I don't recall, but expect it's already been mentioned -- never throw anything away unless you're sure it's completely useless. A good scrap box can be the frugal modeler's source for many projects. I actually have multiple scrap boxes for materials and parts, somewhat organized so I can find things, mostly.
Case in point, as I sorted through some stuff from the many laser kits I've built in the last couple of years, was this group of representative selections.
Starting in the upper left is a nice piece of clapboard siding leftover from a Raggs---to Riches Durango station kit. More than enough for several small buildings, it's even already painted and is peel-n-stick.
Clockwise to the right are some leftover board-and-batten siding pieces, also enough for a small structure or two.
Below that with several different shades of examples are frets from thicker wood. The remains can provide lots of pieces of stick lumber.
The lower left corner has a couple of thick "frames" that make good foundations for small structures.
Finally, above the frames are various architecturally useful items like the end frames for roofs and various other angles.
I just happened to build a couple of small structures, a station and a shelter, which use hardly anything new. In this case, I used a Grandt Line door and window castings. I'm still detailing them, but here's a couple of pics.
Summit
Camp 10
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
eaglescout Got several of both of these. Here in Texas they are sold at Tractor Supply stores.
Got several of both of these. Here in Texas they are sold at Tractor Supply stores.
Mine were found at Farm & Fleet, a regional retail chain based out of Wisconsin.
I agree. I always get a pair, so I can make an open load out of them in addition to on-layout uses.
It's really too bad more aren't close to HO, as 90%+ really are S scale or larger. Good for S scale, though, those guys neeed every break they can get. Vehicles are one of the strong suits for S scale.
mlehmanAnother great source of vehicles on the cheap is the line that Ertl sells that costs in the $5 range. Many are too large for m HO, really being closer to S for the most part. But they always seem to manage to get something at or close to HO scale in the mix.
I found a couple of close to HO tractors in the Ertl display over the last couple of weeks.
One is this nice John Deere. No model number indicated, but in HO the size is about right for tractors in the range from the 4020 to the 5020, both of whcih I spent plenty of quality time with in my youth. This one is more modern than those, but works as a standin.
The front tires seem like they've shrunk or the rims are on steroids, but a nice model for less than $5. Here's a size comparison to a semi.
Earlier, I found a red International tractor. I think this was the original Cub before they went yellow-orange for more suburban uses. If so, it's really too large, but still makes a nice generic IH in HO. I've lined it up next to the JD and a Ford pickup for size comparison.
For trees, I got to Walmart (or similar) stores after Christmas when everything is 50% off or more. The trees have white snow on them, so I buy a can of green spray paint, and paint them green. I found this to be a very inexpensive way to get pine trees for the layout.
Bought a box of Clementine oranges today. The box is made of very thin plywood sheets with four triangular corner braces. Great scratchbuilding material and the price is right ($0) when compared with scale lumber.
I have buttered up the management of local gas stations and stores for their sheet styrene. I have a pile of different thicknesses of sheet styrene at home about 2' tall.
Coffee stir sticks make for some decent looking guardrails
I grind my own ground foam cover. Grab chunks of foam and "oops" paint from the home improvement stores for around $3-5 a gallon. Squeeze the foam in the paint and keep squeezing it to work the paint to the core. Let it dry and hit it with a wire wheel in a variable speed drill.
I get my "shakers" from resteraunts..just ask for their bulk spice shakers
Got an old DVD or CD player that took a crap...Tear into it. There is a bunch of gears, some small electric motors etc..
I use the rubberbands for braces (metal mouth) for securing loads to flatcars..looks like a giant ratchet strap
I do ALOT of outside the box thinking...Im always looking and thinking if I can use that before I get rid of it....Good lUck and keep it cheap
Jeff
UlrichBe happy with good enough. Don't go primo on everything
That's really all there is to say. You can make a nice looking town off of life-like building kits and some paint. (newer) Bachmann engines are good enough to pull a train with.
I go back and forth between bouts of model trains and Magic: The Gathering. Both hobbies are prohibitvely expensive, but the trick is setting realistic expectations. I try to buy used lower end when I can get away with it.
I don't notice the difference between molded on handrails and metal ones. My wallet prefers one though, and I can use that to my advantage - I can pick up 3 freight cars for the price of one "premium" one.
I also try to buy the right stuff at the right time. When the new Walthers Amtube cars came out at $80 a pop, I was able to pick up a used 4 car set of Bachmann Silver Series ones for $12 a pop. With the money savd, I picked up a E60CP and a 5th car, for less then the price of 2 new cars. I sacrificed a little bit of detail and realism for a lot of money in my pocket.
I limit myself, and try - try - not to buy things if I have a backlog of other things. If I have an engine on my work bench, there's no reason to buy parts for another engine. I may not get to it for a year or two, and by that point I've lost the parts I bought.
If I keep myself to older rolling stock and Athearn passenger cars, I can use 22" curves as the norm - less space required, less track to buy. I only own a single car that has a 'suggested' 24" minimum radius, while it doesn't look amazing, the difference between 22" and 36" radii is profound on the budget.
The theme you see here is expectations. (Up until I moved and pulled it all down) I had expectations of a 'fun' railroad, not a 'realistic empire'. My rolling stock was mostly low end, and with the exception of a few *very* expensive "named trains" by keeping my costs low, I was able to do a lot for a little.
mlehman Another great source of vehicles on the cheap is the line that Ertl sells that costs in the $5 range. Many are too large for m HO, really being closer to S for the most part. But they always seem to manage to get something at or close to HO scale in the mix. The local Farm and Fleet has an Ertl display in their toy section that is periodically restocked. There are almost always new items added when thta's done, so keep checking back.
Another great source of vehicles on the cheap is the line that Ertl sells that costs in the $5 range. Many are too large for m HO, really being closer to S for the most part. But they always seem to manage to get something at or close to HO scale in the mix. The local Farm and Fleet has an Ertl display in their toy section that is periodically restocked. There are almost always new items added when thta's done, so keep checking back.
On the other end I like the 2004 Hess tanker trucks that I get at train shows for $8 each Slightly smaller than HO but they look great on the layout as part of a fuel facility.
Joe Staten Island West
Refusing to pay more than $10 (really $5) for a HO scale vehicle I have been going to antique malls (the ones with individual booths by individual owners) in search of vehicles. Many I find are not real detailed and some are not exactly HO scale but close enough for my needs. Some don't even have interiors (good for junkyards) but I have been buying them for $1-$3 each. On a budget you can outfit your layout with 25-30 vehicles for under $100 instead of $300 or more.
Good topic,my train budget roughly amounts to about 20.0 a month, luckily i have a lot of stuff that i reuse ( turn outs etc)
the orange heavy duty cords are great sources for layout wire. my friend had thrown out a 50' foot cord because the dog had chewed on it in places. so i was short on cash and needed wire so i took the cord home cut off the ends and peeled back the insulation wow theres 3 pieces of wire 50' feet long each, i have used it for bus wires,turnouts feeders. for attaching to the small screws i just peel back the strands to i get the size wire i need and cut the uneeded off
I also reuse short sections of track by soldering them together to the length i need, the smallest pices being about 1-2 inches, also i reuse rail joiners, the looser ones i use on sidings the tight ones where electical current is needed.
paint i use is mostly craft paint from walmart and spray paint from walmart, the most expensive being the rust oleum camoflage. i buy 1 inch foam brushes when they go on sale at Michaels, for cement i use the gel control lok tite
A 23 year olds suggestions-
The spools in registers? They make good concrete pipes for drainage.
Need brick supports? Cut a chunk of pink foam to a square. Take a scale ruler and measure the dimensions of a brick. Take a square, and use a pen to cut the bricks out. When done, paint with a stone gray pigment.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
joe323I used a plastic tub of Duncan Hines frosting to make the tank for the Hess complex...
Riffing off Joe's tip, here the first of two of mine. I used a pill bottle to make a vertical diesel fuel tank for the enginehouse in Silverton. I cut the funny childproof latch and part of the top rim of the typical yellow transparent pill bottle. Then I used masking tape built up with overlapping layers to simulate the weld seams on each course of the tank. Then I added a ladder, vent, and access hatch. Sparyed with silver paint and done.
My other tip is one that should prove popular with all who are like me, seeing the eyesight fade some as age takes its toll. I happened to be paging through MR and came across one of several ads I've seen that modify Optivisors with LED lighting -- a great idea, but it seems I always spend the money on other stuff.
Reading the ad, it suddenly occurred to me that I could make one -- and you can, too. Total cost? About $9.
I admit it's not as pretty as the RTR version, but this one works just fine. You may even decide to buy one of the several versions of stgore-bought ones available after using thuis once.
The lights and battery box/controller are from a Rice Light LED string that can be found at Hobby Lobby year-around and other retailers right now. I've used the miniature LED strings for lighting on the layout, but just had this brain storm today.
The optivisor is slick plastic. I used gapfilling CA and it worked OK. I may have to epoxy it to really hold well. Be careful with any adhesives around the lens to not mar them. For the powerpack, I used Velcro to attach it to one temple of the visor.
I used a plastic tub of Duncan Hines frosting to make the tank for the Hess complex. I covered it with grey steel texture printed for $1.99 off the Clever Paper site and used the mesh from some left over needle point to make a safety fence.
Several ways to save money:
Be happy with good enough. Don't go primo on everything.
Clearly define what you want out of your layout, and don't buy stuff that doesn't fit in with what you want your layout to represent.. i.e. if you're modelling IA in the late 70s, don't buy a Big Boy.
Time is money too. Unless you're retired and have alot of time on your hands don't waste your precious time building stuff that you can buy on the cheap. A $50.00 station is cheaper than a year of your precious time scratch building plus raw materials and tools. Remember... be happy with good enough.
Keep it simple... you don't need five bridges and ten tunnels when one of each will do. Two nice structures are better than 10 lousy ones. Single track is cheaper than double. Keep the wiring simple. You don't need 20 engines when two or three will do.
1) I am going to slightly disagree with those who suggest buying the little tubes of CA at home centers...because I did exactly that for the same reason (cost, and I figured I'd use up the tube before it went bad). Sadly, whatever brand (I don't recall) the Big Orange stocks seems to have the holding strength of warm spit, way weaker than the original Crazy stuff from the 1970s. I went back to the big hobby bottles, and so far the gap-filler has behaved itself over many projects since I wipe the nozzle after use.2) Those mentioning acrylic craft paints and airbrushing, I have been watching a number of videos on just that, and particularly like Chris Chapman's channel (yes, he does model cars and airplane - so what, it's all plastic underneath - and he does do weathering). THe other channel I watch often (there are many others) is the infamous Doctor Cranky, who claims we are on the cusp of a revolution in airbrushing techniques (well, he says a lot of things really, but his work is pretty cool looking. Actually we rarely see him do any airbrushing, perhaps his dog Eyegore does the real work. His big thing is "layers", translucent paint in multiple layers).Anyway as the weather gets colder and I need to work inside, and I finally resolved the windex vs windshield fluid debate, I'll find out firsthand how this turns out...
I have seen soda straws that are basically composed of paper. These might work better.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
There are products that the auto body trade uses that prep plastic and improve adhesion. I vaguely recall it was some sort of model RR specific product that was used on the delrin, but it may simply have been a repackaged form of one of the auto body products.
Interesting answers on painting plastic soda straws!
Never tried ruffing up with 120 grit sandpaper and or steel wool.
I'll take a look through some back issues of MR, the Dollar Model Series on plastic soda straws for pipe loads and painting.
Let me do some digging. Thrink this appeared in 1976 issue?
Yep, I think that the old solvent base Floquil, would turn the plastic into a component for Napalm (Military Ordanence).
Which leeds to a question.
Derlin Plastic Painting.
If my memory is on the up and up, years ago I remember reading a very similar story on paint not adhereing to same.
Again it was a MR short article on what to prime with.
Any readers remember the article and solution to the problem?
Sounds like the straws had some kind of Teflon compound in it.
Dennis Blank Jr.
CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad
rrebellHow about a paint like Floquil, the solvent type.
That's the type I was using. Bad result.
I make pipe loads to sell, and was looking at the floral tubes as a possible eonomical way to form the pipe. I wanted to use a three-across by three-high configuration, so that required me to adhere the tubes into groups of three. Then I wanted to paint the tubes as a group. Neither CA nor Plastruct plastic weld would attach the tubes to each other. And the paint just rubbed off.
I ended up biting the bullet and using Evergreen styrene.
How about a paint like Floquil, the solvent type.
Only other thing I could think of would be that paint for RC car bodies that is more of a plastic dye than paint
NittanyLion Did you try dragging the straw through a tube of sandpaper to rough it up a little? The finish on a straw is pretty smooth.
Did you try dragging the straw through a tube of sandpaper to rough it up a little? The finish on a straw is pretty smooth.
Run EightSoda Straws, you know from the Golden Arches... They make excellent gondola and flat car loads. One thing though, I never really had good success in painting same with Floquil Poly-Scale. If you brushed paint would not fully cover, same with airbrushing. Must be the plastic. Anybody had success in painting and using some type of "primer" or plastic compatble primer to get paint to hold?
I tried painting floral tubes and had the same poor result. And I was spray painting. The paint just came off as I handled the tubes. And they didn't take glue well, either. I agree it must be the type of plastic.
I recycle Brita water filter elements, or rather the contents. These are the filter elements used in the containers for water pitchers in the refrigerator.
I let the used filter dry out for a while in the basement. In the end of each filter are 4 small screens used to retain the contents. Cut the screens out with a #11 blade, shake the element over a container, and you end up with a little pile of coal.