Okay, MR $1 project is decades gone. But that doesn't mean we can't update it and pass along our wisdom.
So allowing for inflation, What can you do for under $5?
I'll start the ball. I transplanted some sedum into my yard that is spreading and flowers every fall. But the stuff grows wild along roadsides and even along the tracks at my fav railfan site. Clip the flowers spray with cheap hair spray and cover with ground foam.
50 trees
SedumHair spray $2.00Ground foam $.50 (if that)Total $2.50
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Hey Chip.
My most recent project that cost less than $5.00 was the stock pen I made from poster board that a friend of mine gave me, and glue and spray paint that I already had on hand. The cattle I put in it were barrowed from a Union Pacific stock car. I figured no one could see them in the car anyway so why not make better use of them.
Tracklayer
This wood fence is made from coffee stirrers, "liberated" from work. I split them in two to get the board width the way I wanted it, painted it with wood stain and applied a couple of home-made decals.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
For sale sign,Wallyworld:$1.97
Silver paint,On hand: .50
Glue,on hand: .50
Rust paint,on hand .50
Total $3.47
The "prototype" is in the background.
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Hey Chip, even with inflation I think we can come up with some projects way under $5.00.
I built this grade crossing with 3 pieces of scrap .030 sheet styrene and some 2"X6" HO scale lumber. All told the price of putting this together could not have been more than $ 0.65
9 sq. in. sheet styrene $0.10
3 sq. in. scale lumber $0.25
adhesives $0.05
paint and weathering powders $0.25
Total = $0.65
Ryan BoudreauxThe Piedmont Division Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger eraCajun Chef Ryan
Even those old "Dollar Model" series articles cheated a bit by assuming the modeler has a nice "scrap box" of stuff -- anything from the scrap box was not counted towards the dollar. The fact that sprung trucks back then cost fifty cents helped too.
One of the enduring values of very very old Model Railroaders and Model Craftsman magazines, back to the 1930s-40s, is what clever people tried to do with found objects and free stuff.
Wood match sticks as a "free" source of scale lumber, more like timber beams and such.
I once assembled a scale packing crate using a piece of wood with the wood bracing laboriously salvaged from one of those tiny umbrellas that exotic drinks come with in Tiki bars.
The plastic containers that TidyCat Scoopable cat litter comes in has a slight texture to it. Painted dark gray it looks like an asphalt road, and the sides of the container even have the slight center camber of a street. Painted light gray it looks a bit like smoother sorts of stucco. So for the cost of the paint and a bit of time with a sissors, you have a nice free supply of road material and stucco.
I have also cut an asphalt sidewalk from the backside of a leftover roofing shingle.
I am still working on it but I hope someday to show flatcar loads of dragline shovels assembled from large size Walgreens dental floss dispensers.
When we get clementine citrus fruits I try to save and disassemble the little wood crate it comes in. The end braces have a pitched roof look to them. The sides and ends are cheap three ply plywood I think. There HAS to be some use.
Dave Nelson
saronaterry wrote: For sale sign,Wallyworld:$1.97Silver paint,On hand: .50Glue,on hand: .50Rust paint,on hand .50Total $3.47 The "prototype" is in the background.Terry
Very nice. I have a sign sitting around just waiting to be recylced into something like that!
Very inspiring!
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot Visit my blog! http://becomingawarriorpoet.blogspot.com
I figure this might have cost about 20 cents. Cedar scale lumber, some grit from the roofing tiles that I removed from the eaves troughs a year ago, and some dabs of glue. Presto, a homemade backstop.
]
Train order stand... Scrap code 55 rail, a couple bits of wire, a ladder from the parts box, some leftover safety stripe decals, and a Miniatronics lamp with shade.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Shredded scrap metal pile, made from pencil sharpener shavings [spray-painted flat aluminum]:
Bill-Of-Materials:
Pencil shavings FREE (trash)
Paint < $3.00
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
I built this car card holder from a styrene sign that I picked up at a big box retailer. 12" x 18" .060" thick sign was about $4.00. I managed to cut enough parts to make about 6 of these.
Dan Pikulski
www.DansResinCasting.com
16.5mm gauge turnout, hand-thrown, complete:
For a total of less than $5.00 and about an hour of labor I get a custom-fitted, derailmentproof turnout good for decades of trouble-free service. (My oldest, even cheaper then, were built in 1980.)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Need some Talus / river rocks / any kind of rock?
Go to Wally World and check out the cat litter, some brands look like small greyish blue rock boulders.
Fish tank gravel come in a wide variety of colors, I have found white granite colors and brown reddish colors.
I picked up both for 10 bucks, and is a lifetime supply.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
This is a oil pump my Son and I put together from my scrap box while listening to a football game on the radio....
Stuff from Scrape Box....$.25 at the most...
Paint and glue....$.10 at most....
Afternoon with son...Priceless...
Cox 47
Nothing to contribute yet, but I'm gonna love this thread! Gotta make me one of those scrap metal piles!
Jarrell
I have a backdrop right up against the edge of the table.I didn't like the look of just putting some bushes to cover the seam so I decided to make a fence. I took some craft sticks and glued them together. Then I scribed lines since the craft sticks looked too wide. Hit it with some alcohol/india ink and presto! Instant fence.
craft sticks - $1.00 for a package of about 200
a few drops of Elmers glue
a couple of teaspoons of alcohol
1 drop of india ink
total price well under $2.00
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Here's another:
Stripped wire from wiring the layout(free,left-overs) and a roll of 3/4" "toule " from wally's($.97)CA glue(on hand) Silver spray paint(on hand). Instant chain link fence:
I've got a ton of popsickle stick projects. None more that .10 worth of lumber and paint. The saw was a bit of an investment though.
Station Platform
Rock Ridge Boardwalk
N-scale Coal Mine Trestle (The coal hopper was given to me broken at a train show)
In fact, the whole diorama was less that $10.
I've got to try some of these ideas...
How about this plow?
Tyco Flatcar: could get at a buck at a show, could be any flatcar you want.
Caboose body, could be around a buck, doesn't need to be specific. Think mine's a Tyco also.
Paint, don't really know how much, but probably not enough to hit the $5 limit.
Couplers, how much do Kadees retail for nowadays?
Altogether, probably not more than $5, and definetly less than $10!
LCL Ramp:-3"x21" strip of basswood: $1.50-30' roll of annealed wire (safety rails): $1.25-12" HO Scale Chain: $1.75-Yellow and brownish paint: On hand for several years
Chain Link Fence:-1/8th yard of thule (bridal veil material): $.16-box of toothpicks: $.99-aluminum paint: on hand
Dan
The Walnut tree fell over free, complements of a wind storm.
The logs were free, cut as part of the clean up.
The 1 inch boards were free, cut in a potable sawmill demonstration and used in a furniture project.
The scrap was free. I used 1/2 bottle of left over wood glue and two razer blades in the chopper. The track is not included and the engine house was a freebee at the end.Also 5 cents for the bandade needed after cutting all that scale lumber.
I wanted to post pictures of my working single and double light poles but my web site is temporarily shut down because I exceeded my "quota" of visitors for the month. Even without pictures:
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
selector wrote: I figure this might have cost about 20 cents. Cedar scale lumber, some grit from the roofing tiles that I removed from the eaves troughs a year ago, and some dabs of glue. Presto, a homemade backstop.]
hey, what did you use to paint that foreground track?
Greg, it's Floquil "Rust". This particular paint is not a water-based paint. You need thinner to clean up afterwards, and presumaly to thin, although I haven't gone to that point to be sure.
-Crandell
I love this thread chip. I am always on the lookout for stuff to make things cheap even though I have not started the layout yet. Today I picked up some nice tree trunks for log cars, cost nothing because my bush died this winter. Match sticks for lumber what .50 wally world, lots and lots of tule or whatever that bridal stuff is. 500 yards on ebay for $40.00 for our wedding 2 years ago. a dozen astilbee plants at the local home and garden show in feb was around 5.00, trees for life now. Since we have to do a lot of painting in the house I now have a good source of oil tanks thank to the 3m painters tape in the 2.5 inch wide stuff. Replaced a tone of cabinet knobs in the house so the old ones will be turnout knobs for the layout. You get the picture.
Mike
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)