I was starting to build my intermodal tofc/cofc facility when I was faced with a dilemna. I needed 30+ trailers to fill the scene up, and so I looked through my model boxes....not one trailer. I went to the dollar store and came back with my usual craft paints, glue, and hobby blades and a small game for my kids. It was a cheap knockoff of the Jenga game. I opened the box and all these nice 1/2" square rectangular blocks fell to the floor...I picked one up. So armed with my hobby knife, cardboard and cereal box, a section of cable tv cable, some glue, a bit of wire, and paint and the finished product is below. Starting with a block of wood: Adding 1/8th cardboard to bottom...and 1/16th cardstock to sides Adding some paint, strips of cereal box cardstock, the inner sleeve from cable tv cable for tires...along with wire for axles and this is what I came up with: N scale 40' trailers(set of two)...$8.99 US Cost to build one of these(my version)..........$0.15 Canadian Look on people's faces when I tell them it was made by Kelloggs, Rogers Cable and Hasbro...Priceless For everything else in N scale there's cardboard!!!!
Well done. I have considered modeling a TOFC/COFC facility and faced the same problem. I figured it would be easy enough to model stacked containers as only the outside ones would have to be real containers, the rest could be wood, or you could glue containers together in a empty stack. Trailers are a different problem, and you have solved it well, even if you still need to buy a few for the foreground scenes. I do like your creativity!
Looks great. I purposely didn't model a TOFC/COFC facility just so I wouldn't have to buy all the containers and trailers. Looks like you found a solution.
Modeling the 1990's Santa Fe, obviously I need zillions of trailers. I thank my lucky stars as I got a great buy-it-now deal a couple years ago on ebay: 12 undec Deluxe 53ft roadrailers for 50 bucks and 12 Micro Trains BNSF 48' trailers for 60! I spent 15 bucks on paint and four packs of JB Hunt decals and converted them to Hunt. With a few Yellow decals, Santa Fe logos, a few with regular markings, I had quite a traielr fleet. Athearn FINALLY releasing two packs of the 28ft Pups also helped! I am slowly accumulating enough to make Willow Springs look packed. I also found that correct size pics on a back drop and even a mirror or two placed in the right spot can greatly increase the look of the yard.
Any chance of making a nice container? Also... any chance of making a write up and posting it some where... you know a little more detailed because it looks like you have some added details that im intererested in!
What I will do is post a pic for each step and give step by step instructions on how you can make your own for only pennies. I'll post more of these trailers soon along with some containers made roughly the same way.
Creativity + Now that works, Ed! :thumbs_up: :lightbulb: Excellent idea. They look great for the application and at CDN$0.15 you certainly can't complain.
so with the dollar at half the price of canadian roughly, i can build these for about 8 - 10 cents a peiece! Sign me up!
Pretty much. Get some 1/8th" cardboard, some 1/16th" cardstock, some 1/32" cereal board(cereal box), the inside core of a length of TV cable, telephone wire spliced and stranded....and some glue and paint That's it....I will post step by step pics to show the process later this afternoon.
Fantastic use of generic materials.:thumbs_up: One suggestion, for those who don't have TV cable handy. Styrene axles, wheels and tires. .040 rod stock for the axles. Wheels: 3/32's tube stock and Tires: 5/32's tube stock. For wheels and tires, I use nothing else... Again, Great work!!! Jerry G.
Unlimited Ownership markings One of the best things I like about this is that there is practically no limit to the markings you can use. You can make trailers for your own local industries or for big, national businesses. All are made for your own private use, of course. Still, a lot of flexibility.
That suit your fancy??? Ever think that the IDE computer cable for harddrives and CD Roms would make good siding for a scratchbuilt container? Also makes pretty nice siding for industrial buildings. Wonder what else I can find around the house
Threw Away??? THREW AWAY??? And you call yourself a Model Railroader??? ARRRGH. OK, take another slug of brew, calm the heart... pontificate: A Model Railroader NEVER throws _anything_ out. (PERIOD) OK, Hey it's your world, do what you want... You take the high road, I'll take the _low_ road, and I'll have more stuff when I die. Bob in IDaho, who has been threatened by my daughter that I had better not die soon, cause she doesn't want to have to clean up my stuff.
Yeah, i gottold to clean out the computer room... you know how that goes. and im like i have plenty of these, and besides with the new SATA, theres no need for all of this stuff. boy was i wrong.
