I love to repurpose. Show me yours.

That looks great.  Although I'm not familiar with those clothes hangar things, they work perfectly for street barriers.

A while ago when we were creatng a hotel/beach scene at the New Jersey Hi-Railers Club I was trying to figure out what to do in the area between the sand of the beach and the hotel itself.  I came up with the idea of a plaza that would have tables and umbrellas for people to hang out.  

The plaza itself is comprised of square shower tiles that were left over from when we remodeled our master bath.  The tables are all made from these little plastic pieces you see when you get a pizza delivered to your house.

Stock photo. LOL  Our tables are actually triangle shaped.   I "sat"some O gauge people down on a bench and cut the plastic legs down to where it fit into the O scale world.  Glued fabric to create a "table cloth."  And then obviously you recognize the little drink umbrellas from  tropical drinks.  As I said to some club members, "Do you know how many Mai-Tais I had to drink to make this scene? " haha   Anything for the Club.

@mike.caruso posted:

That looks great.  Although I'm not familiar with those clothes hangar things, they work perfectly for street barriers.

A while ago when we were creatng a hotel/beach scene at the New Jersey Hi-Railers Club I was trying to figure out what to do in the area between the sand of the beach and the hotel itself.  I came up with the idea of a plaza that would have tables and umbrellas for people to hang out.  

The plaza itself is comprised of square shower tiles that were left over from when we remodeled our master bath.  The tables are all made from these little plastic pieces you see when you get a pizza delivered to your house.

Stock photo. LOL  Our tables are actually triangle shaped.   I "sat"some O gauge people down on a bench and cut the plastic legs down to where it fit into the O scale world.  Glued fabric to create a "table cloth."  And then obviously you recognize the little drink umbrellas from  tropical drinks.  As I said to some club members, "Do you know how many Mai-Tais I had to drink to make this scene? " haha   Anything for the Club.

 

Nice Mike.  I didn't know that was how you built it!

And Ron.  I love the barriers.  Great topic.

Mike-my wife loved your post! Now we're both thinking of pizza for dinner!

I use old newspapers to form my mountains. I start with wood formers and crumpled newspapers for support, and then cover them with a paper mache web that I then cover with plaster, rock molds, and scenic material.

These photos show recent work on my Marklin HO layout, but I use the same technique for my Lionel scenery.

Mike... Great idea.

Don... Great scene.

I want pizza tonight too.

Who else has ideas?

Ron

Don't get me started on this one...    For me, using household scraps is part and parcel of "livin' the dream" that I've had since 1957. I have been known to find some random bit that has a provocative shape, and keep it around for years until it finds its place.

Here are a few:

I was walking down the street one day and picked up a strange, shiny plastic silver ball. It eventually ended up as a lawn ornament:

This brown "tank" enclosed with other Important Equipment was a medicine dispenser of some kind that I saved for maybe 20 years because it looked so "tank like":

Speaking of tanks, the one in the rear with the big pipe coming out of it was the cap from a big jug of laundry detergent. (The other tanks are PVC plumbing fittings). 

Interesting shapes don'e even have to look like anything in particular--we see stuff in RL all the time that we can't identify:

And, then there is my infamous "vegetable basket window muntins":

And, of course, if all else fails, there is always the scrap yard:

Great post Pete!

And I thought my wife was a pack rat!

Love the Super 0 track too!

A truly great topic!

Love it

This is a great topic, I love working in items I see around onto the layout.

This is a valve stem cap garbage can

These are oil filter oil tanks with brake line piping

These colorful electrical insulators are actually rubber automotive wiring connector wire insulators

These rooftop items are misc caps and scraps I found at the auto shop I work at

And, the town square founding father statue is actually a drink stir stick topper of my good buddy Jack Daniels  glued to some floor tile squares

Keep the ideas coming!

Paul

ALL really cool!

I have used so many different household items, as well as machinery and motor parts, to window screen for chain link fence, to plastic bucket handles cut in half to make terracotta pipe, and washers with teeth to represent sawmill blades. I could post dozens of photos. These are terracotta pipes from 5 gal bucket handles, and car ramps made from zip tie cutoffs.

Looking great Pete and Paul.

Paul, I love the Statue.  I want to do something like that too.

Ron

@Serows1 posted:

This is a great topic, I love working in items I see around onto the layout.

This is a valve stem cap garbage can

 

These are oil filter oil tanks with brake line piping

 

These colorful electrical insulators are actually rubber automotive wiring connector wire insulators

 

These rooftop items are misc caps and scraps I found at the auto shop I work at

 

And, the town square founding father statue is actually a drink stir stick topper of my good buddy Jack Daniels  glued to some floor tile squares

Keep the ideas coming!

Paul

Ha!  Thanks.  I've been wondering what to do with old Jack.  I painted mine patinaed (well how would you spell it?) bronze about three minutes ago.  Waiting for him to dry before he takes up residence in front of city hall.

I made two.saws, a miter saw and team saw from the teeth of a tinfoil box.

(Just like real tools, I can't find them because I want them... here is the scraps left behind )  Wire insulation handles, handles etc. cut with tiny side cutter/nips.

If you.tear apart a cheap butane lighter, the thin safety wheels make a small circular saw blade.  Old tape players.sometimes have a plastic arm/cover combo over the rubber tape drive wheel. They look a lot like circular saws,.some look like handheld belt sanders.

A Crackerjack.box and fireplaçe matches became a billboard.

Mini flashlights with leaky batteries get the reflector.saved for a outdoor lamp.

PVC smokestacks. 

Some chain is actually silver jewelry 

Water towers;, tomatoe can, frosting tub, Go-Jo tub.

  Misc. tanks; toy suitcase is upright, on a rack. White butane cylinders look a lot like the vertical gas tanks I've seen up close.

Phonograph tone arm for a crane boom. 

A fencing sword and thin cutlass from large seamstress's pins 

Aluminum fan blade and shaft from an electric cooler/heater makes an EXCELLENT old.school cooling tower fan blade (huge)

Laser pointer lens cap, inverted for a ground sconce to light the flag.

Rectangular sock hangers; cut off the hanger and you have an "unbreakable" diagonal pattern gate (or fence section)

The bottom of.small cage type flowerpots resemble fan guards on hvac, and other industrial equipment.

I still have.my"painted black" popcorn loads from.when I was a kid.

Pinecone trees too.  

An old sand filled ashtray from an old sandstone filter (mystery origin, maybe welding.gas filter)

My Monopoly.games are missing the dog and 2 wheelbarrows

Jenga.blocks.have.been fodder.for all kinds of.nonsense.

I have a boxcar's wheel in place of a broken #90 red L 

It is a hair trigger and can jam "on", but that's ok because it's just for the light over the power supplies. It works well enough I haven't.changed it out.

Pickup shoes from feeler gauges, mushroom head fasteners, solder wick (wire braid). Rollers from metal balls of pillow blocks, and bushings/bearings.

I made a train shelf protector from a 36x52", tinted, uv blocking, scratch resistant, hard to crack, DLP tv screen's plastic cover layer (there are a few layers behind it, all inside the pop off frames.you can pull off.with your.fingers or.bang off.with the heel of a.hand.)

I repurposed some battery shells to make rectifier humps for a homemade EF-4: 

Mitch

On the roof of SAM's building, the taller equipment structure is a repainted SPAM can.  John

I repurposed the guts of a 282 Portal Gantry Crane as a winch to add lateral movement to my Gantry Crane.

The cab base reduced to it's essential size:

The crane base with unneeded bits removed:

Ready to install:

Installed under the decking:

From the topside:

Crane cabin repurposed as a winch-shanty:

Great thread! Reminds me of the early days of three rail. How many remember Walt Hulseweder's Scrounger's Corner from OGR in the 80s and 90s? I always loved that column.

Here is a  standard gauge glass top station I made from a kitchen island light from a remodel job I worked on . I also used  chain link fence caps to cover the holes that had the wires going through the top .  After it was all done I sold it to a good buddy of mine  and then proceeded to build another out of reclaimed glass.  The large water tank is from a coffee can . 

This is a terrific thread, just shows what a little ingenuity and some forethought can lead to.

I knew I was in trouble when I started keeping the kinds of stuff my wife holds on to that I used to think

was trash.

Lot's of creativity here. Great thread!

This is a common one, but chain link fencing from the mesh off a crate of oranges. The fence piping is heavy gauge wire for hanging acoustic ceilings.

Scratch-building stuff counts too....made a coal bin from some scraps of balsa that I had left over from a project.

What might a water tower for the Altoona Brewery look like??  Uh- like a Horseshoe Curve Beer can.

Used the plastic base from Christmas lights to make shades for lights under this building.

I found another good one, mesh drywall joint tape as chain link fence with toothpicks as poles....

Paul