I have a great book called “California Crazy” about the vernacular architectural style that developed along road side America. Buildings shaped like ships, tamales, coffee kettles, etc.
My favorite is on the cover, its a two-story eatery made like a sitting Bulldog with a corncob pipe in his mouth (ever see the movie “Rocketeer”). Near me is a shrimp boat perched on the side of the street used as a restaurant called ths Shrimp House (What did you expect?), and Carney’s, a fast food joint using old railroad passenger cars.
For modeling porposes how about using a old childs toy coffee or tea kettle as the bases for a roadside diner? Or a small sitting dog figurine kitbashed with some doors and windows? If your modeling anything after 1920 these were very common along the roadsides and towns of America.
I recall Houston in the 1950s used to have independent off-brand gasoline stations with a building in the shape of an old-fashioned oil can.
Like to build more architectural styles than your space or justification allows. Like to build fully-framed board-by-board buildings and disappointed that viewers can’t see the inside of the buildings without taking off or leaving off the roof. Build your layout a MOVIE STUDIO BACK LOT with a Western town, a third-world jungle village, an Old European town, a Victorian street and a 1950s version of the future, all jumbled up within a square foot or two. And since the buildings are only false fronts, you get to model the backside framework, struts, supports.
I know this is off the topic, but here in Delaware ING re-worked two old RR buildings into office space. 1 was an old B&O stations the other was an old PRR frieght house. Both look great.
Last summer my girlfriend and her sister went on a road trip through Alberta then down through Montania, Idiho, and finaly in to Washington. Along the way they came across a gas station that had a B-52 bomber as the cover over the gas pumps. I’m not sure which state it was in, but thats not something you see everywhere.
Actually, if you want to talk about unusual buildings, an airfield would be an interesting choice. An airport would be a little too gargantuan, but if you model a rural area, a single-strip airfield for crop dusters and private planes wouldn’t be out of line–if it was set a bit behind the mainline, using a scale smaller than your modeled scale would be a good way to create a sense of forced perspective–either that or have larger scale planes closest to the edge of the layout and smaller scale ones a foot or two back. With some good modeling, this could create the effect of a much deeper area on an otherwise narrow space.
Near Sacramento there was, may still be, a farmer who apparently used the road for a runway. His airplane hanger doors had direct access to the road. There was no runway in sight. The was on one of the levee roads along the river. I don’t remember if it was a State Highway or County road.
A Yurt is, I think, a felt tent, sometimes on wheels,[:O] used by nomadic peoples in places like Mongolia.
When you think about it, it would be a reasonably unusual building, especially for the Musquodoboit, Eastern Shore and Sydney RR. [8D] Now, working out how it got there, that’s another story…[:-,]
Guess what. according to my 13yr old who just looked over my shoulder reading this, said…
“you don’t know what a YURT is! It’s a mongolian… Geez Dad everyone knows what a Yurt is” Apparently not[V] Yes I regret asking and yes I should of asked him first[:I]
[:D][:D] glad you asked, serious answer is YURTs are described as large mongolian Teepees, I think they are wonderful Alternative Housing that is environmentally friendly, cost effective and unique… I first learned of then in some country living type magazines, and the retirement house for us will likely be a YURT by the lake…
http://www.yurt.com/
toll free 800 944-0240 Pacific YURTS - they’ll send a brochure - for your r/r modelling dimensions, or YURT interest
There is an unusual building that I am in all the time. My school. It was built by an architect who later built a very famous mall in New Jersy. My school is built like a parking garage and has a strange shape. Like this:
/ \ I know that it would be hard to make, but it would give
_/ _ you a lot of things to cover space with. The building then
_/ _ 2 baseball fields, a football field, 4 soccer fields, and then
_/ _ a cross country course going through the surrounding
woods.
How about an apple?
There’s an apple farm just west of Kingston, ON that has a building shaped like an apple.
There’s also a driving range/mini-putt golf course that has a “pro-shop” shaped like a golf ball here in Oshawa.
In Toronto I seen a billboard with a jeep sticking out of it. Last year at the calgary Supertrain show there was a magnificent display from a club in Edmonton, which had a wonderful model of the Calgary Tower which is a very odd building in its own right. i have often thought of modeling an N scale version of the Petro Canada tower in Calgary. It would be around 7 feet tall in Nscale and I am sure my wifes cats would love to climb it.