I have recently built a tower and a few other buildings for my layout and if you get up close to them, they look like a dozen 10 year old kids built them, haha. I was hoping to get some pointers from some of you veterans. I have seen some beautiful layouts, but if I keep building mine the way I’m going its going to look like a cartoon. I would appreciate some advice on how to be more realistic. Thanks.
Ken Spranza has a great online clinic for scratchbuilding new structures. His stuff looks pretty good to me and I’ve recently used his technique to build my first building. I’m not done yet but I’m pleased with his method. It makes it really easy to start and get a good looking structure. However, the ability to weather structures makes or breaks them in my opinion. Here is a link to Ken’s tutorial:
We’d have to know what the problems with your buidings are, a bit more specific than some ten year olds built them. Materials(s)? What looks wrong about them? etc.
Hey, Wy…
I model HO structures and I have a few well-worn books on the shelf for reference on fabrication, finishing, and weathering. You might want to pick up a copy of one or more of these titles:
‘222 Tips For Building Model Railroad Structures’ by Dave Frary (subtitled ‘Model Railroad Handbook No. 34’), published by Kalmbach…includes many good tips for painting, weathering and detailing.
‘Building City Scenery For Your Model Railroad’ by John Pryke, published by Kalmbach…lots of tips on detailing buildings and scenes from the urban environment.
‘Basic and Advanced Tips and Techniques for Styrene Modeling’, available from Evergreen Scale Models or your local hobby dealer…this is a must-have for info and instruction on fabricating styrene models.
Hope this info is helpful!
Bruce J.
If you are working in wood and paper try a few craftsman building kits to gain experence. The older plan and pile of wood type, not the newer laser cut with peel and stick (although most make nice models and are often easier to build than plastic kits).
No matter what material you use it is ultimately good fit of parts and painting/finish that make the difference between a poor model and a good model. This is true of kit built models too.
To raise a good model to great takes attention to detail
Although I have not scratchbuilt any railroad stuctures, I have been building tank and aircraft models for over 30 years. Three general things I can recommend:
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Buy or make the tools and jigs necessary to allow you cut a) true circles and holes, b) square corners, and c) a number of pieces of identical dimensions.
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It’s often (usually?) easier to assemble pieces with some extra stock on them and then trim the assembly to size than it is to try and cut the pieces exactly to size and assemble them. (For example, if you were scratching your own board and batten siding, try making the batten strips a little longer than the walls and trimming the loose ends off flush afterwards rather than trying to cut the strips to match the wall height before gluing them on.)
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Do not hesitate to throw something away and start over if it doesn’t work right the first time.
HTH,
KL
I guy once asked for directins to Carnegie Hall by saying, “Excuse me. Can you tell me the way to Carnegie Hall?”. The reply was, “Certainly. Practice, practice practice.”. Kep at it.
Here is a link to an entire forum devoted to scratchbuilding. The topics range from tools and how to get started to actual projects (both “in progress” and finished). http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=25 These two links are to step-by-step tutorials that will take you through the basics of scratchbuilding with sheetwood and stripwood (“board-by-board”). http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7007 http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13550 This link is to a thread about scratchbuilding a “woodcutter’s cabin and workshed” from stripwood and plaster and might give you some additional ideas or inspiration. http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11322 If you are interested in scratchbuilding with styrene and metal, take a look at this thread. It’s about scratching a blast furnace for a steel industry. http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10365 I hope these links help. Of course they just barely “scratch” the surface of the topic.
Just out of curiosity, did anyone try the links I posted yesterday? And if so, was any of the information useful or helpful to you?
Casey, this looks like a really good forum. I have not had time to read it all, but at a quick glance it looks as if it will be of great use.
Thanks
You don’t appear to have come back with an answer on what specific problems you have.
So… here’s some non specific answers…
Tools you really need…
Engineers square small (3")
Engineers square large (6")
millimetre rule or scale rule steel
engineers dividers
scribe
replaceable blade craft knife (replace blade as soon as it loses its edge… you won’t make good cuts with a blunt blade)
selection of swiss files
watchmakers screwdrivers
Steel, Brass or other solid lumps that are definitely square. These are used both to hold things down and to hold things at right angles
A flat glass sheet is cheaper than a ground steel working sheet but (obviously) be careful to not break it.
Various small clamps
Well… that’s a start.
Actually the only tools you really need for wood, paper and plastic are:
Single edge razor blade - cutting, scraping
Metal grade school compass (I don’t think these are available any more so a more expensive metal compass may be used as a substitute) - drawing lines & circles, punching (drilling) holes, scribing/cutting lines and arcs.
Metal scale ruler - measuring, guiding compass pencil in layout drawing and guiding razor blade/compass point in cutting and scribing.
Reasonably hard flat surface to work on.
Scissors are handy but not really needed.
The best way to learn scratchbuilding is to start by building simple kits. All of the porblems have already been worked out for you, the proper material is included and many suggest what glues and other materials that would be needed. Once you’ve mastered a few of these, move along to more complex kits and learn from them. That’s the way I did it.
Bob Boudreau
I echo Bob Boudreau’s advice. I’ve recently built several wood laser kits from Bar Mills and Branchline. I’m at the point where I almost don’t need the instructions, so I can envision some scratch building in my future. Actually there are a few structures I will need to scratch build as there are no kits even close to their prototypes. These kits are just a start but for me they are good practice prior to jumping to something more challenging. I would think you would use some of the same techniques – corner bracing for attaching walls to each other, mid-wall supports to prevent warping during painting, utilizing different kinds of adhesives for different materials.
Along with the challenge, these kits are just plain fun to build – especially making minor adaptations to fit your needs. Even for someone with more than 2 thumbs like me, they yield some really nice results. I highly recommend starting with a few of them.