Inspired from another thread, brianel k-lineguy wrote:
"I had a Warner Brothers Taz figure I took off the end of a pencil, mounted it to a motor, so when you pressed a button, it would spin like crazy. It didn't do anything else, yet kids and parents alike loved it."
Please post- what was the simplest thing you ever did that really was enjoyed by the viewers!
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I'd have to say the simplest thing I added to my layout was real rocks. I took rocks from a landscape that we were removing and added some in strategic locations on the layout. I placed some in with my mountains as I built them. I have had positive feedback from all who have noticed the rocks. The best part was that I spent no money!
In terms of bang for the buck, I would say the various printed paper/foamboard buildings I have built: I got really good buildings, for next to nothing. I have six on my layout and all are excellent - they look realistic and detailed and not "cheap." All cost basically nothing except some time (fun time at that) finding images of bricks and windows on-line and assembling the building sides on my computer. I printed them out on a hi-res color printer at work, using scrap cardboard/foamboard, etc.
This backdrop motel in this photo is 30 inches long and about 1 inch deep. It has a restaurant next door that makes the whole scene about four feet long.
The barn and farmhouse in this photo are scale size and fully 3-D, and turned out to be a surprisingly nice addition to the layout. Again, cost was nil: for the vehcile and figures, a bit, but the buildings really cost me only whatever the cost of the little bit of glue I used.
You can get a ton of mileage by googling images, doing a little editing and adding to a building.
great stuff!
From my perspective, I get great bang-for-the-buck from two sources I use heavily for every scene I craft, both for my layout as well as for Layout Refinements:
FrankM.
Sometimes you get lucky and nature fills a void for you. The neighbor of one of our members was trimming a bush and the cuttings looked like little trees. A quick spray with adhesive and some ground foam and "instant trees." Cost: Near zero as they used little foam from the bag.
Another "bang for your buck" is using "silver" construction sand for ballast. You get 100 pounds for about ten bucks. It's easily paintable by shaking it around in a coffee can while spraying your choice of primer on it. It's a little larger than true O scale ballast, but smaller than chicken starter grit or aquarium gravel.
By the way, the road is asphalt roofing paper. A huge roll is about $35 but that will give you enough for all of the roads for your layout, plus all of the roads on the layouts of several friends, your club, the local train museum, the layout of the H.O. guy next door you didn't know about (you get the picture.) We still have about 2/3 of the roll we got after we did a pass on some of the roads that needed it, plus some roof tops and a parking lot. We're planning to change some roads and aren't planning to get another roll -- we won't need it. It cuts easily with ordinary scissors.
Scenic Express Adirondack Green Blend Fort Pitt HiRailer Modules.
This is without Adirondack Blend application.
Lee,
The motel is awesome...what a great idea.
George (G3)
Adding a backdrop makes the most dramatic change, even if its just sky blue. Painting some basic hills using latex paint tinted with acrylic tube paints really adds a lot. Anything is better than seeing a wall.
Peter
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