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Written by Helynn S. for Family Garden TrainsTM





































































































































































 Editor's Note: Garden railroader Helynn S. first contacted me about using clear scrap HDPE plastic from packaging for windows. (Look for a #1 recycling symbol). This can be cut with scissors and works with many kinds of glue. During the conversation, Helynn mentioned making buildings with what I have been calling "road spam," those fluted plastic signs that people from out of town use illegally to trash up street corners in your neighborhood under the cover of darkness, especially in the spring.

I take them down and recycle them as a matter of principle - why should my street become an eyesore just so some out-of-state fly-by-night company can sell questionable weight loss products or whatever? Sometimes I salvage bits of them for projects such as Temporary Building Fronts for display railroads. Since the slight rippling effect of the texture could suggest boards, I've considered using them to make buildings, but Helynn has beat me to it. (Helynn's "fluted plastic" was actually donated by a convenience store, but it's the same product.)

Helynn has got around another difficulty of making your own buildings by A discarded planter stand gave me the lumber I needed to build the frame. Click for bigger photo.repurposing "windowframes" from a wooden telephone booth kit from Michaels.

While this article doesn't show a step-by-step process, it does provide food for thought - Paul


Buildings from Scrap Fluted Plastic



The frame was made from scrap wood from a planter stand I dismantled years ago (right).




This wooden phone booth kit is a great source of window frames. Click for bigger photo.




The windows were cut with my scroll saw from wooden pieces of an inexpensive kit for making a British phone booth. I found the kit at my local Michael's Crafts store.






The doors are cut from wood I had in my scrap box.

The walls and roof were cut from pieces of fluted plastic I got (for free) from our local convenience store.

The barn walls, painted and with windows and doors glued on. Click for bigger photo.All of the exterior wood and wall/roof pieces and were first primed with grey primer spray paint and then spray painted colonial red before the styrene pieces were glued on.

The white trim is styrene cut to size (either flat or square pieces). The brick is roadway that you can purchase at Christmas time for lighted building displays. I bought mine after Christmas at 75% off a few years ago. It is easily cut with a pair of scissors.

Everything was glued on using E6000 clear glue.

The barn with two of the walls attached. Click for bigger photo.





Though you can't see it in the photos, I glued clear plastic inside the windows and one door opening to try to keep mice and bees/wasps out. The plastic is the clear kind that used for many kinds of packaging. Often it will have a recycling symbol describing it as #1 HDPE. This particular plastic came from containers of berries and tomatoes I had purchased awhile back.






Barn made from scrap lumber, fluted plastic, and styrene strips. Click for bigger photo. Barn made from scrap lumber, fluted plastic, and styrene strips. Click for bigger photo.

I've also attached a picture from the first building I made using this material. Again, the windows are cut from the wooden telephone booth parts, the vertical white corner accents are styrene and the doors were cut from scrap wood.

This station is also made with fluted plastic roofing and siding. Click for bigger photo.

I can't tell you how well these buildings would hold up to the weather, since we usually bring them in between operating sessions.

Keep in Touch

Thanks, Helynn, for the photos and tips.

Everyone, please let us know about your ongoing projects. Ask questions, send corrections, suggest article ideas, send photos, whatever you think will help you or your fellow railroaders. In the meantime, enjoy your trains, and especially enjoy any time you have with your family in the coming weeks,

Paul Race

FamilyGardenTrains.com

To read more, or to look at recommended Garden Railroading and Big Indoor Train products, please click on the index pages below.

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