On a trip to the local Train store for some plastruct I decide to look around and see what other offerings they have....
To my surprise I find...

A blister pack of sticks! YES $4.00 (plus tax) for a 1.5"x2"x.75" blister pack of sticks that you can get in the garden! At first I thought - "what are they thinking??? how can you charge $4 for a bunch o'sticks?" Then I thought "man - why not as Lincoln said - "a fool and his money are soon parted" (I think it was Lincoln, not quite sure but I think I made my point.)

You made your point Scott, but the gentlemen that said that was Ben Franklin. I've seen that pack of twigs too!! Crazy what some people will buy!!

I had limbs down all over my backyard due to a major ice storm in Jan. I have a huge brush pile. I would part with the whole thing for say, $2...
Woodland Scenics "Scenery Shakers" always tickled me. Nothing but a big plastic bottle that bulk spices come in...
Shaun

I've got some fresh Colorado dirt if anybodys interested. Limited usage too, its just been laying around unused for years. :-) :-) Anyone? Anyone? "Q"

how about those 12" metal rulers that you see in the hobby store for about $9... sometimes you can find them at craft stores for about 6$...

I picked up a speed Square at the Doller store for hmm $1 and slide the square part off and volia.. a $9 Hobby Metal Ruler / straight edge appeared on my hobby bench......

That kind of stuff comes from living in a consumer society, there is always some freak that will buy something that he can find for free. If you lived in country like my own where modelling is not very pop, you'd learn all those things for yourself.
E.g.
Using baking soda and powdered sugar to immitate snow, rather than buying somthing that looks just the same for $9.99.

Only problem with natural stuff is it often smells, as I discovered when I tried drying out grass.

Stop using grass from the local park where all dogs go for a walk! :-) :-) :-)
Spray some matt varnish over it and the smells go away.

Dave, if you can find old paint brushes that have been tossed out, the bristles are great for making grass. You can also check out the dollar/discount store for these items. Just my .02 worth. "Q"

Here in the States, you could be arrested for that.

You beat me to it Brian, my thought exactly.. Don't you hate the smell of Skunk... :-) :-) :-)

Dave I've used several varieties of grass before, temperate and tropical. The trick with grass (besides avoiding "land mine" areas created by dogs) is a thorough drying. A good 3 days in an airy, bright but not direct sunlight place and you have practically odorless albeit slight shrunk grass.

Scott you couldn't be more right about scenery stuff from hobby stores. For the same amount one could get a whole bunch of neat stuff at a dried flower shop.

I found out that wallpapers can be made from cheap girly stationeries or gift wrappers. I got mine to last for about five urban dioramas with just a few pesos (a few pennies in US) instead of buying those produced by Verlinden. In addition, they smell good.

Finally, I found sheet styrene in Cebu. It's called "high impact plastic" here and is used mainly in plastic sign manufacturers. However, it is relatively expensive. I found an inexpensive alternative...those of thin yellow "No Smoking," "Women's Room" signs. They work very well, although I haven't tried gluing that on plastic models using model cement. I glue those alternatives on my models using CA glue. I'll try fixing it together with plastic cement later tonight.

Angela

I see things way to often that fit this category. The latest happened when I was in Des Moines for the model contest last weekend. Nato 308 was showing us around at the local hobby shops and he showed us these "railroading trees" which are excellent by the way but sheesh they cost an arm and a leg for what you get. Here is an example

I would love to talk with members of Armorama that live in western states so maybe I could get a few branches such as this. This is just american sage brush, the hobby shop was charging 1dollar per inch in length basically. I think it works very good for trees. Any western us dwellers want to work a trade Cheers Kevin

Kevin: Are those trees you mention and have in your picture Sweetwater Scenery? If so, they are expensive, but I have yet to find a suitable "free" replacement. I also am willing to work out trades with anyone who has a free source for whatever the natural material (sagebrush?).

Keith

Keith,yes they are sweetwater scenery. Also the shop has a guy that sent them boxes of sage brush and they "clipped" their own trees. so anyoneoutthere withsome sage brushpleasefeelfree to post or pm us. CheersKevin

I grew a decent size herb garden last summer in clay pots. Emptied the old dead plants out of them yesterday and have the roots drying right now. They should make decent trees. Maple sapling roots make good trees, too. We always get tons of the here in central Indiana we don't want. I pull them up and dry them. Viola, trees.

No sagebrush, however.

Shaun

Your very right Shaun, some roots are perfect to use as trees...ya beat me toit...I also save a few small diameter limb cuttings from our christmas trees, trim off the needles ad they looks like timber logs...has anyone ever considered the use of Bonzai trees? in a dio?, i'm sure someone has, seems only natural to try...hell, even dead ones could be used...and last but not least, Cha Cha Cha Chia..hehe

:-) Funny, funny. Yes, I've used it before. About 10 years ago I think when that stuff was advertised on TV all the time. It looked funky though b/c w/out water, it became brittle. Gosh, we use all kinds of stuff! LOL!

Another related "price mystery".... Woodland Scenics sells little bags of lichen's for $4.95... but in the flower section of the local hobby lobby, they sell HUGE bags of the same stuff (at least 4-5 bags equivilent to the Woodland Scenics) for $7.00... same stuff, same store... but different audience, different aisle, and different price!