# scratch built N scale accessories



## buffalowings (Aug 29, 2011)

just finished 7 55 gallon oil drums made from cardstock

at 1:140 scale (n gaugeish) the drums measured 4.354mm in diameter and 6.16mm in height for anybody that wants to try there hands at building a couple miniature oil drums. 
the building process was very simple, first i cut out 14 disks around 4mm in size, then i cut a long strip of cardstock about 6mm in height, from there, I cut the strips into smaller strips, rolled them into a cylinder and attached the disks on both ends. Then I cut even thinner strips and glued two on each drum to simulate the grooved sides. finally, I painted the drums in a light gray tone and weathered the tanks with burnt sienna to simulate wear and tear. 

scratchbuilding is rather addictive, though i could have payed $3.75 plus shipping for 7 prebuilt plastic ones instead hwell: 

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6183/6121817267_1b6d847f9e.jpg


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I think I'd turn them out on a wood lathe.


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## buffalowings (Aug 29, 2011)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> I think I'd turn them out on a wood lathe.



that sounds even more hellish than cardstock! granted I'm not a carpenter nor do I have a portable 6" tall carpenter in my pocket

wow, thanks for the idea! next time around, I could just cut the drums from a similarly sized dowel and wrap cardstock around it to simulate the grooves


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Wings,

Just out of curiosity, did you thin your paint at all? I'm wondering if the thickness of the paint itself would obscure the nice work on the drum's rings?

TJ


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## buffalowings (Aug 29, 2011)

tjcruiser said:


> Wings,
> 
> Just out of curiosity, did you thin your paint at all? I'm wondering if the thickness of the paint itself would obscure the nice work on the drum's rings?
> 
> TJ


The rings aren't very clear in the pics because of the camera... doesn't take very good closeups even with macro on. the rings show up quite nicely, actually, they look a bit overscale in real life. should make the rings less wide next time, though the body would be made from dowels

also, I painted the barrels using artists acrylic

anywho, built a worn down fence about 3' in real life to contain the drums and attempted to build a wooden crossing (took the idea from a model railroading book i got from the library, the original was for O gauge so it had a extra tie made of balsa under the wooden planks, since I didn't have balsa that thin, I just glued the planks onto a piece of cardstock and cut to fit from there (sure looked better in the book though) 

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6200/6121858195_bfbd0ddc72.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6122212857/


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Wings,

I just had an idea that might be an easy, cost-effective option for you to consider in your next drum batch. How about making the drums out of a cheap ring-shank nail? Unlike on a screw, the rings on a ring-shank nail do not spiral ... rather, they are truly parallel circles. You could trim a nail into tiny cylinders easily with a Dremel, and then paint (or not) to suit. The nails are available in diffferent sizes, with different ring spacing (dependent on nail mfr), so you can likely find a diameter/size that works well in N scale ...










TJ


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## buffalowings (Aug 29, 2011)

TJ, thanks for the suggestion, that sounds like a great idea! I'll have to look in the hardware section next time I'm in home depot. 

anywho, i also scratchbuilt a wooden house afterwards when i had a bit more time. ended up making the building abandoned since i was too lazy to add acetate sheet windows and i already had weather wary oil drums and fences. by the way, the roof was cut from a sheet of black 600 grit sandpaper since I remember tar roof tops being rough in nature

last spam of the day, i promise  :laugh:


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6065/6123033198_b2309e8b33.jpg


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## buffalowings (Aug 29, 2011)

made some street lamps out of copper wire and the lamp housings were made from the end caps from useless pen caps i scrounged up


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## buffalowings (Aug 29, 2011)

started constructing another building today (a barn of some sort..) currently considering buying a styrene sheet with the shingle pattern since my original idea of layering strips of cardstock with a wavy pattern to represent shingles was too time consuming









http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6061/6134462633_71902646cf.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6156/6135010986_f10bbd4cbe.jpg


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

tjcruiser said:


> Wings,
> 
> Just out of curiosity, did you thin your paint at all? I'm wondering if the thickness of the paint itself would obscure the nice work on the drum's rings?
> 
> TJ


How can you see the detail on the drums?

I have a hard time even seeing the drums from this picture.hwell:


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