"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
Hello I see some ideas I can use and have some to give. First is my round house floor.
skinny sticks .99 craft store left over walnut stain and ash from the fire pit for color .00
next is a scrap load from left over tinfoil
this is a tank for bunker oil made from old tanker 1.00 I beam .98
this one maybe over the 5$ mark but not sure I bought a tanker kit for 15$ but it had 2 tanks but only parts to make one so I used it for my diesel fuel.
have a nice day Frank
Hi spacemouse
I mentioned a while ago in a thread on current or was it proposed projects I was working on a large scale cottage 16mm=1' a popular garden railway scale in the UK
Total cost so far $3 I don't expect to break the $5 budget by more than $2 if at all not bad for a large scale Model RR structure still in progress.
The base broken battery tray from work free
Walls and chimeny foam packing from new fridge free
Timber framing old engineering drawing book covers from work free
Paint from old wargames days on hand used before it was throw out time for the paint only just
Wood filla and glue left over from home reno job used rather than waste it.
Roof tiles from self stick floor tiles $3 bought specificaly for the model
Door and window frames cut from coffee and ice cream sticks I did have to pay for the ice cream and coffee some left over thin strip plastic was used but that was left over from something else.
Lead work will be from coffee tin foil seal and brass tape from electric cable when I can find out a bit about Medievil roofing lead work
This is not a small model but the house its self would in reality would probably just about fit in most living rooms with room to spare.
We will not mention the wooden skewers stolen from the kitchen to re-enforce the chimeny
regards John Busby
PS once properly finished I might outlaw and lash out and buy a bird to sit on top of the chimeny.
But I am too scared to find out how much they cost large scale details tend to be expensive but if it adds the polish to the model I might do it.
Nice one Space Mouse. I have got to find some that growing around and pick it or transplant it. One of the guys at the LHS was doing that exact same thing one day to put trees on their small shop layout. WOW!!! I was totally impressed with them. It was quick, easy, inexpensive and looked amazing. He even showed me how to take small stir straw and blow the ground foam off the stems. AWESOME!!!!
Now I just need to find some sedum. :(
Now I have been reading this thread with great interest and adding great ideas to my brain.......but I have to say this is just way clever. and looks very real. I thought it was shreaded aluminum foil or somthing but pencil sharpener shavings... way to go
fiatfan wrote: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 200a few drops of Elmers gluea couple of teaspoons of alcohol1 drop of india inktotal price well under $2.00 Tom
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
At a garage sale, I spent ten cents and bought a soft vinyl plastic log cabin toy, apparently from an Indians and Cavalry set. Cut it down half an inch to make it a reasonable height for N scale, and lodged a stick crosswise in it because it skewed out of square. The Grandt line windows set me back a buck and a half, and the air conditioners were about half of a three-dollar California Freight detail set. Used scraps to build a roof since it didn't come with a roof. My printer was not working at the time I built the model so it cost a buck to print out a color print of the graphics I made on the computer. And of course, the cars and other details don't count, they are just extra details. But it started with a ten cent garage sale toy.
I like this thread a lot...
These are in Australian Dollars so the cost will be "cheaper" for you who are stateside. I made a few ground signals which are outlined on http://xdford.digitalzones.com/modelrr11.htm. Consists of a Kadee coupler insert (left over after putting Kadees into Athearn boxes etc.) A Bi Directional LED (about 50 cents here) Two switches and three Diodes (about $1.80 each for the switches here and about 30 cents for the Diodes) and of course the wire to connect.
I made a track shed using a Yoghurt container so cost virtually zilch apart from gluing etc although it is very crude as it got done in a heat wave. Check out http://xdford.digitalzones.com/modelrr13.htm and go halfway down the page.
Making searchlight signals using brass tube, bi directional LED and turned styrene disks for the face. http://xdford.digitalzones.com/construction%20of%20a%20model%20railway%20signal.htm
You could even use yoghurt and margarine/butter container plastic for the turned disks saving a few more cents.
I have also made street lights using yellow 3mm LED's (5-10 cents each) a resistor (5 cents tops) sequins ($1.00 for 50 therefore 2 cents each) and wire. Some lights I have used brass tubing while for shorter lights I have used recycled lollypop plastic tube being about the right length read height, painted black. They are on a web page but I have to reupload the file so here it is anyway
http://xdford.digitalzones.com/model%20railway%20lights%2001.htm
By the way, really liked Tylers page! What size is your layout? There are quite a few great ideas on the pages Tyler has written.
Regards from Down Under
Trevor www.xdford.digitalzones.com FYI
I'm a big fan of low or no cost projects. So, this is a great thread.
The farm on my old layout had woven wire fence made from left over window screen. Posts were old straight pins the wife had given me when she got new ones. Which I painted then weaved through the screen. Wood for gates and some fencing came from some scrap paneling that the laminates had came apart on. They were thin enough to cut with a box knife.
I build a cattle pin, loading chutes and feeder out of the same scrap paneling laminates, match sticks, some scrap balsa and a piece of left over corrugated roofing.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/9814/ppuser/4309
The building in the scene came out of a yard box of train stuff I got for $5.
I built a grain elevator one weekend out of scrap 1 ½ PVC pipe, some cardboard [tops], coffee stirrers [down spouts n auger tubes], scrap wood [grain leg, shed and base], piece of dowel rod [distributor] loading spouts in the silos were old kitchen match sticks and some pieces out of the junk box [ladders, door n such].
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/9812/ppuser/4309
Other than some hot glue sticks, paint and Elmers, which I keep around, was less than $5
My other hobby is woodworking [mostly with used or scrap lumber] and some times I have to rip a board down and end up with pieces 1/16 or 1/8 thick. Then I clamp a guide board on the scroll saw and cut whatever width I want. In 20 minutes I can make 2 hand full of close to scale lumber.
Yard sales and flea markets are also a place to find cheap material for future projects. Sometimes you can find buildings, trees, cars and such for $5 a box. I've got 3 or 4 box fulls, I plan on improving or cutting up for other low cost projects. Another good thing is you can box up what you don't need and sell it in your own yard sale.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
leighant,
Love that restaurant. I think I ate there in Eureka.
Trevor,
Could you edit your post and put the code [ url] and [ /url] around the URLs to make them active. (leave out the spaces)
Inch,
I was wondering when someone was going to bring up PVC. I've operated on a layout where many of the gas storage facilities where PVC. They look good too.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Trying Space Mouse...
xdford.digitalzones.com and you should be able to get to the sites from the menu anyway!
Also a Diesel Fuel Tank from a piece of conduit and blocked at the end with styrene offcut. Painted grey and a cap on the top. Cost was a few drops literally of grey paint on hand. Cost next to nix...
Hey it worked... thanks Spacemouse! I could get almost proficient at it!
Trevor [url]www.xdford.digitalzones.com[/]
Trevor, thanks for the compliment. My layout is roughly 12' by 22'. I beleive I posted a track plan there, although the dimensions were totally messed up in the drawing.
I bookmarked your site, I'm going to try some of your projects when I have some free time.
I painted a few plastic drinking straws and have used them as a load of pipe on a flatcar, also as drainpipe under railroad crossings, and at construction sites. Probably cost a few cents each. Sorry, I don't have a picture.
Edit--This is in n-scale.
Saw an article as a one picture photo essay, basically some aluminium foil (used and washed is probably better... means it costs zilch), scrunched and shaped into a cube using pliers, given a rustic coat of paint and placed in a gondola as scrap load bundles... the cost? Whatever you make it!
Regards
Materials
1. Athearn Blue Box cabooses ( OK they cost more than $5 but I've had mine for years!)
2 Shirt packaging or clear plastic tops from say yoghurt containers or similar
3. Drop of white glue
Procedure
a. gently remove cupolas
b Cut packaging to strip size to fit inside windows
c Dab of white glue inside body and place in and hold plastic to side
4 Voila, one slightly more realistic caboose
Even though from viewing distance, it is hard to pick up, as the plastic ages and crazes a bit the appearance of windows becomes more apparent!
Cost? How much is a dab of white glue and a shirt box? You have the cabin cars have you not?
Cheers
Trevor www.xdford.digitalzones.com
Material
1 small rectangle of .040" Styrene
1 reasonable sized nail say 40mm long
Cut rectangle approx 6 scale feet by 4 scale feet
Scribe a line with a nail down middle of longer side to represent two doors 6 scale feet by just under two.
Sut head off nail and glue to other side of styrene so it is in line with the scribed line
You have one signal relay box as a lineside detail.
A picture of... somewhere on my website! www.xdford.digitalzones.com/modelrr12.htm and look at the white box alongside the signal
I won't insult you by telling you about making the battery box alongside it!
Cheers from down under!
Trevor
Hi guys
Try www.xdford.digitalzones.com/modelrr13.htm ... sorry, slip of the pinky!
One I did, but no pictures.
2 LL trainset cabooses, both with one bad end: $1
Broken log dump car: $1
Set of kadees: $2.00
Scrap materails: on hand, 50 cents at most
CA and paint: Nada, on hand. 10 cents at most
Took the good ends of the cabooses and made a short cabin. Took the frames of the cabooses and cut them so the deck piece of the flatcar would fit in between them. Then put the cabin on the new frame. Added handrails from busted P2K handrails and a few detail parts from the scrap box, and some styrene rod to fit along side the caboose for the side sill. Painted the whole thing except the flatcar deck red, painted roof of caboose black. So for under 5 bucks, I got a home-made transfer caboose.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Can't buy much for under five dollars!! Can't contribute much, my layout is still in the early scenery stages.
-tim
This thread is awesome! I miss the old $1 projects. Thank you for "reviving" it. The pipe load on the flat car is from a no-name Qtip. The container cost 2.97, the banding is thread from the wife's sewing kit, and I had the paint and blocking on hand. From one container I made 12 or thirteen stacks of pipes.
Chuck
Modeling the Motor City
Have close ot five in this project I have to get back into, been away awhile and the RR bug is comming back
This is looking rather crude now, but will take a bit of time, The gray tread lathe ( Wheel lathe for un-mounted wheel sets ) is scrap balsa, circular saw holes for the chucks, and scrap box stuff with the exception of 2 GP9 doors mounted on the electrical cabinet, and scrap wire for the conduit
The wheel elevator (not set in the floor holes) is some scrap diamond plate from a truck crane I kit-bashed a few years ago., Floor of shop are two short cuts from the bottom of a few drawers I made to keep the wife happy, as I love hot meals and sleeping inside, more then my procrastination of her hunny dooooo lists LOL.
The green wheel truing machine (to reprofile mounted wheel treads from under the unit) is also from scrap that I almost tossed a few times, Shoe boxes do come in handy for stuff.
elevated rail is strips of the floor stock (Yellow) and the ramps will reworked.
The track set in the saw slots are perhaps over five buck's and not counted. The rest is just scrap stuff from other projects..... the guard rails are N scale ties from the above project and a strip of corrigated siding material. The two non-working but led adaptable target signals are 3 each.
john
Some soap dispenser bottles and their ilk have push down taps that uncannily resemble a water crane, particularly of the North American variety. A little reshaping of the crane top and a short length of heat shrink insulation to act as the "hose", dark paint and you will have a unique water crane, just like everyone else who reads this! O scale modellers could do worse than look at Oral B or similar electric tooth brush heads ... worn out ones of course... mounted on an old tube shaped biro body with a thicker piece of heat shrink for the hose.Now if only I could get the wife to stop thinking greenly and buy a new dispenser instead of a refill...
regards from down under
Making your own overhead catenary or metal fences?You can use cable to make your own overhead wire or metal fences and get it tensioned fairly well. Cut the cable to the length you require, grip one end with a vice and put the other end in a drill chuck. Now power the drill while holding a reasonable but not undue amount of tension. While you might without the experience expect the cable will spin in an array of knots, it will gradually work harden as it is spun and become much more rigid. If you get to breaking point, stop as it is enough. You will find that you have a very straight piece of wire. WIth practice, you will get to the "threshold" before breakage by feel. Your wire is then easy to shape to your preferred line. Many years ago a friend of mine and myself duplicated a fairly famous European brand catenary segments after I taught him the technique using the wire for contact wire as well as "stringers" and hanger wires for the short offcuts. Metal Fences? Use a slightly thicker wire using the same technique to tension it to use for the vertical poles and cross members and mesh materials to string on it for model chain link fences. Save your short offcuts for fence posts or mounting your speed advisory signs at the side of your track. Any electrician should be able to provide you with a number of "shorts" so your cost is even further reduced. Let's know what use you find for the wires and posts!
Cheers from Down Under
Stomper battery powered 4x4 toy truck from Big Lots! $3.99
Plastic wheels left over from a car swapped to metal wheels: $0
Frame of scrap basswood: $0
Body built of scrap styrene: $0
Plastic detail scraps left over from various rolling stock projects: $0
Driver figurine left over from starter set: $0
So yeah, I guess it qualifies for Chips Challenge
Have fun with your trains