Automobile parking lot cement bumpers?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I don’t know what these are called to find a past post, but anyone know how to make some cheap ones?

I figure I could use concret paint to cover wood or styrene or what?

Thanks

2

Styrene would be smoother - bevel the top edges of a long strip a scale 8 by 6 inches, then cut them up, about 8 feet long

3

You can buy nice ones for $6.

http://www.blmamodels.com/cgi-bin/webstore/shop.cgi?ud=BAIGAAkPAgADBxQUEBEcHAEEBQYGBQIECQkTEQAA&t=main.blue.htm&storeid=1&cols=1&categories=01001-00011&&c=detail.blue.htm&t=main.blue.htm&itemid=4108

Your gonna pay $4 for a pack of proper sized styrene.
I’ve seen used RR ties in a lot of gravel parking lots.

4

RR Ties have been used as well as some oddly cut/formed concrete bumper pieces—even taking small styrene–about .020" or so pieces( something amounting to 8-12 scale inches) and just cutting them in 8 scale foot lengths would do. ----if you want to give them the rough concrete look you could smeer some putty on 'em as well----

5

I’ll agree with Lothar in this one. For close to the price of the styrene you could purchase some and they’ll look better. BLMA lists them on their website at $5.95 for a pack of twenty. Pikestuff lists a pack of 12 for $2.75. They will look much better than anything you could scratchbuild for concrete parking barriers.

6

I took some old wood rail ties, cut them in half long ways and then just sanded the edges on one side on an angle to give it the proper shape. I then sealed the ties and painted them with cement coloured paint. I looked at the BLMA ones before I did mine and thought they would be very simple to reproduce, and cheaper too.

7

Those still need to be painted to give them the right look.

8

This is a non-item. If you make them yourself from styrene or wood, they still will need to be painted to resemble concrete. You might have some scrap styrene laying around you could make a few out of, but you still have to paint them.

Hey, why not just make a little tiny mold of one and mix tiny batches of concrete so you don’t have to paint them afterwards.[(-D]

Let’s get real here. On the cheap side you’re talking $2.75 to buy a pack of 12. For $2.75 I’d buy them and paint them. Especially in the LHS has them in stock or can order them for me.

9

OY—did not expect this.

The styrene I already had I got at a church bazarre for .50 cents a full 18"X15"X15" box. Full of different sizes. Paints you can pick up at a dollar store—work just as well. Molding your own is a good idea. Besides there are times when certain LHS’s or their distributor is “on backorder” ----so you might need these other ways–[:-^][swg]

Different methods. Different ways of doing things[swg]

10

Personally, I; rather not try to file down small pieces of styrene, there’s a reason I’m not in N.

Also, the Pikestuff is cheaper, I rasn the numbers. It’s 22 cents a bumper, or 30 cents a bumper for the BLMA

11

I just ordered a couple of packs of these two days ago. I didnt even think of making them myself. Premade are cheap and available. If I spent the time it takes to scratchbuild ever little detail on my layout, I’d be about 20% done when I die…if I live to 100!

12

So would styrene or RR ties…
I’d end up filing more of my finger nails off than ties.[2c]

13

You may want to rethink your view…

Since N Scale has become my primary scale I have notice there is tons of modeling being done in N…In fact its more common today then it was back in the early years of N…

However,since I like the easy way out I would go with the BLMA or Pikestuff…Of course I would buy the better looking of the two brands and not worry about the price difference…