Wallet Rescues

My new layout will start this Fall.  I already have lumber and hardware to start.  While I had my layout up and constantly improving, I painted the bare block wall with blue paint and hand painted clouds.  I also got some printed on paper buildings to fill in the back areas.  We know there is a source of many different weeds for use as trees.  Paper stone walls before the better product can be installed.  My trolley line uses a wall paper border of which I found several over time.

Dennis

Great Thread - Yes. In order to save for those big ticket items like new locomotives and passenger cars, I looked at saving some coin by doing the following:

-Allot of my lumber was acquired from new construction sites throwing out scrap.

You would be surprised at the OSB sheets, foam boards, and 2X4's that go right in the dumpster. I ask, and the reply is usually "Sure, take what you want form the pile over there"

-Scrap aluminum loads were crushed aluminum foil  - some from the kids Hershey kisses during the holidays (silver only)

-Use latex paint for cheap ground base paint and back drops, from you local hardware store

- Romex wire cable was used after someones else subdivision project (free)

- Allot of Gargrave's track was bought from train shows in 3 ft sections for about a 1.00 a piece

- I used Gargrave switches to get up and running then upgrade them to Ross when funds were available

- I used 4 post war Zw's that I found for 60.00 a piece for my start up power. Added some Lionel circuit breakers for each loop of track (Do not scrimp on the circuit protection here)!

- Post your wanted to buy items here. You will be amazed what other hobbyist have stashed under the layout.

- I was lucky when I started, the Lionel Visitor store was 1/2 hour away. They would have daily over runs or repairs for 50% off, or even stuff that was going to be thrown away, I was taking home trunk loads of trains when I could... those days are long gone now..., However maybe the Lionel warehouse in N.C. does the same thing?

- Trains in general - buy in the summer  - sell in winter...

- Allot of my trees are from Soccer outings, a quick walk through the fields I could come up with lots of tree stock.

- Acrylic art store paints are much cheaper than the bottle paints. see what you can and cannot brush paint.

Ebay is filled with structures from other people's layouts. Some are quite affordable. You can find very affordable pre-made scratchbuilt stuff if you spend enough time looking through the listings.

Go to you tube. there are many how to make scenery on the cheap there. 

Trackside scenery has a few how to do it like a pro.

Go to . http://www.tracksidescenery.com/index.php then to the You tube link.

Joey is a good guy and very helpful.

John

Great thread! Always learning on this forum! To your point of the amazing creativity with little cost, on the scenery and structure forum there is a beautiful lighthouse made from oatmeal container, a siphon, Pepsi bottle etc. Amazing and shows you can do a lot with a little!

My O-gauge hobby is based almost entirely on second-hand and fixer-upper items obtained for modest prices. Train shows and secondhand sales have been good sources of affordable and repairable old trains.

For example: I assembled this prewar Lionel 259 loco from misc parts. A friend gave me a deformed postwar Lionel tender body and I cut it down into a short tender, removing the damaged part. The prewar American Flyer passenger cars were missing roofs so I made my own with cardboard. Collectively these items work well together and create a one-of-kind train with tinplate flavor.

Look beyond the model train part of a multi-hobby store. Don't turn your nose up at dollar stores, either. Useful things include...

Dollar-store floral aisle: coarse black sand, aka modern coal, and black sand/tiny chunks mix, aka steam coal

Silver tulle, good for chain-link fencing

Tacky Glue, the real thing: thick, clear-drying glue with plasticizer added, good for setting ballast or gluing items that need a cushion

Cheap cosmetic brushes for dusting engines and structures

Discount store or craft store:

Check scrapbooking tools for useful paper-cutting items.

The stuff scrap bookers use to move labels without damaging the label or the paper is surprisingly effective. It will get price tags off without damaging paint, take off a misplaced decal so it can be relocated, etc.

Embossing powder may stand in for those old raised letters on banks and such.

Disposable paint palettes can make your landscaping easier.

There's a whole lot of good cheap stuff.

Here's some "rusty gold" prewar American Flyer O-gauge passenger cars I got for about $40 for the set.

Here they are after some work with a wire wheel, some Bondo putty and paint. Graphics were done on my laptop in Microsoft PowerPoint.

Here's some more "rusty gold." $10 for both I think it was.

Now with a new roof made from styrene and a paper wrap drawn up in the laptop, the the car above on the left now looks like this...

And no vintage tin was harmed in the process!

I have found some bargains at train shows. Other items I have bought at flea markets, one flea market find was a Troller brand transformer and some 027 track for $25.00. I am not opposed to buying new stuff but at times I can find some terrific bargains at train show or flea markets.

A few years ago I bought a Zinn's Diner tractor trailer (close to S scale, 2 small trailers and regular size tractor)set for around $15.00 at Leesport Market, when visiting Reading PA.

I have used a couple of auction sites for some newer engines.

Lee Fritz

Dryer Lint Trees

We got the idea from a magazine article many years back. In modeling a mountainous area covered with trees, you only need trees in the front rows. Behind that clumps of foliage will do since you only see the trunks of the forward trees in an area like that. For foliage, we brought in dryer lint, created bunches, spray painted with green paint and while still wet, rolled them in ground foam. That became our background trees. The mountain in this picture is covered with Dryer Lint Trees. The observatory is made from a plastic Coke bottle. The bottoms of plastic soda bottles used to be round and glued into a plastic bottom. I removed the bottom turned the bottle upside down and made an observatory for the top of the mountain.

This will help your wallet .

Guy

Great thread Frank!!  Very useful information!   My wallet rescue is roofing shingles for asphalt roads.  $2.00 bucks for one shingle at Lowes Home Center.

I did most roads in Patsburg using these shingles.  Saved me a bundle and they were easy to cut using an ordinary pair of scissors.  The roofing shingles even come in various colors so one can choose to do a parking lot in a color other than black.  Here are a few photos of the roofing shingle roads in Patsburg.  The entire roadway cost $8.00.  The mayor and town council were very happy to get this big of a bang for their buck!!