I've been a huge supporter of the recycled layout materials school of thought. A while back I built and entire benchwork from lumber found in alleys. This guy does things with his layout that are near and dear to my heart: 1. Recycled cardboard benchwork, but you could use wood from a shipping pallet, or left over plywood and door panels. 2. Older track that may not be as scale, but comes cheap and can be weathered to look beautiful anyway. 3. Second hand pre-built structures that are then "tarted up" to look better. Anyway, here is his latest layout build:
My brenchwork is as cheap as one can get....5 years ago I went to Lowes and I bought three 1×4 furring strips, trimmed them down to size, used a pair of sides from a broken Ikea dresser for a surface. The benchwork is a pair of 14″x37″ boxes, the layout is now about 14x 86, the benchwork cost me a whopping $13.00 including the hardware.
Yes. It can be done, easily, simply by taking care of expending your money. And being quite thoughtful about resources. I am proof of these facts. OTOH- Many these days are careless. They do not research the market. They spend more than is really necessary- But that is their choice. However it is accomplished, the goal is having fun.....
