N Scale Money Saving Modeling Tips

[robert3985]

Hmmmm....all you guys going down to a store and buying stuff to replicate stones, ballast, hopper loads... I've found, since I model prototype scenes (LDE's) that most of my dirt and rocks in a scene can be most realistically created by digging actual soil samples at the prototype location I'm modeling...which costs me NOTHING, except a bit of sweat, a little gas and time.

I do use commercial ballast products, but I cut them with screened and graded soil I dig for free out of the ground, cutting the commercial ballast by as much as 50%, and thereby halving the cost.

For most of my "grass", I don't buy much ground foam or static grass, but I apply a layer of tan (dead grass colored) felt from a bolt of it I bought on sale at a local fabric store years ago.  It's covered a LOT of scenery.  After the adhesive is set, I take my airbrush and spray appropriate areas of it several shades of green and/or brown, depending on photos I've taken of the actual place...let the colorfast artist's ink dry, then tease the felt up with various dental piks, knife blades, file cards and wire brushes, trim it, vacuum up the cut pieces, lightly bury it under sifted and graded real dirt and then tease up the strands through the dirt, either a lot or a few depending on my references.  I then spray the area lightly with wet water and then dribble on my matte medium/water mixture using a big medicine dropper, letting it flow outward into the dirt but staying mostly away from the above-dirt fibers by placing the medicine dropper's "nozzle"  at ground level, below most of the teased-up fibers.

This is a lot cheaper than static grass, although I use various static grasses also where I think it would look best, but rarely covering large portions of scenery with it since the teased-up felt looks much more realistic for the locale I'm modeling.

As for trees, I make a yearly trip in the Fall before it snows to a spot on the Wasatch Range known as "The Bench" near Mt. Ben Lomond, and cut sagebrush and rabbit brush for tree armatures.  Costs me nothing, and it's a good time for me, usually punctuated by seeing several different wild animals.

Truthfully, the point to this is NOT to save money...at all.  The point is that for my scenery, many of the best materials and techniques...meaning "most realistic", are obtained for free, or in bulk on sale.

One of the biggest ways I've saved a LOT of money over the years is by hand-laying all of my turnouts.  Since I bought PCB tie material, C55 & C40 rails, Styrene and wood tie material in bulk 25 or so years ago, I can make turnouts in about an hour or two for approximately $2.75 per #8 turnout. I don't use jigs or fixtures, but just print out paper templates and tape them to my drawing board as patterns.  Over the past 25 or so years, I've built in the neighborhood of a thousand turnouts for my layouts and modules.  You figure the savings...thousands of dollars.

The last thing I did about eight years ago which saved me a lot of money was to decide on a specific era and location for my layout, and stick to whatever would have either realistically or logically existed in my chosen era and location,  AND, sell off everything that didn't fit my parameters.  This means that I have sold off many brass models that didn't fit, and also about half of my rolling stock.  These sales made me more than enough money to buy my DCC system and many decoders along with all the wiring, and connectors.  Also, when something I really like becomes available, such as the upcoming release of the three-unit GTEL superturbines, as much as I like these engines, I'm not buying any because they didn't appear in my location until two years after my chosen cut-off date (Dec 31, 1956).

Truth is, I don't know if I've saved any money overall, as saving money in one of aspect model railroading allows me to spend money in another, such as my continuing purchases of Athearn Challengers and Big Boys, and constructing my layout sections/modules with prime dimensional lumber and other top-of-the-line materials.

There are definitely places to save money in the hobby, and other places where only top-of-the-line stuff will do!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Missaberoad]

For most of my "grass", I don't buy much ground foam or static grass, but I apply a layer of tan (dead grass colored) felt from a bolt of it I bought on sale at a local fabric store years ago.  It's covered a LOT of scenery.  After the adhesive is set, I take my airbrush and spray appropriate areas of it several shades of green and/or brown, depending on photos I've taken of the actual place...let the colorfast artist's ink dry, then tease the felt up with various dental piks, knife blades, file cards and wire brushes, trim it, vacuum up the cut pieces, lightly bury it under sifted and graded real dirt and then tease up the strands through the dirt, either a lot or a few depending on my references.  I then spray the area lightly with wet water and then dribble on my matte medium/water mixture using a big medicine dropper, letting it flow outward into the dirt but staying mostly away from the above-dirt fibers by placing the medicine dropper's "nozzle"  at ground level, below most of the teased-up fibers.

Bob, this sounds very interesting, do any of your photos show the finished product?

[basementcalling]

Save money. Read websites.

[Mastertech]

okay here's my take on this thread.. when i go out to PA as i'm driving around local to grandmas house near pottsville, i study all the rock cuts along the way, when the wife is settled with MOM,
I go back out with coffee cans and scoop up some of decomposed fine grains along the base of the rock cuts some of the colors are fantastic, when I'm back home in the shop give it some time to dry out, then sift into 4-5 or more grades i even sift though silk stocking for a fine dust for dirt roads and trails, as far as my rock cuts  i also collected coal while out in PA brought this into work and painted 7 coats of latex and made my own rock molds, when i stain the rock cuts i match to the sifted gravel that i collected, as fare as i can see the outlayed costs are for the latex that i picked up from woodland scenics stuff lasts forever!!
Rock cuts are stained with cheap craft paints thinned down with glass cleaner and then dusted with artist color chalk sticks ground into coke bottle bases.I'd say they match.

plaster rock cuts are from latex molds.

notice color of rock on lower right and diffrent sizes around it

[robert3985]

Bob, this sounds very interesting, do any of your photos show the finished product?

Ryan @Missaberoad, a lot of my photos show the felt grass.  I'll post some pics here to illustrate to the OP and other posters this money-saving technique, which is also superior for my high desert scenery than static grass or ground foam.

I learned this technique when I was deep into military figures back in my International Plastic Modelers Society days, before I got back into model railroading.

Photo (1) - My son's SP engines at Echo Curve and on the Park City branch.  As you can see, because there's a layer of dirt, stones and rocks on top of the felt, the fibers pulled up through it look a lot like wild grass.  I also sprinkle bits of ground foam in some places, to represent seed heads, etc., but mainly to add a little texture.  This section is still under construction, so I haven't added trees or many bushes down by Echo Creek which winds through this portion of Echo Canyon:


Photo (2) - Just for giggles, here's an aerial photo of the actual Echo Curve.  Compare grasses:


Photo (3) - Here's finished scenery at Wilhemina Pass, with the Weber River in the foreground. This photo illustrates both the felt grass technique (all the grass is felt grass) and using real dirt sifted and graded into several different grades which I dug from this prototype location.  I cooked the dirt in the oven at 450 degrees for an hour, then rolled a cow-magnet around in it to pick up any ferrous materials before using on the layout.  Essentially free.  Bushes are mainly old, used-up 3M pads teased out and covered with ground foam to represent the ubiquitous scrub oaks which are the predominant trees that grow on the shady sides of the foothills in Weber and Echo Canyons:


Photo (4) - Here's mo' felt grass in Echo Canyon on old construction when I was installing my Lincoln Highway underpass at Echo.  The grass looks good.  The bridge abutments need to get finished:


Photo (5) - Lastly, here's a photo of the Lincoln Highway underpass, with a bit of real grass to be seen as a comparison between real, and model:



I resisted temptation and didn't show any photos of lots of hand-laid turnouts at the Echo and Park City Yard!   

@Mastertech ...That's some very nice scenery ya got going there.  Real dirt works great IMO...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Missaberoad]

Thank you Bob! It looks very effective, I'm going to have to give this a try and see if I can get your results... 

[Mastertech]

Bob. been thinking on the real dirt thing. it all depends on the type of soil. there are so many diffrent types and grades out there, i have collected several coffee cans full. looking at the photos of the areal shot of the curve is exactly what i was collecting.. decomposed or broken down grains of the above rock out croppings. now in relationship to local garden top soil which is mostly decomposing plant and compost material, leaves, sticks, rocks, etc,etc.yeh worm sh*^!! It boils down to one must get out and hunt for the best soil color and texture for the use on our model railroads. tip for all. stay away from top soil in the garden and look for "fill" dirt that will be more orange to brown in color, when it's baked and dried and sifted then you'll know if you should glue it down. will it match? oh and test,sample, test, sample, use only the best!
one more thing look for "clay" based fill soils, when it's dried it sifts down very nice and fine.
JOHN
BTW love photo#3 !! that's what this hobby represents

[Hamaker]

When I lived in a agricultural area, I drove out to a friend's farm and brushed the dust off that had accumulated on the drawbar between the tractor and the implement he was towing in to a three pound coffee can full has served me well for years. 

[Mastertech]

I always wanted to get into a rock quarry to collect dust from the grinding equipment, gota be great stuff, grey but great. most likly close to N scale ballast or finer, but not looking forward to explaining to the rock guys what i'm using it for.