Did you ever look to your kitchen as source for free items to make your layout more visually appealing? With just a little paint and some imagination, items like pudding cups, freezer packaging rolls, and fast-food condiment containers can become stock tanks, flatcar loads, and much more!
If you are looking for scale items, some of my tips won’t make the grade. However, if you are looking for easy additions without spending a fortune, I’ve got you covered. Maybe you’ve created something unique from a container. We’d love to see your work—send us an email at editor@classictoytrains.com and let us know what you’ve discovered.
Ballast and ground cover containers
Coffee creamer containers can be used to store and dispense ballast and ground cover. The two Coffee Mate creamer containers on the left contain Woodland Scenics products (Coarse Dark Brown Crushed Rock and Stone ballast, C1283 and Rock Debris, medium natural, C1283). The container at right originally contained Kraft parmesan cheese but now stores Woodland Scenic Turf (Blended earth, T50). This container works well for finer material because it has two methods of dispensing. You can control how much turf you pour.
Railroad loads
Vacuum sealer bags from various vendors are wrapped around a cardboard roll. These rolls can make excellent railroad loads, smokestacks, culverts, and more. They come in various lengths, depending on the size of the roll purchased. (If you don’t have a kitchen vacuum sealer, cardboard mailer tubes available at office supply stores can serve the same purpose.) I cut mine down with a cutting disc in a rotary motor tool to my desired length. They are 1″ in diameter, paintable, and sturdy. They are easily painted to any color you prefer.
Coil or vehicle covers
I spraypainted a plastic butter container with Rust-Oleum High-Heat satin black to make a coil or vehicle cover. Any flat black paint will work, but I like to use my leftover paint when possible. Paint it a flat green and you have an Army version, blue for Navy, and so on. This item would lend itself well to custom decals, too. Low-profile O scale vehicles fit perfectly under the “cover.”
Strike it rich
This is my favorite project. I used Wendy’s ranch dressing containers and painted them with Premium Décor Metallic Gold Spray paint to make stacks of gold. If you give them a final coat of Premium Décor Spray Lacquer, they will shine. You now have a stack of ingots to rival Fort Knox!
Cattle stock tanks
Our dog’s heart guard medicine is packaged in small plastic containers, just the right size for a cattle stock tank. They’re simple to make; just spray with Rust-Oleum Flat black paint. Another option is to paint them gray to represent galvanized tanks. Your livestock will thank you, since water prevents weight shrinkage before going to market. The tanks look great with the Lionel cattle corral and boxcar.
Pudding cup loads
Pudding cups lend themselves quite well as loads for flatcars. A quick paint job and away they go! Finish them off with different decals or glue on some cut-out logos or graphics. Their shape reminds me of the radioactive waste containers that Lionel sells.
“Paint it a flat green and you have an Army version, blue for Navy, and so on. ”
As a Navy vet, I have to ask: wouldn’t the Navy load be painted gray? If I’m not mistaken, blue would be Air Force.
Then again – I could be wrong. That would not be a first.