I bought a Walthers backdrop building (apartment building/tenement) meant to fill things in. I saw the dimensions on the box, and it seemed fine.
Started painting the pieces (I am learning to do this before assembling…). Then I finally looked at everything with a clear head. The building only has three sides!
I read the cover of the box, and yeah, it is implied, but not clearly stated. In other words, reading for it I saw it.
It is not really a problem and it does make sense cuz it is a background building, but geez… state it clearly.
Now you know if you didn’t already. (about the building, that is - I am sure my brain cramps are quite well known)
I have a 4x10 layout and this wil be on one of the “4” sides, so from the panel, it will look fine. Still, it was a slap-the-forehead moment.
Yup, you got it, that is what background buildings are .[:O]
It is a surprise if you weren’t expecting it, but it all works well. You can use a spare piece of styrene like off a “for sale sign”, or as I prefer a piece of foam core as being thicker and sturdier to fill in that space it makes it a lot more structurally sound.[tup]
Also give some thought to a foundation and floor for it, that is also a good way to make it sturdier.
Some modelers just make sure the front inside corners are well gussetted.{spelling} (little triangular pieces of styrene between the front wall and the sides) to firm it up and they leave the back open against the background. That is OK if you don’t see through the building. But you can do whatever floats your boat and that you are happy with.[:D]
With an around the walls layout they make a lot of sense sits it lets you fit in more railroad. I, however, prefer to buy full buildings for the difference in price and use the back wall to extend the front of the building doubling the size.
I built this brewery from Walthers “Arrowhead Ale” background building kit.
Since I have a table layout, and this is visible from the back, I added an interior:
I’ve got the same “Parkview Terrace” background kit that you do. I plan to put it down the tracks aways, on the same side of the layout. So, there will be an interior for that, too.
Don’t feel bad, we all have had our brain clouds at one time or another.
Last year at the LHS, I was looking at a nice factory kit and figured on buying it - until I saw the relatively fine print that it was a background flat, and not a full 4 sided structure. While the mfg was not hiding the fact, you really had to read the box to figure out what you were buying.
While I don’t have any of these structures, they do make a lot of sense. One of my favorite scenes on the RR is the Cornerstone Ice House with the triple length icing platform. The problem is - for my situation - is that the ice house takes up so much room. On my last layout I almost sliced it in half (but did not as I soon demo’d the layout), which would have given me more flexibility in placement.
The other thing that your posting brings up is how I have always detailed all 4 sides of any given structure, knowing full well that most of them will show only 2 or 3 faces once they are placed. I do know that a lot of modelers only do the sides that show up, but that is not my personal preference.
As usual, Mr B is thinking “outside the box”!! As they used to say on “Laugh In”, “verrrrry interesting”!! Black foamcore would make a good back if you don’t want to use Mr B’s idea!![:)]
When you painted the sides didn’t you notive that the side walls were a little on the small side and that the back wall was missing? Foam core or gator board or even car stock will fix that problem. If you wanna go the el cheapo route and aren’t going to light the interior just put some black paper over the windows or paint them from the inside.
This is what I use, or at least I fill the building with black painted foam. That provides support for the three sided structure (mine are on traveling modules) and prevents the blue sky backboard from showing through all the windows!
Our club has open back structures with interiors when the “background” buildings are on the “isle” side of the layout.
I had the opposite happen with my Walthers background building. It surprised me because it had both the front and back walls. So I spliced the front and back together to made a single structure that was twice the length.
Well, folks, thanks for the empathy, ideas and especially the ribbing. Dummy engines indeed!
The building when in pieces has seven walls (there is sort of a courtyard indentaion). I didn’t think (no revelation there) about the construction - I just wanted to paint it first. Live and learn. The joys of a newbie…
