Best material to make bales out of?

[Denby]

What is the best material to make bales out of? please help!

[Paul Palmer]

i use britains bales apply pva glue and sprinkle mdf dust over them to substitute the britains bales use blocks of wood cut to the same size as the bales this is the cheaper option

[Denby]

i use britains bales apply pva glue and sprinkle mdf dust over them to substitute the britains bales use blocks of wood cut to the same size as the bales this is the cheaper option

Thanks! ill try it

[MODELFARMER]

ERM grass or straw usually??  :D

[BC]

Is it round or square bales, large or small or hay straw or silage. Sorry for all the questions but you left your question rather open to question ;)

Seriously I was speaking to brianih634 a member on here at the weekend and he had 1/32 silage round bales in black polythene for sale at the Penrith show. He makes them using the appropriate size of foam copper pipe insulation and wraps them with warm black insulating tape which he heats on top of the radiator. I think he also said he had seen a friend with white bales and if I recall correctly I think he used that micropore surgical tape for the white wrapping.

[Denby]

sorry i left the question quite open. i should of said that i was looking for tips on straw bales, which includes round and square. The idea of black insulating tape sounds good and i might give it a try in the future, but at the moment i am consentrating on making some good straw bales for my layout.

[Deere-est]

I think some people have used 'sissal string' both as straw in a field and for bales. Somebody will clarify what I mean I expect/hope! What I did was at Christmas, save all the wrapping paper tubes. Fill with expanding foam, cut to size, cover in pva and roll in fine sawdust. Just the job. Dust with gold aerosol spray if you wish. Now, over to graham in the Blue Peter garden.

[Barry]

I think some people have used 'sissal string' both as straw in a field and for bales. Somebody will clarify what I mean I expect/hope! What I did was at Christmas, save all the wrapping paper tubes. Fill with expanding foam, cut to size, cover in pva and roll in fine sawdust. Just the job. Dust with gold aerosol spray if you wish. Now, over to graham in the Blue Peter garden.

I found plumbers hemp in B&Q that is rather good, looks the same as Sissel string 

And no, you can't smoke it

[Denby]

thanks guys. i never thought of using expanding foam for the centre... good idea!

[Tractorman810]

yeah that stuff works well ,if you can make a farme to pack it into then tie with cotton it does make very nice bales, you just need to pack it well, otherwise chop it very fine then glue to oasis block

[BC]

sorry i left the question quite open. i should of said that i was looking for tips on straw bales, which includes round and square. The idea of black insulating tape sounds good and i might give it a try in the future, but at the moment i am consentrating on making some good straw bales for my layout.

Don't worry Denby that was me just being me when I said you left the question open

I'm sure if you PM brianih634 a member on here he will help you if he can. In fact Brian and I had a discussion on this subject at Penrith on Sunday and concluded that this is what a Forum is really about ... sharing ideas ;)

Sorry to name drop you Brian but I sure you will advise if you can

It may in fact have been Tris ( Deere-est) on here that first suggested the black insulating tape but I think he used an alternative method to warming it than Brian did ???

[Deere-est]

I do have a topic here on the silage bales if it is of any use, Denby. Very easy to do, I did it the same way but didn't warm the tape, if you buy cheap crappy tape it's thin enough :D I must confess I got the idea from Graham. They look great glued up together to form a stack of silage bales.