Everyday stuff for scenery and structures

A lot of great ideas guys. I was in the process of compiling a list of items I have used for a few FB forums I'm on, but for some reason the post would disappear as I was adding pics or text, so I gave up. I will post it here when I have some time.

You guys are pretty creative!

I am always looking for uses for everyday items on my layout.  Here are a few things I have come up with:

The trees in the above photo are made from weeds from our garden.  I dried them out, sprayed them with 3M adhesive then put them in a bag with foam ground cover.

The pavement in the above three photos is asphalt shingles turned upside down.  Some paint and weathering make a pretty convincing road.

I made bales of scrap metal out of aluminum foil.  I made a 1" x1"x1" box out of wood.  I pack the foil into the box and out comes a bale of scrap metal.  The junk cars are aluminum foil burnished over model cars from the layout.  The shell is then trimmed, painted and dented to produce junk cars.

The chain link fence is made from window screen.  I cut it diagonally and fastened it to brass post that I soldered together.

The watermelons are ball bearings that I painted and attached to "mohair" vines.  The tomatoes are shotgun shot that are glued to "mohair" plants.

The "coal" in this coal yard is creosote harvested from the chimney of my wood burning stove.  I have also used the creosote and ash to weather various items.

The brush along the right side of this scene is "mohair" packing material.  An elderly friend used to work for a local manufacturing plant that packed their product in this material (back in the 1950's, if I recall) He told me it was called mohair.  He gave me several sheets of the material, which I have put to good use on the layout.  The oil tank is a piece of 2" PVC pipe.

Tom

The aluminum foil junk cars are a great idea; inexpensive and very effective.  I would never have thought to do that. Your process would make a good short subject for an O-Guage magazine article.  Thanks for the tip.

That’s very impressive Tom. The foil and the window screen fence are great ideas; as well as the rubber from the car patching out of the gas station.

For anyone who eats at Cracker Barrel, their "Barrel Burger" comes with a wooden pick to keep the burger together and the pick is topped with a little decorative wood barrel.  The barrel is of course just about the perfect size for O gauge once the pick is cut off. You just need to make sure the wooden pick is safely put away in a pocket before the server clears the table after the meal.

Dale

So the little desiccant cylinders that come in some medications can be transformed into acceptable 55 gallon drums.

Some commercially available 55 gallon drums are on the left of the last two pictures.

I use them just as they are; labeled and ready to go.

I also like the "paper" desiccant inserts that shaped like the bags the cement, dog, food, etc come in.

Lots of great ideas here.

Metal push pins as barriers for edge of car lot at dealership.

Dave, I was thinking of using as is, for labeling as you say, but the general vibe on another thread was black with white tops.

Large capacitors (like 160v, 68 uf size ) can be used to make electrical transformers. They are a good o-scale size and have two wires coming out onto which you can glue and paint small craft beads to resemble insulators.

That’s a great idea, Richie!  I have the power station and materials for a couple of wooden transmission towers…a project for another year I’m afraid 😄

@Mark Boyce posted:

That’s a great idea, Richie!  I have the power station and materials for a couple of wooden transmission towers…a project for another year I’m afraid 😄

MTH makes/made a decent two-circuit three-phase 110kv tower that is quite prototypical.

Water tower made of 2" plastic pipe collars, the tank is a 2'' to 4'' plastic pipe change over, lower part wrapped in sandpaper. antenna on top is from the inside of a pizza box.

All of the grain elevators are made from 4" plastic pipe and plastic fence post.

Buildings made from plastic signs.

Bridge made from HO girder bridge turned up side down and the bridge abutments are made from

real cement.

warehouse made of plywood with sandpaper on the outside.

I’ve used coffee on “cliff” walls, with India ink to show texture.

India ink has to be one of the oldest modeling tools around.

Coffee grounds also into the latex I used  to paint some of the layout. Worked better than the stuff the paint manufacturer sold to texture.

What I used in construction, but not scenic, were 6 inch skewers for shish kabobs. Pointed one end , you guys could do lots with those. I used for layout of the track.

For roads I plan on using a roll of roofing shingle material, but like Mark said that may be a couple of years away. But maybe not cause I’m tripping over it every time I go to the shop.

Ive used plaster cast off for shale, after dying. And landscape rocks to finish around the tunnel. Hides the gaps.

I used low expanding foam inside my tunnel. Probably should be painted tan or gray but the white makes it easy to see around the track

I’ve used kitty litter for ballast after screening and liked it but not sure I’m going to ballast or not on this layout.

I plan on using coffee stirrers for portals which has been covered. But what I like are the stirrers that have a paddle shape one end for mixing epoxy.

I used a broken measuring stick for a height gauge near a bridge.

Love the PVC pipe grain elevators. Seems like those can be made to fit a lot of different areas depending on size modeled.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Cat fur! Aluminum foil! Cat whiskers!  Termite stake indicators (whatever that is)! I love this everyday stuff on a layout.

IMO, it takes a lot of imagination and creativity to see how something commonplace can enhance one's layout. The possibilities are limitless, and it also saves the hobbyist a few dollars.

My initial motivation years ago was to save money, but now I do it for the fun of it. Arnold

well I have 1 more cat related suggestion. "Temptation mix ups cat treats)  With a little acrylic paint they make great little sax of flower, cement, or any other product that was shipped in sacks.  And your cat will like it too!

Previously posted in another thread a few years ago, but to make the inside of your tunnels look realistic and really stand out, cut a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil (not the flimsy standard kind) to just slightly larger (1/8") than the inside height and length of each side of your tunnel walls.

Crumple up each sheet and then uncrumple, leaving each sheet relatively flat. Spray paint each sheet lightly with flat black paint so that a little of the shiny silver still shows through. When dry, glue each sheet to the inside of the tunnel walls ( I used hot glue) and trim, as necessary.

When a train goes through the tunnel, the headlight and other marker lamps shine on the tunnel walls and the crumbling effect on the aluminum sheets creates all kinds of angles that makes the interior walls look like cut rock faces with metal impurities shining through.