but I don't by any means think his city scene is that great. It's a work of art, in its way, and just the kind I'd expect him to come up with - it's a sort of Hollywood dream city. I could imagine any number of movies taking place there. It's exactly the sort of vision I'd imagine he'd have - but it's not at all like mine. I don't "feel at home" there.
I think his city scene is a work of art, absolutely! He was modelling an era he recalls in New York city...I really can't comment on his vision. His layout was just an example of something that at this time is beyond my personal "scale".
JON168 wrote: "You get what you pay for"? So this would mean the more expensive the better?
That's not what I said is it? Please don't try to put words in my mouth.
It's a figure of speech.
BlueHillsCPR wrote: JON168 wrote: "You get what you pay for"? So this would mean the more expensive the better?That's not what I said is it? Please don't try to put words in my mouth. It's a figure of speech.
I 2nd your statement. Garbage in = Garbage out.
Yes, I'm sure you can professionaly detail cardboard and paper or an old "Tyco" building to look fantastic. Only problem is most of those doing it don't have the skill to accomplish a believable representation of the final product. Sure go spend 20 bucks on supplies to make a 2 dollar building look great. But
A) One needs talent & experience
B) You also need a plethora of old extra parts bashed from previous kits etc. etc.
You have the other side of the coin too. A nice "laser Art" $70 dollar building can still look like crap if the builder has no practice or talent and just simply slaps it together.
It really boils down to the artistic talent of the builder I think.
Whatever....I've seen the same arguments hundreds of times, one side wants to spend $200 for a building because they think it's super accurate and it's a ''brand name'' and the other side wants to save a bunch of $$$$ by adding a few details to an already excellent kit like AHM or TYCOs offerings.
If you have a huge budget and want to buy those laser cut kits or the imported European kits go for it. But don't sit there high and mighty and condemn old plastic kits because YOU think they're ''garbage''.
JON168 wrote: Whatever....
Ozarkbelt,
you've identified one of this great hobbies advantages, you can spend as much or as little money on this hobby as you want to.
I love a bargain and I love to find something I can use for my layout that costs nothing or is someone else's junk.
For scenery, I use blue foam that I get for a cheap price from a garbage recycler (called Reverse Garbage here in Brisbane).
I used bamboo skewers to build my trestle bridge, Cork from a $2 shop for underlay for my track, I kitbash and detail cheap kits for buildings. I built my own DC controllers from info on the web (even managed to etch my own printed circuit board given instructions also on the web).
This is so I can spend my hobby money on the things I can't build myself, such as the spectrum locos that run so well.
so keep enjoying yourself and don't let anyone put you down for using your ingenuity and saving you hard earned money for the things you can't do yourself
cheers
Alan Jones in Sunny Queensland (Oz)
Driline wrote:Garbage in = Garbage out. Yes, I'm sure you can professionaly detail cardboard and paper or an old "Tyco" building to look fantastic. Only problem is most of those doing it don't have the skill to accomplish a believable representation of the final product.
Garbage in = Garbage out.
Yes, I'm sure you can professionaly detail cardboard and paper or an old "Tyco" building to look fantastic. Only problem is most of those doing it don't have the skill to accomplish a believable representation of the final product.
D:
Skill is built. I saved my second model. It was a small yellow house, pretty crudely done. I save it so I can see how far I've come. I've got a long way yet before I can compare to Rob Corriston, but I'll get there, eventually, with more practice. I think almost anybody could do the same.
If you keep taking steps, you can walk across the state, but if you quit after the first few steps don't instantly bring you to the destination, you'll never get there, and worse yet, you'll never know if you could.
I really don't think I can stress this enough. It goes for everything: scratchbuilding, kit building, playing musical instruments, painting portraits, making icing roses, running five miles, and so on. Too many people fail to reach their potential because they expect quick perfection and come up short at first.
Autobus Prime wrote: I really don't think I can stress this enough. It goes for everything: scratchbuilding, kit building, playing musical instruments, painting portraits, making icing roses, running five miles, and so on. Too many people fail to reach their potential because they expect quick perfection and come up short at first.
And even more fail because they don't try or even consider trying in the first place.