For those of us that are just starting the scenery phase of our layouts I found an expensive source for some scenery material-namely sand. While my wife and mother-in-law were shopping at Michaels I did some looking around and in one of the aisles I found 1# bags of fine sand used for sand art and while some of the colors could not be used on a layout they did have at least 4 shades of brown sand ranging from light to dark. They ranged in price from $1.79-$1.99. Now I know where I can get sand without driving to my LHS. Just thought I would share this the members. Bob :hey:
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Thanks Bob! I'll go take a look at the sand at Michaels.
Ralph
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foulrift Wrote:For those of us that are just starting the scenery phase of our layouts I found an expensive source for some scenery material-namely sand. While my wife and mother-in-law were shopping at Michaels I did some looking around and in one of the aisles I found 1# bags of fine sand used for sand art and while some of the colors could not be used on a layout they did have at least 4 shades of brown sand ranging from light to dark. They ranged in price from $1.79-$1.99. Now I know where I can get sand without driving to my LHS. Just thought I would share this the members. Bob :hey:
You can get sand for free along the delaware near you, I found several spots behind alpha cement along the delaware that has lots of sand
Tom
Model Conrail
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Thanks Tom-I'll have to check it out
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Ive used the black "sand" from michaels for the tops of coal loads before
Josh Mader
Maders Trains
Offering everyday low prices for the Model Railroad World
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Sorry to looks so ignorant, but I live in Quebec far from the Delaware and there is no Michael's store here in Montréal.
Is Michael's an art supply store ?.
My wife is visiting her family in ... Brasil and she said that she'll bring me back some sand from the beaches of Sao Paulo state.
Jacques
Jacques-Yes,Michaels is a craft store and FYI they do have a website.Bob
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One thing about using real sand is you have to be careful of magnetic particles. Just pass a magnet over it before using for ballast. Probably not necessary if you're just using for loads or scenery away from the track.
Val
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About two years ago I posted something on the old forum about getting a bag of sand from Home Depot. I just used masonry sand and sifted it to get several different size particles. For N scale, some were great for ballast down to the finest to use as... uh, sand... I can't remember for sure, but I think I got about a 60# bag for under $2.00. Play sand was too consistent in size and color to use.
I'm still using that bag of sand for ballast, just a bit differently. When I go out target shooting, I pour some of the sand in the water bottles that we take out as targets. This way they don't tip over when the wind blows, and even stay standing on the rare occasion when we actually hit them.
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD