I see a lot of posts about all kinds of products for model railroads. I am kind of a pack rat and I collect weird things that may come in handy later on. Here is some screen that I think comes from faucets. Found it in a junk store. I immediately thought, ok I have some N scale Chain Link fence here. I've been messing around with a larger scale and needed a break wheel. Ok, It's a gear from an old watch, but I think I can paint it enough to hide the teeth. Who else keeps jars of odd bits and pieces that may not get used for years.
I keep odd bits in a gondola. It's a very nice looking scrap load, and it does a nice job weighing down a car which seems to have been built with no factory weight at all. But it really, really bites when that gon derails.
For me, it might be borderline OCD. I tend to see things for what they are and/or might be. I was in a craft store looking for something completely different when I saw some fine needle point backing that looked suspiciously like see thru air intake grills for HO scale Dash-8 dynamic brakes.
My trouble with collecting odds and ends is that I can't locate them in my stash when needed. As a result, I retain much less today. I also gain badly needed space.
My former main hobby was wargaming and my favorite part was building industrial terrain. With no prototypes to adhere to I favored broken toys random junk bits, assorted model parts and such. All chopped up and assembled interestingly.
Just gonna bump this. My last Make Do narrow gauge car. It began its life as a Tyco GI Joe car. Now it is a water car. Still needs paint. In other news, I was at the local Goodwill. I was on the prowl for materials. I found a package of 18 gauge Floral Wire. It only cost me .53 cents. Guess, all my car grabs will be made with this from now on.
The cool thing about your work Geeky is that it harkens back to what model railroading once was, adapting materials, experimenting, economizing, and accomplishing great things along the way. Your tank car is really neat.
For years I was doing the prototype and exact scale thing. I have done more modeling with these Crap builds than the past 10 years. I think part of it is that on some level I am not concerned with it, it's more just about being in the moment. I may not even build a layout. I just need to get this one thing done, and then I get lost in doing it. In the past I'd build something and halfway in I'd realize I was missing some material, or maybe I'd done something wrong. This is much free, and of course cheaper. It reminds me of the kind of pleasure Malcolm Furlow seemed to get from his model builds.
