Well, I’ve just completed my first attempt at scratchbuilding a structure.
I know it doesn’t look like much but I wanted something simple for my first go around and this will fit in as a workshop or section house with my Walthers passenger station and freight house.
I decided to use the foam core method espoused by Ken Spranza. His stuff is quite impressive:
http://www.horailroad.com/clinic2/cl2_005.htm
The nice thing about his method for me is that it is very forgiving for a newbie. It only took a couple of hours to complete. Now onto something more ambitous! [:D]
Cool. What did you learn? What would you differently?
Well, I certainly learned that I should spend more time making sure I make straight cuts in the styrene. I think I was in a bit too much of a hurry to get “resuts” and didn’t want to throw away poorly shaped pieces. However, given that I don’t have much experience doing that, I can’t say that I did too poor a job.
Next time I will make sure I have more detail pieces to work with. You’ll notice that my building has no windows and the roof is flat. On the next structure, I’m planning to have a peaked roof and several windows to get the hang of that aspect. I don’t own a pin vice and will need one to cut windows. Looks like another trip to the hardware store! [:p]
Great job! My first scratchbuild turned out bad, but I got the hang of it pretty quick. Keep up the good work! [tup]
I hope my first such attempt turns out nearly as good. [:)]
-Crandell