I thought I would start a thread on buildings…either for layouts or for dioramas.
I`ll start by posting a few pics of an HO scale Atlas switch tower I built for my layout…although it is still a work in progress.
I added a chimney to the inside and a scribed wood floor along with some details from a Faller interior kit and a scratchbuilt stairs and deck…the stairs were built from a kit from Micro-Mark kit and the little interlocking machine is by me.
Also there will be a small modelboard with fiber-optics driven by LED`s.
Nice work. If I could build buildings like that, I’d show them off too!
Given the size of my layout and the amount of space I have to fill, most of my structures will be printed on paper and glued to foam blocks as per these:
It is the best I can do with the talent and money that I do not have.
I thought those buildings in the background was a scratchbuilt plastic or plaster building…thats the thing about this hobby…you do what you can with what you got.
Dont get me wrong..........I didnt start this thread to be a show-off…I just wanted to see what other people do here for buildings and such.
The interior and then the exterior of the City Classics Diner:
The supermarket, another City Classics kit:
This is a laser-cut kit from Branchline Trains, called Weimer’s Mill.
I love building kits. Each of these has a detailed interior and is illuminated for viewing. I love to take a simple kit that’s just 4 walls and a roof, spend a lot of time painting the outside to bring out the details of the casting, add an interior with lights, walls, furniture and figures, and then spend some time providing the model with an appropriate setting on my layout.
Dennis- that is a swell looking set of stairs adn a spiffy interior!
Mr Beasley- That is a Swell looking craftman kit Weimer’s mill!!! I especially like the wheel! I built a small shed type mill with a water wheel out of a plastic kit, but I like yours BETTER! I turned my mill into a lumber mill…have yet to detail the interior, but I combined it with a lumber yard storage shed facility that is a similar syle to the mill. looks great, but not as Spiffy as your mill…is it a flour mill???
rdgk- your car shop is looking like it is cooming along nicely!
Here’s another building I built about a year ago. It is an RDA kit and is just sitting on the layout in the approximate location. The track is not going to be that close to the building, just happen to have a scrap for test fitting. These are nice kits, just a lot of work.
And you should! The large windows on all the Merchants’ Row kits (there are 3 total, I think) invite interiors. This is how I did the first floor of mine:
The base and walls are just thin foamboard. The edges would have been cleaner if I’d used a sharp knife, but they won’t be visible. The images are just downloaded from the computer, printed, cut out and glued on. I use Aileen’s Tacky Glue from a craft shop for all of the gluing here. The rug shop was the most complicated, but it was still nothing more than cutting out individual carpets, rolling them up and gluing them together. Add a few cheap figures and you’ve got an interior.
After the nice job you’ve done painting the exterior, interior detail takes very little time, costs almost nothing and is as easy as an elementary school craft project.
Misterbeasley, you make it look too easy! You’ve shown me your interiors in the past and I’ve never taken the time to try it. Now that I’m running out of big things to do I may have to try some things like this. Now I need to buy a new printer since mine is on the fritz. I wonder if my wife will consider that purchase as a model railroading expense?[:D]
The Three Lakes Model Railroad Club in Wisconsin has had a “kit-along” project or contest where various members have built this classic old Atlas interlocking tower kit to see what they can do with it.
They look OK to me nothing wrong with good quality card and paper for model buildings or foam core board for that matter. Very old school there should be a lot more off it[:)]
Its all in the how you layer them up it is surprising how robust and detailed a well done card building can be and how good they can look[:D].
I am told corn flake box card is ideal for doing multi layer card structures and that at all times a razor sharp craft knife is a must for fuzz free edges.
I have only done war games structures in card where fine finish is not a major consideration but they worked for me and some gamers get brilliant results in card
At Pendon all the buildings are card http://www.pendonmuseum.com/ They do a couple of books that tells you how they did it, I have one of the books and its quite time consuming so the patience of a saint is a big requirement for their level of excellence.
I am sure you could come up with an achievable level that meets your requirements using a couple of layers of card and printed paper for foreground structures.
Scale Structures LTD has a lot of it. I bought a set of tables and chairs from Faller, too.
Mostly, though, I scratchbuild tables, desks and counters. For something inside a structure behind windows, that’s good enough. The whole City Classics diner interior was done with scrap styrene, either painted or covered with computer printout for the checked tablecloths. The stools are carpet tacks.
