I don't know about many of you,but if there is one thing I have learned while building my last two layouts it's this-"Don't throw anything out." I have many boxes with scrap styrene and all sorts of odds and ends leftover from various projects.I do however go through the boxes every once and a while and see if there is anything that I really don't need,which rarely happens.For example,I'm in the process of converting a couple of old Athearn BB into plug door reefers and now I have extra door which could be turned into a flat car load or added to the layout in some way.
I have also found that old perscription bottles are great for storing small parts.I make my own wood pallets and use these bottles to hold the various size components.
How about the rest of you? How much stuff do you save?
Bob
I am still learning, and have only partially learned the bit about not throwing stuff out. I had purchased several of the Caboose Hobbies ground throws, but decided not to use them...too big. I generally keep sprue from kits, especially interesting and oddly shaped bits....thinking at the time, "You never know." Meanwhile, I was discarding some stuff.
About 18 months ago I decided that I needed more realism, and that often just means some details in the settings being imaged. No ground throws, no target switch stands in my yard. Hmmm...so I returned to my workbench area and forged some scratch-built ones with some left over bits from one of the cheaper plastic kits. The kit had some lamp stands for the sidewalk in front of the store. I used a centering spring lever from a plastic type of horrible coupler, the bottom half of the lamp stand, and stole a target indicator from two of the Caboose groundthrows to make this:
I thought being a packrat was a requirement for this hobby!
-- Kevin
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Model Railroading is not the only "never throw anything away" hobby. I do some Sci-Fi stuff, this is a "junkbuild", made from bits, pieces, odds and ends, and a lot of scratch parts:
I am using a lot of "leftovers" in my Spring 2010 challenge...... never throw anything away.
"Packrat".........I like the term, "Materials Conservator" myself.
We always learn far more from our own mistakes, than we will ever learn from another's advice.
The greatest place to live life, is on the sharp leading edge of a learning curve.
Lead me not into temptation.....I can find it myself!
I have stuff laying around from the mid-60's....And some stuff that my ol' man had...from the early 50's...All properly stashed away in small drawer boxes....Absolutely...NEVER throw ANYTHING away....
Charlie-that is one heck of a storage box.
Sumpter-nice use of parts.
Steantrains-I'm old but my stuff isn't.I save everything now.Never know when it will come in handy.
Bob
"The hunt, for the stuff you've saved, in disorganized piles, is the last of the great adventures" - creed of the Packrat
We always learn far more from our own mistakes, than we will ever learn from another's advice.
The greatest place to live life, is on the sharp leading edge of a learning curve.
Lead me not into temptation.....I can find it myself!
![[Image: Cs-image-2.jpg]](http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn105/mesenteria/Cs-image-2.jpg)
That's why I go through my stuff every now and again.
never throw anything away. 
