Materials don’t come much cheaper than cardboard – and as PAUL LUNN shows, it can even be used for building complete layouts!
Cardboard has a long history with railway modelling, largely for building construction. I’ve always felt it had much greater potential, especially for minimum space layouts, proving mock-ups and to aid better design. It’s cheap, readily available and easily recycled: what’s not to like?
Twenty years or so ago, I wrote my first article suggesting waste card packaging and toilet rolls for the baseboard and shaped toilet rolls and old newspaper for landscaping. The cardboard rolls, in particular, can be surprisingly strong and resilient to damage.
Above: This compact 3D scheme shows just what can be achieved for a small ‘OO’ gauge end-to-end layout.
When you have enough for your baseboard size, glue the rolls to your base sheet of corrugated cardboard and vertically to each other. Allow it to dry and then add your top layer of corrugated card. I used hardback books to weigh things down whilst the glue dried. After several days, I asked my wife to stand on the completed structure with one foot. I put a piece of scrap hardboard on to spread her eight-stone weight, but it held up easily.
My first major cardboar…
