Cheap Modelling Materials Sources

[KMCE]

For building finishes, I use Scalescenes  https://scalescenes.com/ .  Both OO and N gauge covered.

They have a few freebies, so you can have a go without any cost!

I have bought and built a few of the buildings and they are both good value and give very realistic results with minimal input - instructions are good, however it is important to get the card thickness right.  For the heavy card, I get mounting board from the local craft shop (c. €10) for an A1 sheet, however it does go a long way.

I get good use from the "Scratchbuilders yard", as they provide, brick, stone, timber finishes, roof tiles, etc which are good value and you can print off as many times as you like. 

Brief note - use an inkjet printer rather that laser, as the quality of print is generally better.

 

Regards,

Ken

[Murph]

Dried Spaghetti for downpipes and drainpipes, paint ang glue on

Chinchilla dust bath from pet shops, I used it for the ballast on my layout, cheap and effective

[jhb171achill]

On 6/9/2023 at 9:54 AM, Murph said:

Dried Spaghetti for downpipes and drainpipes, paint ang glue on

Chinchilla dust bath from pet shops, I used it for the ballast on my layout, cheap and effective

I’ve heard of coarse gritty soil, sieved and washed, being used for ground cover and ballast. Cost: €0.

[Patrick Davey]

Here’s my contribution to this very useful thread!  Due to impatience, my current project progressed beyond the stage where it was still straightforward to add lighting to the buildings, so I started thinking of alternatives.  I was looking for miniature lights which could be placed individually in rooms and I found a set of 10 tiny key rings on Amazon, for only £7.00:

So I took off the metal key ring parts and using double sided tape, I fixed the torch parts to the underside of the roofs of my buildings:

Yes, it’s not as straightforward (or as professional) as flicking a switch to turn all the lights on and off, but it’s considerably cheaper and does not involve complex wiring!  In fact, it doesn’t involve any wiring

[skinner75]

Brilliant idea! Nice bit of 'thinking outside the box' that.

You could always give them a light wash with a yellow, to tone down the ice white light to a more old-time yellowish glow

Edited January 31, 2024 by skinner75

[Patrick Davey]

3 minutes ago, skinner75 said:

Brilliant idea! Nice bit of 'thinking outside the box' that.

You could always give them a light wash with a yellow, to tone down the ice white light to a more old-time yellowish glow

I was thinking it gives me an excuse to buy a box of Quality Street then I will have lots of shades to choose from!!!

[skinner75]

3 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

I was thinking it gives me an excuse to buy a box of Quality Street then I will have lots of shades to choose from!!!

Or back in the day, a bottle (glass) of Lucozade, with the orange plastic wrapper, that you could take off & look through for an orange-tinted view of the world!

[Broithe]

18 minutes ago, skinner75 said:

Or back in the day, a bottle (glass) of Lucozade, with the orange plastic wrapper, that you could take off & look through for an orange-tinted view of the world!

I found this sticking out of a spoil heap after some work at the Quakers' Bridge level crossing on the Nenagh branch a couple of years ago.

[Ironroad]

Remember when we had soft metal toothpaste tubes?  We used to open and flatten the tubes and cut them into thin strips into which we made small indentations to represent bolt heads and used them to represent metal strapping on the bodies of wagons the sides of which were constructed from strips of card. I was reminded of this recently when it occurred to me  that the soft metal seals on wine bottles could be similarly used.

We also used sellotape cut into very narrow strips to represent window muntin bars

[Tullygrainey]

4 minutes ago, Ironroad said:

Remember when we had soft metal toothpaste tubes?  We used to open and flatten the tubes and cut them into thin strips into which we made small indentations to represent bolt heads and used them to represent metal strapping on the bodies of wagons the sides of which were constructed from strips of card. I was reminded of this recently when it occurred to me  that the soft metal seals on wine bottles could be similarly used.

We also used sellotape cut into very narrow strips to represent window muntin bars

Imagination and ingenuity - the best tools any modeller can have! 

[derek]

On 31/1/2024 at 12:40 PM, Patrick Davey said:

I was thinking it gives me an excuse to buy a box of Quality Street then I will have lots of shades to choose from!!!

Sorry Patrick, all Quality Street are wrapped in paper now

[Patrick Davey]

3 minutes ago, derek said:

Sorry Patrick, all Quality Street are wrapped in paper now

Yeah saw that but am hoping the thicker paper will help tone down the brightness (a cheap resistor!) as well as give the orange 'sodium' glare....... will be checking this later

[Patrick Davey]

So it turns out that the new style of paper on the Quality Street sweets works a treat for what I was trying to achieve!  As I had hoped, it helps to dull down the brightness of these lights, and also adds the distinctive sodium glare:

[Broithe]

8 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

So it turns out that the new style of paper on the Quality Street sweets works a treat for what I was trying to achieve!  As I had hoped, it helps to dull down the brightness of these lights, and also adds the distinctive sodium glare:

Sweet!

[Patrick Davey]

8 minutes ago, Broithe said:

Sweet!

I was worried in case I was getting a bit toffee-nosed…..

Edited February 7, 2024 by Patrick Davey

[Tullygrainey]

Quality work!

[Patrick Davey]

1 hour ago, Tullygrainey said:

Quality work!

Glad to get it wrapped up though 

[Galteemore]

Certainly coming up Roses. 

Edited February 8, 2024 by Galteemore

[Broithe]

59 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Glad to get it wrapped up though 

Time for a Celebration?

[Galteemore]

Yes, well done to all the modelling Heroes on this thread. 

[Patrick Davey]

Look out for more posts After Eight tonight.

[Galteemore]

You are really spoiling us, Ambassador 

[Patrick Davey]

5 hours ago, Galteemore said:

You are really spoiling us, Ambassador 

Had to Google that one........ 

[LNERW1]

I really shouldn’t have driven ye all away from that “to lighten the mood” topic.

[The Derry Road]

Hi All, anyone using liquid poly for joining plasticard, reserve a small amount in a small jar with lid, add plastic scraps and cut up waste pieces and add to liquid poly leave overnight then stir when required, makes liquid plastic to fill any gaps in plastic kits/joints.

TDR

Edited March 2, 2024 by The Derry Road

[skinner75]

My brother picked up a couple of packs of modelling clay in Mr. Price for the kids to make stuff with - it could be pressed into service on a model railway I reckon

[LNERW1]

Just watched the YouTuber Lawrie Rose (Lawrie's Mechanical Marvels) turn builders' sand almost identical to expensive modelling sand by cooking it. I'm not joking.

This video at about the 10:25 timestamp.

Very interesting idea, as he states builders' sand is very cheap (May be more expensive in Ireland, it's the kind of thing we'd do. Don't know though, never had to buy builders' sand).

[Ironroad]

8 hours ago, LNERW1 said:

Just watched the YouTuber Lawrie Rose (Lawrie's Mechanical Marvels) turn builders' sand almost identical to expensive modelling sand by cooking it. I'm not joking.

This video at about the 10:25 timestamp.

Very interesting idea, as he states builders' sand is very cheap (May be more expensive in Ireland, it's the kind of thing we'd do. Don't know though, never had to buy builders' sand).

Builders sand usually has a high moisture content, so he's drying rather than cooking it.  If going down this route I would suggest using washed sand as is used in kids' sand boxes.  A 15 kg bag is probably the smallest quantity you can buy but it is a very cheap. eg  https://www.landscapedepot.ie/product/glenview-playsand-15kg/

 

[Broithe]

3 hours ago, Ironroad said:

... washed sand as is used in kids' sand boxes.  

Kids have sandboxes now?

Actually, that's a great idea - it will give them better traction on frosty mornings, as they walk to school.

Just make sure to keep topping them up weekly from October to March.

[LNERW1]

10 hours ago, Ironroad said:

Builders sand usually has a high moisture content, so he's drying rather than cooking it.

You’re right, it took me a second to realise that… at first I thought it was stage 1 of making that awful gritty ice cream that SuperValu used to sell…

 

6 hours ago, Broithe said:

Kids have sandboxes now?

Actually, that's a great idea - it will give them better traction on frosty mornings, as they walk to school.

Just make sure to keep topping them up weekly from October to March.

Or maybe he is cooking it, but I didn’t think he had kids… well, now I’m confused.

[LNERW1]

Alphagraphix? A kit of a 141 for £6... in 7mm. ALPHAGRAPHIX_IRISH_RAILWAYS

[Galteemore]

8 minutes ago, LNERW1 said:

Alphagraphix? A kit of a 141 for £6... in 7mm. ALPHAGRAPHIX_IRISH_RAILWAYS

Card kit which can be motorised. Someone called DevonBelle on RMWeb did it with a Lima O class 33 chassis 

[Irishrailwayman]

50 minutes ago, LNERW1 said:

Alphagraphix? A kit of a 141 for £6... in 7mm. ALPHAGRAPHIX_IRISH_RAILWAYS

I assembled one as a static display in 2007 with the then novel DCC soundchip pioneered by Mr Soundguy and showed it at the SDMRC exhibition before the first batch of Murphy Models 141/181s were issued!

[LNERW1]

Pity its not available in 4mm... I'd KILL for a 3 quid 141.

On 11/5/2024 at 7:53 PM, Galteemore said:

Card kit which can be motorised. Someone called DevonBelle on RMWeb did it with a Lima O class 33 chassis 

Like the Cl33 chassis- could maybe do the same with G class and the Lima O gauge shunter? Or Tri-Ang Big Big or just 1960-1985 loco. The problem, obviously, is the massive hole in RTR O in more or less exactly that time period.

[Galteemore]

16 minutes ago, LNERW1 said:

Pity its not available in 4mm... I'd KILL for a 3 quid 141.

Like the Cl33 chassis- could maybe do the same with G class and the Lima O gauge shunter? Or Tri-Ang Big Big or just 1960-1985 loco. The problem, obviously, is the massive hole in RTR O in more or less exactly that time period.

It is available in 4mm. All you do is nicely ask Roger to rescale it.