Nifty stuff from the 100 yen shop

[railsquid]

Some random notes useful mainly for those of us in Japan...

 

I'm currently considering adding a raised section to my layout, and while browsing my local 100 yen shop for something completely different I chanced upon a range of oblong plywood boxes of varying dimensions. They looked like they might be useful for storing things, but they're made of thin but solid plywood and seem pretty robustly made for the size/price and it occurred to me I could turn them over and use as some kind of scenery/track support. The largest is 50mm deep, and experimentation shows that there's enough headroom inside for a unit of rolling stock placed on Unitrack with its pantograph raised which would make them suitable for bridging track as well. I'll experiment and see how well they work; if not it's not a huge investment, and I can still use them as boxes.

[cteno4]

Ha squid, you got the 100yen/dollar store bug! Alway walking thru ours looking for useful bits to use with trains. I'm sure they think I'm a shop lifter picking up things and staring off into the distance thinking how something could be used.

 

Boxes sound cool, wish they had them in ours!

 

Various bits in ours are the flat alligator hair clips that work well for clamps on the sankei kits, spray bottles for scenery, cheap hair spray for trees and ground cover, cheap super glue, etc.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[railsquid]

These are the boxes:

 

 

I guess I'll need to add some varnish for long-term use but they look like they'll make adding a raised level much easier for my lazy self ;)

[cteno4]

Great mother is the necessity of invention!

 

Jeff

[macdon]

Its good for storing train bits as well, I would think.

If they're thin enough to be cut by an xacto knife, some rural structures could possibly be made as well.

 

Mardon

[westfalen]

When I'm in Japan I enjoy a walk through a 100 Yen shop as much if not more than a hobby shop.

[cteno4]

By all accounts much better than our dollar stores here.

 

Jeff

[railsquid]

If yours are anything like the ones I've seen in the UK, they mainly sell whatever they can get their hands on cheap?

 

The 100 yen chains in Japan do actually have stuff specially made for them, which makes for a certain level of consistency. (OTOH you do need to be aware that some items, particularly foodstuffs, are actually cheaper in supermarkets).

[cteno4]

Ours have an odd smattering of good deals for some things and not on others. Same goes for quality. Few useful bits.

 

Jeff