Living in Juneau Ak has it’s advantages but not when it comes to model trains. The closest hobby shop is in Anchorage. So I am relegated to useing magazines and the internet which is fine except I never really know what a product looks like until UPS delivers it. Am building a city on my n scale layout and need a dozen or so more buildings and was wondering if anyone has used the Woodland Scenics Town and Factory building set. Is it at least as detailed and scaled correctly as a Walthers Cornerstone building? Thanks in advance fellow n scalers. Scookam.
If you go to the site of Woodland you will find a picture and a small description of all the building offer in the set. They are individually proposed by WS.
I have some Woodland/DPM models on my Maclau River, they are nice but they need careful construction and a few adjustements. They look as great as Cornerstones Building and I beleive they are somewhat closer to the scale. They offer a lot of kitbashing possibilities.
Anyway the big set offer by WS is a good starting point for a small town at a affordable price. Many small city building are also avaible in the DPM line with the same finish.
The Conerstone building are fine also and are well detailed; see picture 2 below it’s a “Merchant Row” slightly modified because I used as a flat.
Generaly Cornestones building are fine and easy to build; however as often in Nscale models, ladders stairs and railings are somewhat oversized.
If you want more “looking” building take a look at Bar Mills, Branchline, American model builders; they offer a full line of laser cut model at affordable price. (See the Walthers Catalog for a full inventory and go to their individual sites)
The model are not so difficult to build because they offer precisely cut pieces whith slots so they are constructed like a plastic models; just prepare the piece by spray painting them whith a primer before construction and brace well the parts to avoid warping.
This is an full scratchbuild building using Evergreen plastic parts and Grandt Lines windows and doors; its inspired from a famous model on the FSM of George Sellios
A Connerstone “Merchants Row II” used as a flat and indidualy painted whith home made signs.
If you are building a “city” as opposed to “town” you will need something taller than 2 or 3 floors. City Classics and Smalltown don’t do N scale, but Lunde Studios (the folks behind DPM, Magnuson and the Bachmann City Scenes) does have a limited selection. Custom Model Railroads makes high quality craftsman style kits, but are not low cost relative to DPM.
Thank you very much for the information both Marc and Doc. It will make me a little more confident placing an order I’ll tell you that. And Happy New Year as well. Thanks again, Scookam.
