“Here’s a tip Al,
I re-use Chinese take-away food containers for storage of all those small parts and things.
Just wash them out and fill them with all those useful bits and pieces you have laying around.
They come with lids so everything is safe and sound and they stack conveniently on top of each other and can be labelled to suit the contents.
Rob”
“At my hobby desk I have attached a cloth to the edge of the desk at the front. Then when I sit down to work I tuck the other edge of the cloth in the top of my pants, this creates a little valley so that when (not “if” you’ll note
Bryan”
“These are good tips. Here’s one I would like to get: Is there a way to make gutters (N gauge)? Painted cocktail straws work for downspouts, though.
Michael”
“one tip that i use all the the time is take a paper bag crunch it put glue & throw dirt 2 cover
Andy ”
“Hi Al and everyone.After looking for a long time.I found the perfect wind turbine,I added a Ho engine to show the scale size.Wont use the large stand that comes with it.I will make my own.I payed $20 including the shipping.If interested in where i got it or if any member.Let me know.I added a pic
Kim”
“I am a 65 years old grandmother and I am just finishing the framing on my very first layout. One item I intend to use is a food dryer to dry real moss that is growing on the shady north side of the farm. When you dry veggies, they keep their color. They become very light weight. After I dry my pine needles and pine cones, I will put them in the blender to turn them to dust for natural color tones. teas and coffee grounds do well. I intend to use old undershirts to plaster my hillsides instead of buying material to do the job. I look around and the stuff is already here. It just needs to be repurposed. I have bark peeling of the dead branches on an apple tree. I haven’t figured that yet.
When the kids were small we made a volcano out of chicken wire and paper machete and paint. We had it erupt by putting baking soda and tinted red vinegar together and we had lava. Nice school project.
We did an earthquake by plastering boxes together, painted a landscape over that. It all cracked nicely by putting a vibrator under it and plugged it in.
We set up a pioneer type farm We made a log house out of flour, salt and water. I shaped logs out of the dough, pinched the ends to make ’em fit like Lincoln logs and baked them till they were very dry and hard. We stained them and did the house and barn. .I had tried to use sticks, but it wasn’t working for me. We had a garden and a root cellar under the hill just across from the cabin path.
I like to bake and was lucky to find a train baking mold (9 pieces including engine, coal car, box cars and tankers and a flat bed and a couple of hoppers and a caboose). I have made three layouts in cake. It was like a fairyland thing.
I made an O gauge tunnel for my son with an unusual packing styrofoam. I made the bricks by using a sharp bamboo skewer to “draw” the bricks into the foam. It made the indentations look like real bricks. I was impressed by how it turned out.
I am ready to start the grown-up train now.
Barb”
Full marks to Barb for inventiveness – not sure the same approach would go down too well at my Grandson’s school though 🙂
Take a look at my boy’s latest ‘print out’ scenery – a factory.
I think he’s really found his stride (he’s got a good offer with the houses too, he’s bundled them all together).
Any how, if you’ve buying over the weekend, hope the ebay cheat sheet saves you time and money. Thanks for all the mails on it.
Best
Al
