Anyone up for some CHEAP trackside detail?

[Darth Santa Fe]

Another cheap detail idea is to get some rock and keep hitting it with a sledge hammer until it's real fine and can be used for HO gravel.

[tcf511]

A friend makes some really realistic "rocks", the kind that you would see poking up through a field. He takes tree bark chips, uses a belt sander to flaten one side, a wire bru***o shape the edges, paints them appropriately and voila, instant rocks.

[grandeman]

Great ideas guys! I especially like the tree bark rocks. I've seen that in N scale and it looked good.

Little grande man thought of this one. Our small cattle operation needed some detail. Look closely, that's one messy cow (and a spotted bull at that![:D]). It was done with spots of acrylic burnt umber.

[Anonymous]

Couple tips on cheap scenery items. For crossties on the sides of the right-of-way or stacked, I use wooden matchsticks cut to proper length and stained with my brush cleaning fluids which are usually a brownish black.

For tarpaper roof patches I use tiny pieces of masking tape painted flat black or dark flat gray.

[underworld]

grande man Those look great! And at a great price!!!

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by underworld

grande man Those look great! And at a great price!!!

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

Thanks! Are we talking crossties or cow chips?[:D][:D]


I hope if you have a layout up they'll work for you as well.

[Anonymous]

I like to use fine grit sandpaper for tarpaper roofing. Cut it into strips, paint it grimy black and glue it to your roof.

[Anonymous]

"Cheap" the only way to go. My favorite motto. My two are: I work in a food plant. The honeycomb type hairnets make good chainlink fence when sprayed with hairspray. I also save all sprues from kits. I have a whole drawer full. They make cheap downspouts for buildings and industrial piping. Also piles of pipe behind industries.
Both are freebies, the BEST kind of cheap.

[Medina1128]

Hey!! [(-D] We're not "cheap", we're "thrifty"...

[JimValle]

After years of model railroading, I accumulated a lot of steam engine parts, Particularly cylinder assemblies and old rods and wheels. Scatter them around your engine terminals and roundhouse. Stain them with Floquil rust. With crossties, the new ones should be black on account of being saturated with creosote. Stain them with black India Ink. The old ties being replaced are brown and splintered. Stain them with shoe polish. Any large part that might be salvagible should have wooden runners under it. usually brown or gray weathered wood. Strip balsa can be used for all these effects but regular ties used in handlaying are cheap by the bagful!

[loathar]

I've torn apart old cd rom drives to get the the gears and other parts out. Painted and weathered, they make great great flat car or junk loads The small screws are great for mounting couplers.I'm toying with the idea of cutting up some old hard drive ribbon, painting it silver and seeing how it works out for corugated tin roofing or junk yard fencing.
loathar

[Anonymous]

.[:p][:p] Don't knock your suggestion, I like it. I have always felt that model railroaders are cheap on everything except engines, cars and turnouts. I'm off to get some ties

[Anonymous]

agree with Prairieshortline, don't save on the real stuff, but the more you save on senery, the more [2c]money you have for more trains[^][^]
Are the ear cleaners in the US also hollow, they are better for pipe in stacks, plus they come in different colours![}:)] Just chop the ends of after use.
Down under[swg]

[xdford]

Rather than spend time describing my work, you can find a few cheap examples of my work on http://www.xdford.digitalzones.com and check out the ersatz ground signals and the further projects... You'll find a trackside hut made out of yoghurt containers as well as batery and relay boxes made out of styrene offcuts... which could just as easily have been margarine and yoghurt containers... Hope you enjoy them!

[trainnut57]

Cheap is good. We LOVE cheap. I use short sections of rail from unusable flex track sections to dot along the right-of-way and in some sidings. I knew I kept those scraps for something.

[Anonymous]

"CHEAP" IS TACKY----- USE COST EFFECTIVE

[Train 284]

Good idea and the results look awesome!

[Anonymous]

It'sot cheap, it's frugal, btw I use typing paper,colored with black,green or red magic markers for tar paper roof patches. For older patches, color one side and turn it over,just enough color comes thru for a nice faded touch.Break up tooth picks to look like broken lumber,palets, etc, around buildings and the like.Cut up newspaper to scale size,this doesn't have to be exact, draw some fine black lines and blots, crumple and you have litter.

[JohnT14808]

I haven't seen it yet so here goes.....After you fini***hat great scratch built wooden trestle, don't throw away the trimmings from the dowels or strip bass wood....scatter it around one end of the bridge and leave it as debris from the construction crew.

[Anonymous]

I use ear cleaner swabs(after trimming the ends) for vent pipes, downspouts, and even freight car loads. Also old natural twine, cut into 1inch pieces, folded over and shoved into a hole makes a really good bunching of tall grass. I've also used electrical tape for tarpaper roofs( no painting needed,just weather and spray with Dullcote). Also coffee grounds & cat liter(screened& unused?) are nice and cheap additions to your scenery boxes.

[Anonymous]

also bambo skewers(50 or so at walmart for 1.00) make great poles or round bridge timbers

[Tilden]

You can use individual ties for the old, removed ties, "weather",(read damage) them accordingly. New ties are usually laid out in strapped bundles, (I think nine to a bundle). I've taken ties and stained them a creasote color and bundled them, (tied them with thread). They can be laid by the track to indicate future maintenance. Every once in a while the bundles break open, since they are dropped off. You can model a split open bundle by breaking open one end and spreading the ties a bit or open both straps and spread out two or three ties along the right of way. The bundles also make a good load for a maintenance of way flat. And don't forget the rail. strips of weathered rail can be layed by the track to model future welded rail or replacement rail. Small touches but quite prototypical.

[loathar]

I went to Wall Mart and bought some of that netting material for dresses. (boy did I get some strange looks from the woman working there. Then some even stranger looks when I told them I was making chain link fence for my train. Oh well) It turned out pretty good. I tried my computer ribbon corregated fence idea and it looks really good. I don't have a digital camera, so I have to fini***he roll of film before I can post any pics.Whats a descent digital camera for close ups cost?

[UP Deano]

I noticed nobody has mentioned sand piles along the tracks up and down grades. dad and i (i hate saying that,sounds like i"m a kid.LOL. i"m 40 and live in the same town as my dad,my apartments to small so both layouts are in dads basement.) have done this on the grades and i think it makes for a "cheap" realistic look.

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lginc

I noticed nobody has mentioned sand piles along the tracks up and down grades. dad and i (i hate saying that,sounds like i"m a kid.LOL. i"m 40 and live in the same town as my dad,my apartments to small so both layouts are in dads basement.) have done this on the grades and i think it makes for a "cheap" realistic look.

That's a good point. It's also common to see sand piles in yards where locos sit. That would add some good detail.

[UP Deano]

Thanks grande man. one last one, along sidings in the city and if your yard is close to town, scraps of paper(like newspapers and stuff you"ll usally find on the ground and in the weeds. dont remember anyone mentioning that, but if so, sorry, dont want to step on anyone. thanks.

[selector]

So, sand piles? Okay, how would we model them? They'd have to be made of some very fine material that stays where it's at.

[loathar]

Sands hard! I just got done doing a sanding station with some SUPER fine sand I made by crushing up some regular sand and sifting it through a VERY fine strainer. Look great when I sifted it ove the plastic sand load, but when I sprayed the scenic cement on it, Physics took over and the fine grains settled to the bottom layer exposing
the larger less desirable looking granuals. I redid it about 5 times before I said good enough, and even than, it wasn't. Any ideas?

[UP Deano]

selector, we had some FINE N scale ballest left over from one of dads N layouts he had built while i was living in florida(17yrs, have been back in s.wis. for 4yrs.). when i moved back we took on building a new N layuot useing "pinklady"ballest(CNW fans will be familliar with it). anyways the old ballest was a really light sand color. so on the grades, after the "pinklady was dry i put on the outside of the rails ONLY little patches from a quarter inch to one inch spots long going up and down the grades.apply the same as ballest,glue&water. every couple inches put some. the effect was AWSOME! looked real.(the sanders on your engine are there for a reason.) in HO i think it would be even better! i would love to post pics, but my dig.cam stinks(its really cheap& you guys pics look so good.need better cam.). hope this helps.

[UP Deano]

just found one CRAP quailty pic of a grade i took last weekend, hate to post it but i will. i"ll also circle the sand. need few mins. to edit and post.