I’ve never built one of their structures… are they good. Do you like them or steer clear of them?
JaRRell
everybody loves dpm, a kitbashers dream.
JMT
Tim
There’s not too much to them. They make a nice looking model after you add a few details. There are four walls and a piece of styrene for a roof. Mine didn’t turn out as well as other kits I’ve tried. My painting skills are not up to painting the windows and trim while they’re attached to the walls. Luckily, I weather the crud out of my buildings so they turn out ok.
Extremely good, simple buildings, with extremely good prices and potential for kit-bashing!
Jarrell,
The challenge that I found out on the first DPM kit that I built was that you must:
- Make sure your walls are SQUARE
- Build yourself a simple sanding jig to sand the beveled corners that you’ll need to remove, in order to put the building together properly
I attempted the depot and the two inside corner walls are NOT perpendicular. (You can’t really tell unless you pick it up and look at it from the bottom.) I think it was my third kit - after my Walthers Cornerstone Water tower and Golden Valley Freight house.
The exterior support truss work (if your particular kit comes with it) can be tedious to cut each angled piece for a proper fit. Even so, they are VERY nice kits and quite handsome on anyone’s layout.
Tom
Can’t beat the price…They are easy to put together…Painting takes some time but its not that hard if you take your time…Cox 47
I love 'em. The 100 series kits can be a tad tedious because all the doors and windows are molded into the walls. The 200 series kits and modules have the doors and windows molded separately. The kits are pretty basic: just walls, windows, glazing, and plain styrene for the roof. Most kits also include a solid chimney casting or two.
I made the building on the left from Arch Window Modules and the one on the left from two Laube’s Linen Mill (100 series) kits:
My yard office is made from Smith Packing House (200 series) kits:
And this steel mill is Steel Sash Modules:
Nick
I like 'em.
Assembled the Feed and implement dealer not quite to directions to make it a little longer.
The door was built into a wall section but I carefully cut it out to model it open.
Haven’t built this yet (except in the computer). Found a way to use DPM modular parts to approximate the prototype baggage and express building at the Galveston TX station (now the RR Museum)
I don’t mind them either, but they are more difficult than say Walthers Cornerstone. The DPM I bought had basically four walls and a roof. The walls have to be sanded to be square, you have to cut the roof out of piece of provided styrene, and thats about it. Also, it probably won’t come with any signs, decals, etc.
Nothing wrong with this, I’m just warning you in case this isn’t what your looking for. As has been said before, with some work they turn out real nice.
nbrodar-Looks like somebodies been putting their syringes to good use…[:-^]
The kits are great for the money. A little tedious painting all the molded on windows. The Walthers Merchants Row kits are nice too.
I like them. Here’s a couple pic’s:
The large modular is not done, 2 of the windows popped out during my last move, and I haven’t glued them back in yet. The glazing and interior has not been done yet, as I haven’t decided what kind of business it will be.
Brad
Here is my first one.
I think they’re great. This is one of my earlier ones:
The brick detail is really very nice. This is one of those where all the window trim is molded with the walls, so there are very few parts to assemble. Take your time and use a very small brush to paint them. I use cheap acrylics, so I can just use a damp paper towel to wipe off any mistakes right away.
I do my brick mortar with Hydrocal on these, after I paint the basic color, but before I paint the window trim.
As someone else mentioned, the walls don’t come out square. The edges are bevelled so that they come out of the forms easily when they make these, so squaring them off is part of putting the kit together. I’ve also found that the back wall on many of these is as much as a quarter-inch too wide, so the kit doesn’t assemble square at all. I cut the wall to size after I’ve got all the edges squared off. Watch for this - it’s probably not the case on all the kits.
Finally, details really help. The buildings don’t come with signs or decals, but they’re easy enough to make yourself, and add a lot to each structure. The roof will probably be a plain sheet of white styrene that you’ll have to cut to size. I use small balsa strips inside the building to make a strip around the walls for the roof to set on. That also blocks light from leaking up around the edges of the roof.
Thanks, MisterBeasley ! For your tip on using acrylics and a damp paper towel. Just what I need.[:)]
Other than some of the kits not being square, they are going to look great once I am finished painting them. I had to purchase a magnifying headset in order to properly see the details, because I have the N scale version of DPM.
Very pleased overall.
Much obliged for all the responses, especially the photos. I’ve seen several of the pictures here before, but didn’t realize they were DPM kits (or probably skipped that part when you said it). I’ll just have to pick up a small kit and try it. I really appreciate your being candid about things like the walls need sanding and may not be square. The tip on using damp paper towel to remove painting errors is a good one too.
Thanks!
Anyone else have photos of your DPM kit?
Jarrell
I won’t repeat everything everyone has said , but yes they are good kits. need work to get them straight as mentioned several times. Some of mine below:
townhouses , their straight I wasn’t.
built this engine shop with DPM parts:
most of downtown is DPM
Hey, it’s a DPM Photo Thread!
This is a pair of townhouses:
Again, the kits were 4 walls and a roof. They also included some clear plastic window glazing material. I jacked the buildings up on a foundataion, and added the concrete stoops out front. I used tissue paper for window shades. (The tissue paper was in the kit, used to protect the window glazing from scratches.) The fence is Atlas hairpin fencing, and the figures (Tom and Aretha in the background, Carl and Lenny up front) are from Preiser.
I have a lot of DPM kits still waiting to be built. Like everybody said, you can’t beat the price and with a little detail they really turn out great. The kits beg for detailing, adding floors, furniture and people inside really improve their over all look. The best part is you can spend as little as a few hours and have a complete building ready to go on the layout or spend a week detailing the inside. It all depends on how much time you want to put into it.
Hey, leighant…
I like the whitewash effect on your structure. How’d you do that? Just thinned white paint or something else?
Bruce J.
My DPM kit is not as nice as the others here. Once I add a sign and an awning, it should look decent. The kit is the far right building.
