I’m looking for an HO scale project or two that uses long matchsticks that you might use for fireplaces or grills. Several years ago, I wrote about and built a bridge…
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8719/rdm/dm-wb.htm
…using some. Now I need some additional ideas.
Can anyone think of anything?
Thanks in advance…
dlm
They would make good trunks for tall trees. There’s a tree-making thread on Layouts and Layout Building right now.
You could make a trestle, but if the sticks are round, you’d probably want to use this in either an old-time layout or a logging railroad.
A huge pile of used ties?? Flatbed truck loads of new ties? I’ve been seeing truck loads of new ones near me heading out to be coated in creosote. Retaining walls?
How about some rough-cut lumber piles?
Or a “pole barn” made from the rough cut stuff?
How about a couple retaining walls?
Passenger platform?
How about a small work shed?
They make great framing material for scratchbuilding or kitbashing buildings. You could even do a building under construction, some walls just studs, some covered with plywood. jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
The long (used) matchsticks i’ve been saving measure about 1/8th inch square and ten inches long. In HO that translates to an 11 inch by 11 inch timber, 72 feet long.
As such, they can be used for any project requiring such timbers. Though beam and post construction lends itself to older layout time periods, it still fits well with OT and transition layouts, and in some circumstances, the construction method is still in use today.
In addition to visible use as timbers, they are also useful when hidden, as structural gussets when gluing thinner walls together.
In short, the list of things you CAN’T use these for MAY be shorter than the list of things you CAN use them for. With 1/8 by 1/8 scale spruce going for $0.69 at my LHS, each box of 100 long matches set aside translates to 1/3rd of $70, plus gas and travel time, freed up for other projects.
Classic trash to treasures maneuver, always a good thing.