I have spent most of the afternoon looking through your forums without much luck. For our Historical Society, we would like to do a recreation of our town center from the 1940’s, (most of the buildings are long gone). I am looking for software that I can input dimentions, (from tax maps), and get patterns to contruct the buildings. We are looking to do this in 1:48. Google Sketchup is way overboard for what we need. We just are looking for 4 walls, to be done from balsa or brick pattern. Any tips would be great. Thanks in advance.
If I’m interpreting your wish correctly, Sketchup is about as close as you’re going to get to be realistic about it. Its possible theres some CAD software that lets you generate what are close to just cubes from dimensions but nothing I know of thats not also far more complicated than Sketchup
I design buildings in Rhino and that’s pretty complicated, for example.
Very interesting project, 3 years ago, I worked on a similar project for my town 350-year anniversary. Unfortunatelely, they cut most of the budget and me had to scrap the scale model from the exhibition.
For your purpose, SketchUp would be one of the easiest (and cheaper) way to achieve your goal. You don’t have to use all the fancy options. As you said, you only need “cubes”. In SketchUp, you could easily import yourr town plan and scale it down to 1/48. Then draw the the buildings and get the exact dimensions for you real models.
Other CAD exists but if you aren’t already well trained with them, you will waste you time in frustration. I habitually work in AutoCAD because of my line of work, but you can get the same result with SketchUp according to what you need for your project.
I am very appreciative for the numerous quick replies. I have used Punch home design software in the past, but that was with a previous employer, and dI don’t have access to it anymore. I was having a hard time with Sketch up, but have viewed some tutorials on youtube today. Worth another shot…
I am doing this on a volunteer basis, and we are only talking about a dozen buildings for the main street, so this shoulddn’t be out of reach.
Any particular link to Sketchup stand out from one to another please? I have the program loaded but have found a few things difficult to get the head around. I too would like to use it for 1:48 buildings etc for our club layout but had to resort last weekend to cropping a picture of our local station in Paint and “fudging” it!
It has been about 3 years since I used it, and I would really need to have it in front of me to navigate it. I don’t really have any words of wisdom to hand ya. I am sorry!
I had the giant animated lightbulb appear over my head, (the kind the Wylie Coyote would get as he ran off the cliff). I am doing this in my spare time, and not for any “real layout”. I have the measurements, and I have no real reason to digitize it. I found on ebay last night brick sheets, scale windows & doors. I am just going to do it by hand. Seems like a simple idea… I have a “KISS” sign on my wall at work. (Although a digital downtown from 1945 would be pretty cool).
If nothing else, I have really enjoyed going through these forums, and I think I might have a new hobby on my hands. Again, seems simple, the idea of building a model railroad with my two young sons, but it was never something I considered.