What is the easyist and most economical way to construct large HO scale brick buildings in which the walls will be about 16" wide by about 22" high? They will contain as many as 260 windows each.
My tentative plan is to build a core of 1/8" Masonite and cover them with some kind of brick sheet. I currently have brick sheet from Model Builder’s Supply Line which measures 11"X 14." This is the largest sheet I have found so far. This means that both vertical and horizontal joints will be necessary. Can this sheet be invisibly joined or must I break it up with columns and such?
The buildings will require nearly 1000 windows total. To buy these from Grandt Line would be expensive but quick. Would it be better to cast them with resin and silicone molds?
IIRC, the book ‘City Scenery for your Model Railroad’ had something in regards to constructing skyscrapers. I think the building core was made out of clear, thick styrene with sheet material on top.
With regards to hiding the seams, that would depend on how it looks. If you cut carefully, the seams could easily be mortar lines (horizontal seams) and the vertical seams that run through actual bricks could be disguised by weathering, or other details (not necessarily columns). I kitbashed a yard office out of two smaller brick buildings, and hid the vertical seams between the two kits behind drainpipes (1 on each side).
What type of structure are you building? Would it be possible to get away with making your own windows out of styrene?
Is this to be a background or foreground structure?
If you plan on using styrene brick sheets, build the core using .060" styrene - using dissimilar materials is more work and usually not as strong. Look under “Plastic Suppliers” in the Yellow pages: they carry 4’X8’ sheets that will be a lot cheaper (and more useful) than the small sheets you’ll find at the hobby shop.
I’ve read of a method where the brick material is cut into long strips for the horizontal areas between floors, and into short segments for the areas between the windows, much easier than cutting openings into a sheet of material. The core is cut in a similar manner, but slightly narrower, and with the vertical strips being continuous and the horizontal ones fitting between. The two layers for each wall are then assembled on a flat surface, with each imparting strength to the other. Properly positioned, the narrower core strips will create a recessed area on the inside face of the brick, allowing for easy and consistent placement of window castings. You may need to add more interior bracing to further stiffen the walls and aid in assembly of the structure, easily accomplished by cutting 1" wide strips from the .060" styrene and cementing them at right angles to the interior face of the wall.
If the structure is for the foreground, and the windows of a simple style, either cut them from .015" or .020" sheet styrene as one-piece inserts, or, even simpler, use suitably-sized strip styrene to build them, piece-by-piece, in the recesses on the inside of the wall. Use clear styrene for the glass.
For a background model, skip the window frames altogether. Instead, lay out the desired window pattern in a grid on a large sheet or sheets of clear .020" styrene, then apply masking tape so that it leaves only the area of the total window that you wish to appear as the vertical members exposed. This includes the frame on either side and any vertical dividers. If you
I am slowly working on a town in Nscale for my Maclau River RR but have stopped work for now because of a next move.
I am in the process to scratchbuild big buildings whith numerous windows using Grandt Line windows also.
I think I will finish only one scratchbuilding skyscraper whith sheet of styrenes and so lot windows and will go to another approach for the next building.
Here are the main reason:
First anyway it cost some money to buy all these windows castings and you need also to buy some numerous sheet of plastic brick.
Second it takes a lot of time to build such of this building because of all the holes you need to cut to put the windows.
Because of the number of holes to be cut, you need to be particulary precise to avoid any bad dimensionned hole which can ruin a whole serial of already holes (I don’t tell you how I learn it!)
To finish especialy the time it’s need to build it whith a result sometimes far from what you really expected.
So my next approach will be a kitbash of some manufactured model assembled togheter or using these as master and make a mold copy of them to reduce cost.
I assume you want a 3-D look and feel, but if not check out http://www.scalescenes.com/products/TX00-Arches-and-Windows
For about $3-4 you can download a PDF file with pages of walls with windows and patterns for window panes (use transparency material). The brick patterns should allow for tiling. While the files are for OO or O scale, a simple scaling when printing will turn the output into HO.
I have just constructed 3 skyscrapers using Walthers Modulars (the buildings are actually made from N scale components so they will provide some forced perspective in the background of an HO scale layout). The Modulars offer some flexibility in design. You are not limited to a ‘square’ building, and they have lots of windows. However, there are a couple of problems with the Walthers system. First, the window moldings supplied with the product are much too coarse to be realistic (the mullions are way too big and they look too industrial for skyscrapers). To fix this I left the window castings out and simply put a thin piece of styrene across the window openings to represent sash joints. The second problem is that there is a lot of waste material when making large buildings. I ended up with multiple wall sections with doors which were of no use when constructing multi story buildings. Also, there are not enough flat wall pilasters supplied in ratio to the number of wall panels (pilasters look like brick columns and are used to hide the seams between wall sections). This means buying extra kits to assemble the walls. The biggest problem is price! I bought my kits when Walthers had them on sale for $3.98 per kit. To do 3 buildings roughly 6 inches square and about 20" tall cost me more than $100. The regular price is $9.98 per kit! (are they nuts?) At the regular price there are much better choices available (check out www.custommodelrailroads.com if you want to see some really neat kits). I am happy with the results (I have yet to see them on my layout) and the ease of construction is a plus. But the price…!
Find the type of windows that you would like to on this mega structure and buy a bunch of them from who ever manufactures them. Use those widows to make your own molds and cast them out of resin yourself.
Is this to be a background or foreground structure?
If you plan on using styrene brick sheets, build the core using .060" styrene - using dissimilar materials is more work and usually not as strong. Look under “Plastic Suppliers” in the Yellow pages: they carry 4’X8’ sheets that will be a lot cheaper (and more useful) than the small sheets you’ll find at the hobby shop.
I’ve read of a method where the brick material is cut into long strips for the horizontal areas between floors, and into short segments for the areas between the windows, much easier than cutting openings into a sheet of material. The core is cut in a similar manner, but slightly narrower, and with the vertical strips being continuous and the horizontal ones fitting between. The two layers for each wall are then assembled on a flat surface, with each imparting strength to the other. Properly positioned, the narrower core strips will create a recessed area on the inside face of the brick, allowing for easy and consistent placement of window castings. You may need to add more interior bracing to further stiffen the walls and aid in assembly of the structure, easily accomplished by cutting 1" wide strips from the .060" styrene and cementing them at right angles to the interior face of the wall.
If the structure is for the foreground, and the windows of a simple style, either cut them from .015" or .020" sheet styrene as one-piece inserts, or, even simpler, use suitably-sized strip styrene to build them, piece-by-piece, in the recesses on the inside of the wall. Use clear styrene for the glass.
For a background model, skip the window frames altogether. Instead, lay out the desired window pattern in a grid on a large sheet or sheets of clear .020" styrene, then apply masking tape so that it leaves only the area of the total window that you wish to appear as the vertical members exposed. This includes the frame
Larry, I believe that you’re asking about the text and picture (above) which were left after I edited-out all of the text and pictures referring to other stuff.
The idea is to use a sheet (not strip) of clear styrene, cut to a size
Larry, I believe that you’re asking about the text and picture (above) which were left after I edited-out all of the text and pictures referring to other stuff.
The idea is to use a sheet (not strip) of clear styrene, cut to a size which will fill the window opening, with an addit
I hate to see a great thread like this get buried so soon. So here I am, saying, if you haven’t seen this thread, take a look. Information that is great reading. I think this should be made a sticky thread. In any case, I’ve re-newed it here… and I thank you all for this thread and the contributions. Just love it~