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Back in the 90s, there was a fairly regular column in OGR Magazine called "Scrounger's Corner". Each column was showed how to build something for your layout out of stuff one  normally has laying around. The idea was to get or creat something useful for "next to nothing".

Sadly, the column hasn't been seen in a while. However, I believe this happens all the time as we build and maintain our layouts. I am sure the collective knowledge of this Forum has many great ideas.

I will start out with a few of mine (and I freely admit, that the term "great" does not necessarily apply to my ideas )......

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The silos......containers from bottles of Harvey's Bristol Cream.....sanded down and then painted off white.

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The background building......pop tart boxes cut to a specific pitch and covered with corrogated cardboard from light bulb packaging.

The "Lionel Factory" was partially made from the Railscope TV box.

All of these pic are from my 1993-2003 attic layout in our former house....

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Peter

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Hi Peter,

  Great topic...my "layout" is currently an oval on my workbench. But, I will mention for anyone who has a pegboard wall around their workbench, golf tees can be useful to insert into the holes to hold items up.

  From my last layout...I used coffee stirrers to make planks, dowels to make pilings and there was an OGR article years ago about making your own O Gauge switch stands from copper. You can see my version over the forklift and some that I was working on further down the platform.

   Tom

Old layout tom_panettiere_01-04

 

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I use new disposable paint brushes.
I take the metal bad off and now you have a piece of wood with the brush hairs glued on. Using a pair of wire cutter i cut the brush hairs off by removing a bunch that was glued on the wood block cutting a section of the brush hair the is glued together for a manageable piece of grass/weed. I Drill a hole where it will go in the layout, then glue it in to the hole with super glue thick type glue. This takes time but looks great. I will be doing a post on a cheap display cases with this approach to a base for the train in the near future. Everything is done just have to take pictures and write it.

dgauss posted:

The silos......containers from bottles of Harvey's Bristol Cream..... 

What happened to the contents? 

Great refresher topic; Oatmeal cylinders, home made transformers and electrical stations, PCV "tanks", Bottle caps on roofs, cylinders and 1/2 of a ball for water tanks, etc,etc,

Used for medicinal purposes, of course.........

When we were younger (25-30 years ago) my wife and I would relax after dinner with a glass of sherry....... you have kids and then you realize that a bottle of Harvey's now lasts 10 years ......

Peter

gunrunnerjohn posted:
dgauss posted:

What happened to the contents

Boy, you beat me to that one!   That's a lot of Harvey's, someone must be happy!

Happy now, but perhaps not the next morning...

Peter: Now that you have time, wisdom, fewer young children, and perhaps a little more scratch in your pocket, it's time to switch over to Lustau's offerings.

Once you have a sip and ponder it all ... and continue to ponder ... I'm thinking you'll be able to build a small city using the empty boxes...  

Steven J. Serenska, the enabler

 

Last edited by Serenska

Great topic idea Peter.

The observatory on the top of the mountain is made from a soda bottle. The plastic one liter bottles used to come with a glued on  cup-like stand. When you pulled off the bottom stand, the bottom of the bottle was round. I made the observatory using the bottle and adding a plastic walkway and door. 

New Haven 2

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I've got a slight variation on Monon_Jim's remote holder, mainly that the Z-4000 remote flares at the bottom end which does not allow for a snug fit and it sits low in the cradle. Mounting another strap vertically underneath and securing with a ziptie fixes things nicely. 

All ducks in a row, so to speak. 

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Putnam Division posted:
mike.caruso posted:

Pop Tarts and Harvey's Bristol Cream....Breakfast of Champions.

Very ingenious Peter!  

....all that is missing is a cigarette!

Peter

Let's make it a good cigar. Those tubes are handy as are the cigar boxes. The Spanish cedar wrappers make great shingles. (Said the biomedical electronics engineer to the MD).  ��

Regards,

Lou N

No do re mi, baby,  you and me girl?

I'm wondering now if Peter's pickled $20 is emergency boxcar money or savings for getting pickled

Soup &  Goop on Lionel elevation risers.IMG_20160925_192800

And for those with a sweat tooth, popsicle sticks in a frosting lid and fireplace matchstick s get most of this settled. Fishing sinker sandbag, and not on this,  but my other has an ink pen water spout.IMG_20160926_001439

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Last edited by Adriatic
BFI66 posted:

Great topic to renew!   I posted this awhile back.   The rock wall was created by using broken ceiling tiles and the waterfall was created by using wax paper and clear silicone.

-Pete

 

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Pete:

Cost of materials aside, that's an excellent waterfall.  I'd be interested in hearing more about your technique, if not an entire "how-to-do-it" thread.

My partner and I were discussing water on our layout a few days ago and we agreed that a waterfall might require more time than we have right now.  In addition, there are far too many layouts out there with waterfalls that look like snot, and I didn't want ours to be one of them.

Yours is great.  Thanks for sharing.  I'd love to hear more.

Steven J. Serenska

sawdust43 posted:

i agree...great topic brought back to life!...here's my humble contribution...more coarse scale than fine scale...

transformer made from two fluorescent starters, two pieces of thin plywood, four "eyes" made from twisted wire and sitting on a craft wood pallet...all assembled with epoxy then primed and painted...

howard...

flat with transformer load 2

Great idea, Like the prewar 4 wheel car. Trying to figure what it was before the upper portion was removed. Not Lionel?
The starters are hard to get now. I have some in a junk box and some old prewar 4 wheel flats.

I learned about this at an NMRA division meet. The 'U' Shaped, fluorescent lamps used in 2'x2' fixtures are packed with cardboard separators to prevent the bulbs from getting damaged.  They were used as stone arches and tunnel portals on the Eagle Scout project at InfoAge Science Center.  Tunnel portal pictures will be available soon.  The tunnel portal separators were taller than these.

 

Eagle project

20160723_151628Stone Arches

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Serenska posted:
BFI66 posted:

Great topic to renew!   I posted this awhile back.   The rock wall was created by using broken ceiling tiles and the waterfall was created by using wax paper and clear silicone.

-Pete

 

IMG_0842

Pete:

Cost of materials aside, that's an excellent waterfall.  I'd be interested in hearing more about your technique, if not an entire "how-to-do-it" thread.

My partner and I were discussing water on our layout a few days ago and we agreed that a waterfall might require more time than we have right now.  In addition, there are far too many layouts out there with waterfalls that look like snot, and I didn't want ours to be one of them.

Yours is great.  Thanks for sharing.  I'd love to hear more.

Steven J. Serenska

Hi Steve.....thanks for the compliment.......don't want to hijack the thread, so shoot me an email when convenient and I will explain how I did it.

-Pete

clayj posted:

I would like to see how to make this waterfall as a new thread.

Clay, just a FYI....if you do a search of OGR for waterfall, there are a few threads with pics detailing some processes using silicone or hot glue to achieve the waterfall effect.  If you need more detailed info or have additional questions, please feel free to email me.

-Pete 

RonH posted:
Putnam Division posted:

Great start, everyone.....I'm sure there are a lot more ideas out there......

OK..........Who can identify the origin of the air conditioning unit on the roof of the 3rd building from the left?

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Peter

Are they inverted cookie/chocolate packaging?

Gonna say they are holder for flower plantings

-Pete

BFI66 posted:
RonH posted:
Putnam Division posted:

Great start, everyone.....I'm sure there are a lot more ideas out there......

OK..........Who can identify the origin of the air conditioning unit on the roof of the 3rd building from the left?

IMG_2065

Peter

Are they inverted cookie/chocolate packaging?

Gonna say they are holder for flower plantings

-Pete

That was my guess too, but somehow I forgot to post.  They look like the plastic containers you buy in February/March that are filled with tomato plant seedlings.

SJS

 

HVAC- it looks like a toy security gate or grave stones (Another use?)

Bicycle inner tube tar over asphalt. Or in my case, semi truck tube used for floating down rivers years ago .The thickness varies and corresponds to use mostly.(I bought the thick ones considering branch pokes )

  When you don't buy your socks in a five gallon bag (hordious bromhidrosis ) they often come on a funny little hanger for the closet. Trim the hanger portion off paint as seen fit, and you have a section of fence. (2 upside down to see the trim spot here)

IMG_20160925_234301

The same hanger curved in boiling water is a radar antenna...

(Micro wave transmitter, radio,etc)

They also have been used as loading ramps, platform grates, scaffold flats, and bridge catwalk. (Right of Gantry, top of spot light pole, it's also sitting free, on a wire terminal s finger nut like a cover)

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That pole and huge spot lights are one of those cross bucks we aquire as "ka-nick ka-knak gifts”( ) we all aquire as gifts repeatedly, then break the extras while rummaging in storage. (I think this was #4 downstairs, lol)

The whole thing sits over a passtrough base of wood and hardboard from old stereo equipment I was tossing. Its 'tunnel' will have hardwood doors that slide on c-channel and bi-fold door wheels. All stuff accumulated for household repairs ahead of time.

Wow, There's lots in this shot.

The rocket low on the right of the gantry a thick (vintage) gift paper tube, the nosecone a plastic end cap for a hollow broomstick, sanded/filed.

To the left is a Stanley tool package raised roof on a styrene body crane and platform, and a boom of a tone arm from a Sansui linear tracking turntable (Ooops....record player is a better word here, eh? )

The yard spot on the lionel arch is a kitchen spice rack/shelf dowel and a cake decorating top hat with a bulb socket in it. Crude but try looking close when lit lol.

The extension beam supporting the track, is old adjustable shelf support C-bracket 2/cut short, with a  nut and bolt to form a long clamp grabbing the arches top at the original track-nut plate's slots. There is a small catwalk on it of scrap styrene here, hard to see the beam.

Top right, an upside down lazer pointer cap, inverted like a vase, is a vintage desk flags light sconce.

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