Box, paper, scissors - minimum space on the cheap

[Neil]

As if I didn't have enough projects on the go I thought that now would be a good time to scratch an itch I've had for a while. I've decided to feature the project both here on RMweb and on a fresh blog that I've started here. 'Why'  you might well ask? I can do no better than quote from the first instalment of the blog.

 

 

I don't think that there's any doubt that you have to be 'comfortably off' to participate in our hobby of  railway modelling. Quite how comfortable is open to debate; some seem to require ever increasing sophistication in their models while others wince at the price of every new release. To hell with the price versus watching every penny. What I think is undeniable is that if you're struggling to find the rent each month, a frequent user of food banks or have sleepless nights worried about providing for your children then any discretionary spending on hobbies is a non starter. I'm afraid that what I have to say here is probably of little use to this social grouping but I am interested to see if I can bring the cost of model making down as much as possible so that those with a little spare cash can reap the benefits that a creative hobby brings. I'd like to extend the envelope to lower the bottom end of the 'comfort' envelope. 

 

 What follows is how I am tackling this challenge; I've made a start but I am still very much at the start, I have some ideas how bits will go but some stuff  is yet to be worked out. To do all this I've set myself the task of building and stocking a layout as cheaply as possible. I may have failures along the way but I'll try to be  honest and comprehensive in my costings as I progress. Let's see how it goes.

 

Why the two track approach? Here is probably the easiest place to ask questions and comment, the blog gives space to place the content of others who might like a more controlled environment than possible here.

 

I'll try to update both here and the blog weekly or thereabouts but no promises. The blog already has a second instalment which I'll upload here once I have a little more time.

 

Edited May 25 by Neil
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[geoff_nicholls]

This sounds a great idea, which I wholeheartedly agree with, but there may be a problem, and that problem is highlighted by your illustration.  I instantly related to a small tank engine, a four-wheeled coach and a wagon, because that's the stuff I like, and like to model. But what if I was a fan of the bigger locos and long distance trains, like, I guess, the majority of model railway fans?

What if you replaced the photo above, with a class 47, a mark 1 coach and a BR brake van?

My suggestion would be that you start with advice on buying stock from  the second hand stalls at club exhibitions and how to get advice  on how to make it all run nicely. And minimum radius curves, and how to make them less obvious.

[Dava]

For anyone modelling on the cheap, or who (like me) enjoys using free &=low-cost materials , Jim Read is an inspiration. He’s moved on from rail modelling and no longer posts on here but see his blog for ideas.

Equally usable in 7mm, 4mm or larger scales.

 

https://ogaugemicro.blogspot.com/
 

Dava

[Neil]

The build starts on the second instalment of the blog available here. If you're not inclined to click on the link then read on here.

 

 I decided some time ago that this exercise in frugality would need to be a minimum space effort, after all fewer materials means less expense. With this in mind my starting point is the humble cardboard box, specifically a packing box left over from the move to our latest house seven years ago. It bears the scars of that previous use, peels where packing tape has been  pulled off and the scrawl of marker pen indicating long gone contents. It is, quite frankly, a bit of a mess but if things pan out the way I hope this may add to the concept.

 

 

I'm always pleased to get the baseboard building stage out of the way so let's whiz quickly through what I did to the box. The first job was to glue up the flaps at one of the ends to lend some rigidity. As I was using PVA I had to let it dry overnight before adding three inch deep doubling plates along the inside of what would be the bottom of the front and back sides. Again I had to wait for the glue to dry. with this done I cut what would be the layout surface, the trackbed, from another cardboard box (some IKEA packing) and glued that onto the doubling plates and to the sealed end. Once dry the remaining open end was stuck shut. Time now to access the underside to add some rigidity to what will be the trackbed.

 

 

I cut a hole with steel rule and a sharp blade in a Stanley knife. Further strips of three inch deep corrugated card, cut at the same time as the doubler plates, were used to triangulate and brace the base. With this done I could carefully mark out the front face of the box and cut out a viewing window.

 

 

This is probably as good a place as any to finish this instalment. So far I could argue that the materials have not cost anything, the storage box was bought some time ago but has already fulfilled that purpose so is effectively a recycled item. I had the PVA in stock but a recent check shows that a one litre bottle costs around £3.50 so not really a budget buster given that the sticking so far has only used a fraction of that one litre.

Edited May 31 by Neil

[Neil]

First of all thanks Dava for the link, I've had a brief look but will spend some more time later.

 

On 26/05/2024 at 19:18, geoff_nicholls said:

This sounds a great idea, which I wholeheartedly agree with, but there may be a problem, and that problem is highlighted by your illustration.  I instantly related to a small tank engine, a four-wheeled coach and a wagon, because that's the stuff I like, and like to model. But what if I was a fan of the bigger locos and long distance trains, like, I guess, the majority of model railway fans?

What if you replaced the photo above, with a class 47, a mark 1 coach and a BR brake van?

My suggestion would be that you start with advice on buying stock from  the second hand stalls at club exhibitions and how to get advice  on how to make it all run nicely. And minimum radius curves, and how to make them less obvious.

 

Thanks Geoff, you raise some interesting points, much of my stock for Northern Town (my large layout) has been bought second hand at bargain prices and I will be repeating this ploy here. The reason I've gone with a light railway theme is that it will allow me to really screw down the cost and it will fit with the minimum space concept; hopefully all will become clearer as matters progress. Also it's perhaps worth stating here that as well as a start to finish build there will be diversions along the way which should illustrate what alternatives are possible.

 

Edited May 28 by Neil

[Neil]

Time for another update. It's a little early as I'll be heading to Shrewsbury for the exhibition tomorrow.

 

 By rights, if I post in strict chronological order, I should be showing you more of the preparatory stages, readying the box for the insertion of all the interesting rail and scenic bits. However that would be a bit dull; how about I show you the vision I'm working towards? Normally I'd give you a plan, but with such a small area I think I can best demonstrate what I have in mind with a photo.

 

 

The theme is late Victorian light railway, the stock in the header should have given the game away. Please excuse the rather strange colour cast, it's a result of the white walls and ceiling to the box combined with the buff of the card trackbed. There should be an improvement once blue sky and green hills start to appear. With such a small space there's really only room for a siding off a line that will enter from the left and exit on the right. A hamlet will feature behind and to the left of the loading dock. Half of a halt will occupy the space front right. The exit and entrance of the track is going to be easy to disguise as it is to the  fore in the scene. 

 

It has been suggested that a light railway isn't everybody's cup of tea. My own interests range wide and far so I can see the truth in this but the light railway was chosen because it seemed to be the best bet at keeping costs to the bare minimum. If however the diesel era and urban setting are more your thing the basic plan is adaptable. I may come back with some budget suggestions for this.

 

 

 

Edited May 31 by Neil

[south_tyne]

I think this is a fantastic idea Neil. Given the current climate, the squeeze on disposable income for hobbies must be having a really significant effect.

 

I've recently returned to modelling after a long hiatus and I'm trying to do things in a manageable manner. So not only on a (very!) strict budget, but also in a tight space. The majority of my modelling is in narrow gauge, but I'd like to try a very small standard gauge micro layout too. So, this is going to be so inspirational for me. 

 

By the way, I love the light railway project. I think it offers so much potential for creativity and ingenuity, and can really lend itself to this more frugal approach. 

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing where you take this. 

 

Thanks for sharing,

David 🙂 

[Neil]

Thank you for the kind comments David.

 

Regarding the frugal approach, I already have an inkling that the pricey parts aren't going to be the ones normally expected.

[Neil]

Another week, another update ...

 

Preparation

 

 I'm afraid that this week there'll be a lot of dull preparation to wade through. Please spare a thought for me as I had to actually do this rather than just read about it. I'll try to make it as painless as possible but I hope you'll agree that it was worth it in the end.

 

 Even at this early stage I've come to the conclusion that building a layout in a box is a bit like constructing a ship in a bottle, in that the sequencing of the process is a bit more critical than with the usual layout build. It's all to do with the restricted access; OK nothing like the neck of a bottle but you can only get into the layout from the front. There's also the need to avoid some of the potentially messy processes damaging work already done. In practical terms this has meant preparing the interior of the box and installing lighting before I can start to fill the space with track and scenery. While the box is a good (and cheap) starting point it comes with some problems in that there may be gaps where the end flaps don't quite meet and there are ribs where the internal corrugations meet the skin which will grin through any backscene. I concocted a home made filler by tearing cheapo toilet paper into small squares, soaking it until it started to turn into mush, squeezing out as much of the water as I could and then mixing the remains with neat PVA. Pushed into the gaps and smoothed over with fingers it levelled out any crevices for the next stage.

 

 

To tackle the ribs I applied a couple of layers of thick lining paper. The first layer, stuck on with dilute PVA, was torn random shapes. Smaller sections are less likely to bubble up and they conform better to any irregularities in the shape of the box. I papered all three sides and the ceiling. The second layer was more controlled, torn strips roughly conforming to divisions I would be painting later; sky, distant hills, wooded areas and terrain closer up. 

 

 

At this point I installed the LED strip lighting so that I could match all the colours used to the lighting. I'll come back and talk about the lighting later on in the build, but for now it's sufficient to know that it was in place before any colour was applied to any part of the layout. For now I'll leave you with a teaser of the finished backscene, again I'll offer pointers later on.

 

 

[Neil]

This week it's back to the nitty gritty of construction.

 

Parsimonious points

 One of the reasons, perhaps the main one, I settled on a light railway theme is that the tight radius of set track points don't look too out of place. The reason for set track points? Well they tend to be the cheapest of the commercial offerings on the second hand market. At the recent Shrewsbury model railway show I saw a box of them on a traders stall at two quid a pop. This would be fairly typical of the price asked on e-bay though buying face to face is better as it does allow for weeding out any damaged duffers.

We should all know by now that live frog points work far better than their dead frog counterparts and unfortunately OO set track points are universally dead frog. However this isn't much of a problem as it's remarkably easy to turn them into live frog jobbies. Unfortunately I can't offer step by step photos, but I can outline what's involved. Work starts with pulling out the frog rails horizontally so the plastic rail fixings aren't damaged. The thin electrical jumper strips will become detached but this isn't a problem, cut their remains away. Next cut away the plastic part of the frog but leave the flangeway mouldings which will hold the replacement rails in place; a sharp craft knife will trim away the plastic easily. Two replacement frog rails (longer than those pulled out) need to be cut from some spare rail, filed so they come together to a point and slotted back into the rail fixings. They will need soldering together where they meet and any excess solder dressed back with a file.

 

 

Here's the finished item. On the reverse side electrical connections need to be made to replace those broken at the earlier stage.

 

 

A wire links the new all metal frog to switch rails, Job done. Of course this technique can be used to liven up any piece of dead frog pointwork; I've done a few diamond crossings this way.

 

 

Edited June 15 by Neil

[Neil]

This week, budget locomotives.

 

 If you were to ask the model railway fraternity what are the big ticket items, nine times out of ten the reply would be "locomotives". I think this ignores where we house our layouts but lets run with the assumption that locos are the costly part. 

So how can we reduce the outlay on locos to a minimum? To start with we need to give up on the idea of dcc as it adds extra expense both to the motive power and control set up. Then we need to look at the second hand market rather than buying new. Not all second hand locos are equal; looking at ebay over time it's clear that some are consistently cheaper than others. Right at the bottom of those with some promise comes the Hornby 0-4-0 saddle tank, the evergreen Smokey Joe and it's derivatives. It's  not an unpleasant model as it comes but it will respond well to a bit of tarting up. Here's what I did to mine.

Actually I did two; on the left my original loco which I've had for forty odd years and on the right an example I picked up about a year ago for six quid from ebay, a good clean of the wheels fixed its hesitant running.

 

 

You'll have noticed, I hope, that the left had loco has had something done to the cylinders. What I've done is to cut, file and grind away the top part of the cylinder that Hornby cast underneath the footplate and then with this obstruction out of the way clad the bit of the cylinder moulded into the chassis with a three quarter round section of tube clip fitted to it. Does that make sense? I hope so.

 

 

I could have left things there as sorting the cylinders is a big visual improvement for little constructional pain but I fancied doing something with the cab too. First job, reduce the size of the spectacles with inserts of plastic tube. Cut over-length they were dressed back to the cab face when the glue had set.

 

 

You will see that as well as reducing the size of the spectacles I made a template (the black plastic thing) so that I could mark out where the cab front was to be trimmed back to.

 

 

 Here both loco bodies have had the cab front filed back, I've also filed off the ribs on the cab roof and overlaid this with a 20thou plasticard wrapper on both locos. The rear roof has been trimmed back to size the near one has yet to be done.

 

If we jump forward to after the painting and lining has been done you can see how the locos have turned out. This one I kept for myself ...

 

 

.... while this one was sold.

 

[Neil]

This week, money, money, money ...

 

Apologies, I'm late with the weekly update. I've been gardening, the hard landscaping bit most of the weekend and things have slipped a bit. 

This week I'd like to talk a bit more about the cost of railway modelling. I had been meaning to go back through the blog and detail how much I've spent so far. This would be quite easy to do as so far I've only bought three things specifically for the layout and only used one of them so far. But there's a problem with such a simplistic approach as it comes nowhere near the actual cost; I'll try to explain.

 

To date I've bought a tube of PVA and two balls of wool for this project; everything else I've had in stock. Take the starting point, the large packing box; checking online they cost six quid from my local storage centre. I have a few of them left over from our last house move seven years ago, so if you've moved recently the basic baseboard material will cost nothing but if you haven't there's some outlay before you've started. Of course there are other sources of 'free' boxes, some supermarkets will have them just after the checkouts for packing your groceries but these days most don't. I lined the inside of the box with lining paper as I had part of a roll spare. Sugar paper, the stuff used for art in primary schools would probably do as well and I dare say you could use newspaper too as long as you covered it with plenty of coats of paint so the print didn't grin through. I hope you can see that defining the true cost is riddled with difficulties.

Apart from the materials used there's one other expense that is hard to quantify and that's the tools needed to build the thing we're making. Many, probably all, will have other uses whether that's building more models, other crafts or diy around the home. It's possible I suppose to quantify knife blades used, paintbrushes worn out and the like but that doesn't come close to any proper reckoning.

 

So, what to do? I think it's safest just to plug away at the build and to select thrifty ways of getting there. I won't be detailing the costs or keeping a running total but I will try to demonstrate economical ways of practising our hobby. 

 

Thank you for your patience; here's an image of progress so far.

 

Edited July 2 by Neil

[TT-Pete]

2 hours ago, Neil said:

 I hope you can see that defining the true cost is riddled with difficulties.

 

...and that's before you start getting in to depreciation or obsolete currency conversion! I inherited the contents of my Dad's modelling workshop 14 years ago and am still working my way through prodigious quantities of knife blades and ancient Humbrol tinlets I remember from childhood and so pre-date 1971 and were therefore bought using £sd, let alone the materials he bought in Germany in DM pre-euro days.... 🙂 I did once start a spreadsheet recording what I spent on models and layout construction, but gave up very quickly what with life being too short (especially if I left a written record of my purchases for the wife to find).

 

[markwilly]

Great initiative! Excited to see how you make railway modeling more accessible. Looking forward to following your progress on both platforms. Good luck!