As after every Christmas, I like to 'stock up' on Modelling stuff for the layout. This year, at the local Dollar store (Dollarama here in Canada) I found cheap rocks, appropriate coloured ballast, Thick earth tone card stock, Acrylic paints (the good ones), all for under 2$$ a pop. Let's just say the guy is pretty pleased with his bargains! Total cost: 20.00 The thrill of finding this stuff: Priceless How about you guys? find any good bargains? Cheers! Adam
You can also score large sheets of white foamboard ( which very closely resembles Gatorboard ) at a buck a sheet.
So I stopped by the aforementioned store here in Guelph, On. and they sure didn't have the great stuff you mentioned. They did have paint (finger paints), and they did have rocks (really big shiny ones). No ballast or earthtone cardstock sadly. Perhaps I will check in Kitchener when I go home. Something tells me there isn't a set inventory from store to store. Cheers,
Our equivalent here in California is the 99 Cents Only store. I obviously don't find any MRR-items, but I've found accessories, tools and materials, all for a buck each: - Storage containers - Empty spray bottles - Clamps - CA glue - Tea sifter - Window Washing Fluid (to clean/thin airbrush paints) - Rubbing Alcohol
Found a bunch of "like new" Kadee refers at a LHS for $4/ea. Since I am a NEWB, I bought them at first for their trucks to be used on a Bachmann car conversion. Then I looked closer at the bottom and they said "Kadee" so it would be a shame to separate the trucks from the bodies.
The ballast I found is used normally in scrapbooking (also called Decorative sand). The eathtone cardstock too. The paints are Deco Art Crafter's acrylic paints. Mr. Bevale I'll take pictures in the am and post them here. Sorry took so long to reply finished work late :tb-hissyfit: Cheers! Adam
I've seen decorative sand at Michael's; I was ready to buy some as ground cover but I discovered it contains silica, which gives it an unrealistic sparkle. Did you encounter this in the sand you got?
I experimented with this. I liked the fine texture, but have to agree the sparkle was too distracting for me. I also found it very difficult to 'wet' (before gluing) without it running all over the place.
Picked up a damaged 3' fiber optic christmas tree at Walgreens for 90% off. It contains more than enough fiber optic cable to light every structure on my new layout.
Thought I would have some time during holiday season off from school, but family stuff and fixup and cleanup seemed to take most of the time. Back in early December, my wife said she was throwing away sponge refills for a mop- they just weren’t what she needed. I kept them just for sponges. More cleanup on New Year’s Day and I noticed the connectors irritated my hands so I pulled the connectors loose for a sponge. My model train oriented eyes noticed that the connector pad looked a little like a barrel vault roof. I would have to cut off or remove the screw connectors...or no, maybe I wouldn’t have to do that. I could use the fastening knob as some kind of ventilator and disguise the screws inside a pipe. Here is the roof temporarily in place over the 3-track passenger staging yard which will be hidden in a long cargo shed facade, with ships and port scene visible over the top of the roof. And I have another mop sponge, so I can double the size of the roof. I may try something other than the thumb tack vents, because I am not entirely satisfied with them. And they made my "free" project cost 99 cents, doggoneit. But I have a big supply of thumb tacks now.
