I am just getting back to building a layout after 35 years away from model railroading. My have things changed. I am sure that I will have many questions, but my first is regarding structures. I used to use Campbell Kits and Suydam. On my first looks I see that there are still those “traditional” kits, there are also laser cut kits and there are resin kits.
What type of kits offer the most authentic look and detail these days? Can the different types of kits be combined on the same layout or is the look so different that one type would “stand out” next to the other?
Welcome back to the hobby! As far as which kits to buy, it really depends on what materials you are most comfortable using. I have used cardstock, real wood and lots of styrene. I have come to the conclusion that I like styrene the best. As far as what kits to buy, search through the Walthers website. Most every kit available can be found there.
Can you mix kits of different material construction? I don’t see why not. Unless you leave your kits unpainted, the finished kits will all have similar, well, finishes! As far as mixing kits of different modeling styles? That might sometimes push realism. A lot of the craftsmen wood kits seem more like characatures of buildings rather than a true model of a real building but that’s just my opinion. Some of the newer laser cut wood kits are very realistic.
I often read that the only modeling material that looks like real wood is real wood! I don’t agree. Most of the styrene kits I have distressed before construction appear more like true scale wood than my real wood models (I’d hate to be the figure on the layout that got a splinter from that real wood scale 2" by 4"! That splinter is the size of a chopstick!). I also think that less is more when distressing a building kit. Too often, I see people adding certain distressing techniques to their structures that they would never find acceptable on a prototype building.
Try a few different types of kits and see what YOU like. We all have different tastes and skills anyway.
You can get a very nice looking structure with any kind of kit. Like the real world, the thing that counts in a structure is workmanship and patience. I have an old Suydam packing plant which is a cardboard structure, a Branchline Trains laser kit, and a host of plastic kits representing wood and brick buildings. They all blend very well together. The level of detail in today’s plastic kits is very good.
I model a more urban setting, so brick structures are common. However, in any city you’ll see wood buildings. I got a lot of satisfaction from building a laser kit, and the resulting abandoned gristmill fits in just fine with the Transition Era buildings nearby. I was intimidated by that laser kit, thinking that I wasn’t yet “worthy” of it, but once I started I quickly got into it, and had a very pleasant time with the project.
Really, there are mostly very good kits out there. I enjoy taking a simple kit, pretty much 4 walls and a roof, and painting and detailing that to make it my own. Kits by DPM (Woodland Scenics) and City Classics come with very fine castings and they invite the effort to bring them to life as your own structures.
Having built both Campbell (and other stick) wood kits and various laser kits, the laser kits are usually pretty easy builds. They more precise and the fit and construction more closely resembles real-life.
As others have indicated, they play well together, with the key being the finishing and weathering.
Start with a simple laser kit and work up from there. If you’re not sure how much Campbell you remember, do the same with those.
There are el cheapo Plasticville kits and there are some more expensive wood kits. I have seen some people take a Plasticville and turn it into something you wouldn’t recognize as a Plasticville!
There are some wonderful kits form Bar Mills, there site is here:
For someone coming back to structure building after an absence of many years I would urge you to explore the modular series from Walthers and Design Preservation – Model Die Casting had something like that “back in the day” but the new systems offer quite a bit of flexibility.
And if you have never built one I do think you would enjoy a laser cut wood kit. It is amazing how well the parts fit together and how finely the wood can be fitted and cut by the laser process. Oh and save the left over bits and pieces. Save up enough of them and a number of small projects will come to mind
Most of the other kits on the market are in one way or other not unlike what you recall from years ago. One word of advice is, don’t ignore the kits from Rix. They are easy to overlook but there is some nice stuff in the various lines they offer.
I went to one of these a couple of years back. I had a great time attending clinics and browsing through all the vendor booths. It’s really an event for serious scenery modelers. I had no idea that there were so many small companies making craftsman kits.
So many answers. A lot depends on what you like and what you’re trying to accomplish. My brick and “metal” buildings are plastic (used the Walters modulars for the big cotton mill), my favorite material is wood. I just love working with wood. To me it does represent real wood better than plastic, not becuase of the visible grain, but the way it takes paint. It just naturally builds some weathering due to the way the grain absorbes the paint & stain. The key, as someone said above, is to not overdo the distressing.
A similar thought is, someone above mentioned the laser cut kits are more realistic than the others (less of a charicature). But I think that is more due to the era when the kits were designed or who designed them than the fabrication. We went through a period where over distressing, and funky-delic design were the norm. Though I do have in my photobox pictures of an old cotton gin/oil mill that looks like an FSM design with all the various materials, roof lines, and “details” (ie junk) piled around. One of these days I have to get around to building it.
Things have definitely changed, haven’t they? Insofar as structures are concerned, there is a wealth to choose from out there. One central place to get an idea is to hit the Walthers website and do special - but generic -searches for the structure you seek (i.e. freight station, coaling tower, icing platform, etc.).
I’ve been in the hobby since the '50s, and have built models of wood, styrene, laser cut, etc. My general preference is still styrene, but some of the better looking structures - definitely the most unique ones - are laser cuts from various mfgs.