N Scale Money Saving Modeling Tips

[ncbqguy]

I've been lugging around a lifetime supply of coal loads from a coffee can full of sand blasting grit that I scooped up from a parking garage being built next to All Nations Hobby Shop many moons ago.  The material is similar to the black craft store stuff from a previous post. 
Today many blast media products use ground walnut shells....like a popular brand of ballast.
Also have a big chunk of real coal (probably picked up on a fan trip years ago) that can be used to lift rock molds off of.
Charlie Vlk

[Philip H]

Need corrugated pipe? Get a fool yogurt lid, clean, dry, and flatten. Find a bolt of the right diameter and a pleasing thread pattern. Cut the foil into appropriate strips, wrap around the bolt and carefully emboss into the threads. Glue with CA; twist off the bolt slowly and enjoy!

[peteski]

Need corrugated pipe? Get a fool yogurt lid, clean, dry, and flatten. Find a bolt of the right diameter and a pleasing thread pattern. Cut the foil into appropriate strips, wrap around the bolt and carefully emboss into the threads. Glue with CA; twist off the bolt slowly and enjoy!

Great tip.  If you don't like yogurt, heavy-duty kitchen aluminum foil works too (not quite as stiff, but still usable).

[Kisatchie]

Great tip.  If you don't like yogurt, heavy-duty kitchen aluminum foil works too (not quite as stiff, but still usable).

Ahh... foil. I was wondering what a "fool" yogurt lid was.


Hmm... all my yogurt
has plastic lids...

[prbharris]

Logs for logging cars

Hydrangea [which I now understand is grown in the US] makes great logs when dry. The twigs are straight, with a good bark that looks like N Scaled pine, with a semblance of growth rings too.

This is an end view of short logs on the BAR/MEC car to show this; on these cars logs were loaded across ways.

http://www.nscalekits.co.uk/MEC_car_loaded.jpg

Hydrangea 'logs' look when loaded along the cars, as most logging loads are arranged!

Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

[mrnhn]

Hard pine twigs have a nice bark that also looks good for n-scale

[tom mann]

I happened to like the original title with "Hacks"; it seemed edgy and click baity! 

Similar to the slate idea, I picked up a 50lb bag of patio stone paver base.  It's crushed granite and a lot of the smaller pieces work great for 1:29.  If you could crush it yourself for N scale, you would have a lifetime supply of ballast for $5.  Similarly, if you skip "pre packaged" modeler-grade scenery materials and instead use items like unsanded grout, twisted wire armature trees, and real life dirt you can save a lot of ton of money.

I also posted this idea that replicates the Silflor foliage:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=34577.0  @grove den added to it with even better ideas.

[Philip H]

Ahh... foil. I was wondering what a "fool" yogurt lid was.


Hmm... all my yogurt
has plastic lids...

A yogurt lid that's been on Bourbon Street too long.

[up1950s]

Here is that Krazy Glue Lazy Susan I mentioned earlier .











Labels removed .
Roughed sanded to give tooth .
Round toothpicks used as gap filers and outer edge fillets .
Krazy Glued in stages , took 2 tubes of the stuff .
Putty in many stages over a week , with holes poked to aid in drying .
Resanded smooth leaving the bottom roughed up .
Drilled tiny holes in the bottom for the E6000 glop snot to better adhere to the bearing .
Eyeballed levelness and left for a day to set up .
Hand painted like a 6 year old .
I did these about a year ago and they never needed to be fixed .

[wazzou]

Logs for logging cars

Hydrangea [which I now understand is grown in the US] makes great logs when dry. The twigs are straight, with a good bark that looks like N Scaled pine, with a semblance of growth rings too.

This is an end view of short logs on the BAR/MEC car to show this; on these cars logs were loaded across ways.

http://www.nscalekits.co.uk/MEC_car_loaded.jpg

Hydrangea 'logs' look when loaded along the cars, as most logging loads are arranged!

Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

They'd look great on Northern Pacific log flats.   

[CNscale]

Similar to the corrugated pipe tip/hack, I emboss tin foil on a bastard-cut mill file to make corrugated roofing panels. http://www.nscale.net/forums/showthread.php?25487-Corrugated-sheet-metal

As for "hack", geeks like me usually see it as a positive, e.g. "Hacking might be characterized as ‘an appropriate application of ingenuity’. Whether the result is a quick-and-dirty patchwork job or a carefully crafted work of art, you have to admire the cleverness that went into it." -- http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html

[SandyEggoJake]

Might be obvious, but my best "cheap tip" is "buy used" and you'll feel much better when cutting it up.  For what even reason, I find fully built up structures on fleabay often sell for dime on the dollar of the kit, and each cheaper at swaps.  If I'm doing a bash anyway...


 

[Frisco Larry]

I guess it shows my age, but the original title of this thread led me to expect something about taxi cabs

[tom mann]

@martin t has a few good ideas he documented on this forum.

[chicken45]

Not all of these tips are "money saving." Old title was better. ^_^

It also can imply that these tips are only for saving "N scale money".