I’ve been looking through my Walthers catalog for a building to fit in a spot between two other buildings on our HO layout.
I need something at least 5" deep and at least two stories tall.
The buildings this new one will go between are old Magnuson kits. Specifically Miners Union Hall and Ric’s Place for those familiar with Magnuson.
I found something from Small Town USA (Rix Products) called the Old Indian Tobacco Shop (Walthers #699-6014) which looks like it might work. The dimensions given in the catalog are 2-3/4" x 5". But it looks like a lot of their other models which only measure out to 4-3/4" x 2-3/4".
I went to their website and the dimensions given there are even more confusing (20 x 36).
Can anyone help me out that might have the real dimensions of this particular model (Tobacco Shop)? And would anyone have any suggestions for another building to use that is 5" deep?
City Classics structures have a depth of 5 1/4 inches as listed in Walthers. From www.walthers.com, put “City Classics” (with the quotes) in the search box. The structures should fit in your space pretty well. The sides of these are mostly just brick, as they are city buildings meant to be placed side-by-side.
If you want to dress them up a bit, you can pick up the window signs packages for several of the building kits. I like to add illumination and a few interior details behind the larger windows to bring the buildings to life.
How about something built from the modular building system of Design Preservation Models (DPM)? All of their wall sections are interchangable and are 2 3/4" wide, so two wall sections down each side would create a building 5 1/2" deep, and you have the flexibility/variety of design on what style of structure that you want.
I looked at City Classics offering and they are very nice buildings. Thanks for the suggestion. Although I think their buildings are likely too high. But I’ve used their Mobile Home as a trailer. Sort of based on the Long Long Trailer:
Bill:
I never thought to use DPMs modular system. Mixing and matching some walls should work out nicely.
I tried to find a photo showing the location where I’d like to place the building. This is the best I could find. Look to the right of the photo. In between the large building with the Santa Fe roof sign and the small building with the lighted Bar sign is the desired location:
Home now. Ruler in hand, I have a couple of Model Power structures that are roughly 2 3/4 wide x 4 1/2 deep. Baldy’s Barber Shop is 4 stories tall, and Annie’s Antiques is 3. The 4th floor on Baldy’s is optional. These are nice structures, too. They come with interior detailing for the first floor show windows, and a light bulb so you can see the details. I added fire escapes to the back, which would bring the depth out to about 5 inches.
If you look at aerial or satellite photos of some really old neighborhoods, you’ll find that, while the front walls line up, there can be significant stagger along the rear wall line. If your building is the right width, but lacking in depth, I would say, don’t worry about it. Just pave the ground and use it to store trash cans (or, if modeling the pre-1950s Northeast, ash cans.)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with, of necessity, scratch-built structures)
Something I’d recommend, especially because it becomes easier with the seperately cast windows, is to not use as many blank walls. In my studies of buildings, I’ve noticed that nearly all of the older structures of that type had enormous amounts of windows. But when the got repurposed or had another building built next door (which subsequently got torn down) they were bricked up or otherwise sealed. I point out the windows because its easier to just leave them out and glue a piece of sytrene in place. A lot of the windows I see like that around here tend to just be a sheet of plywood or some other smooth material and not brick.
