I am thinking about creating lumber loads for my center beam flat cars that have no wrapping on them, just banding. Is their a manufacturer or a way to scratchbuild something like it.
Here is a link to a pic of what I am talking about.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2281272
Doc Wayne has a good way to achieve these, maybe he’ll wonder on in. As far as strapping goes thinly cut tape looks great if done with care.[:)]
Brent
After reading a tip in this forum a few months back I began visiting the local Starbucks and on each visit I would grab a small hand full of their wooden stirring sticks. When cut to length they make a decent lumber pile for both carloads and stacks of lumber around my sawmill. i did offer to buy a box of their stirrers but the local shop operator told me to just take as many as you want (so I did). They easily split width wise with an exacto knife (but are a bit tougher to chop length wise). The price was certainly reasonable (free) and I’ve used black thread to simulate the stack bands in HO. Once cut to half width they are close enough to an HO gauge 12 x 2. I’ve found they have also augmented my supply of scratch building lumber as well. Go grab a latte or whatever and stock up! They stain as well as basswood, don’t warp, and even have nice grain