Thursday, September 06, 2012

Boxes, Little Boxes.....

More drivel from Am_Fet:

I think I am slightly cursed in having a mind that cant quite switch off from model trains. I've often spent time in boring meetings mentally working out a layout to fit on the meeting desk, or even into a space the size of an office cubicle (back in the days when I inhabitated such a thing).

So while spending time at a friends place last week I was suprised to see a whole pile of old fruit boxes sitting on his wood pile. Apparently they were from a neighbour and make suprisingly good kindling, he said...




I think he was a bit surprised when I asked if I could grab a few. As a box, they are reasonably unremarkable; roughsawn and around 400 x 150 in size. However, turn it upside-down and thats when the magic happens:



Viewed like that, it looks suspiciously like a poor mans version of the MMW module, except ready made. Slap on some foam and some track and youre pretty much ready to go. Stack em up and you could really go to town with a longer run:



From memory, we were looking at a similar idea back before the MMW module ends became reality. We were looking at trying to find some wooden trays at spotlight that would work in exactly this way.

BTW, there really is no version of a "poor mans MMW Module"....at $20 for 2 module ends and the hardware, it really is a cheapish way of getting started anyway.

2 comments:

beaka said...

well they look surprisingly well made compared to the crappy ones i have been using for firewood and also more heavy duty. i would suggest giving them a coating of diesel using a paint brush to kill and deter borer. many of mine were peppered with tiny holes. mind you down your way its probably too cold for borer!

lalover said...

can you see your way into fitting a MM layout into the kids cart in the background?
Nows theres a challenge!