Cheap-Cheap! Chicken Little asks, "How much $$ do we really need?"

[484fan]

Sorry about the typos...too big a hurry to get through I guess.

[Texas Zepher]

Sorry about the typos...too big a hurry to get through I guess.

You realize, of course, you can hit the "edit" button and fix those typos?  I often edit a message 3-4 times before I get it "postable".  Sometimes though people will quote you while in drafting mode and preserve the errors for all time!.

Anyway I found this thread on page 49, and it seemed a good one to keep to the front as well. 

[Rangerover]

WOW, do I agree with you! I'm from the old school too! I've made so much of my own stuff by coming to this forum. I've got box's of the old real bright green grass from the 60's, the real fake looking stuff that I paid $.40 for back in the 60's. Back then it was the only grass color you could buy, I found out that all I had to do was to Rit-dye it the shades of real looking grass. That stuff is priced at $3.20 for a small little plastic bag these days. I also fixed up about 3 dozen of the cone shape, cookie cutter evergreen trees, cut'em up in different shapes and sprayed glued them and rolled them in turf and made them look beautiful and real looking. Most of my trees I'm making myself from furnace filters, scour pads and  sizzle rope and wire.  I have yet to scratch build anthing, but am working on my scenics and am excited just thinking about it and weathering. I just hope that some day I can repay this forum and the great bunch of people here buy finding out something and share it with ya'll. Like I stated in another post, the people on this forum are building my pike for me. All I have to do is read and learn and apply. Thanks all! Jim 

[warhammerdriver]

A lot of my benchwork and base scenery forms are salvaged from other projects.  My large hill was framed from white bead styrofoam packing blocks from RTA furniture.  Window screen from replacing the screen in my sliding door.  Hookup wire salvaged from the dash wiring harness of a Ford Focus.

All ya gotta do is think outside the box.

[SpaceMouse]

  Hookup wire salvaged from the dash wiring harness of a Ford Focus.

All ya gotta do is think outside the box.

Stanley, my car won't start again. I swear if it gets any worse you're going to have to buy me a new car.

It's okay Martha, I found the probelm. I'll just use a couple wires from  the washing machine and, see there ya go.

[R. T. POTEET]

I found this thread on page 49, and it seemed a good one to keep to the front as well. 

I've done that same thing with "The 'N" Crowd" topic; I am (now) very careful what I say in order to "reactivate" it, as it were, - the first time I did it I caused a big donnybrook by trying to be funny.

Anyway, I recently posted a response to a topic posted by a rail wanting to know if sand could be used for gravel.  I get my "gravel" out of the dry washes which thread through the desert here in the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west.

I go out onto the desert and acquire a quantity of "wash" sand; I run it through three strainers.  The first of these strainers is a standard sized strainer such as is found and used in kitchens.  The one I acquired years ago has a slight convex chord on the bottom; the lip of this strainer is metal and has handles.  This first straining separates the (very) large rock from the mix; in most cases this is the place where I find most of the debris.

My second straining is with a (standard) window screen; the third straining is with another window screen but this one is not standard but has a very fine mesh.  When I get done with this straining I am down to a sand that is really fine enough to use for casting purposes; in point of fact I bought it for that exact purpose some time back.  This is my "gravel".

The next time I go into (eastern) Idaho I am going to cut myself enough sagebrush to make a couple of hundred "trees" and bring back enough basalt sand to give myself a black "ballast" - but, of course, I have to make the trip to Idaho to do that.

[reklein]

Hey Mr Poteet, Be sure and stir your basalt ballast with a magnet as the basalt around here is around 27% iron. Some of us here were using it for ballast ,I still have a jug or two, and we found out it has quite a bit of iron in it. The bits will stick to the motor magnets in your engines just like steel wool particles. Bill from Lewiston, ID

[ARTHILL]

I get a lot of my styrofoam from the side of highways. Saw big pile on 694 yeasterday. Went back to get it with my Jeep. It was gone. Some other modeler must have a new mountain this week.

[R. T. POTEET]

Hey Mr Poteet, Be sure and stir your basalt ballast with a magnet as the basalt around here is around 27% iron. Some of us here were using it for ballast ,I still have a jug or two, and we found out it has quite a bit of iron in it. The bits will stick to the motor magnets in your engines just like steel wool particles. Bill from Lewiston, ID

I will keep this in mind and will act accordingly when - and if - I decide to proceed with this action.  Way back in the '50s I used to catch rattlers for sale to the Atomic Energy Commision on the lava flows west of Springfield in Bingham County; on one of my snake catching expeditions I stumbled onto a (lava) sand field that was so soft that I went in all the way to my boot tops; if the highway department hasn't significantly changed the roadway I think I could probably find it again.  Since I'm going up there primarily for the Sagebrush I will simply kill two birds with one stone and bring me back some black sand. 

Your response does raise a question: if I strained this sand a la as outlined in my previous response and I glued this "balllast" down as we glue ballast down and if I then vacuum everything thoroughly to insure I leave no loose ballast then what is going to get picked up by motormagnets?

[MisterBeasley]

When I print decals, I just print a row across the top of the sheet.  I use MS Word, and import the graphics into that.  I set the top and side margins so I don't waste the expensive paper any more than a quarter-inch or so.

Then, after they dry, I take a paper cutter and make a clean slice below the row of decals.  I can run the same short page through the printer again.  The printer doesn't care how long the paper is, as long as it can grab it from the top and feed it through.