Philosophy Friday -- Kit-Bashing

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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“Kit-Bashing”

My guess is that sooner or later most modelers get around to trying some kit-bashing. The idea is, of course, to take parts from one kit and use them together with parts from another kit-- or multiple kits, or even scratch parts such as brick sheets, extruded girders, fence parts or what have you. Or even to make or modify stuff using “found parts”, stuff that isn’t from a kit at all but just bits and pieces from who knows what found just lying around. Of course some modelers also use commercial kits, or purpose-made “kit-bashing parts” such as the Walthers Modulars components.

My Questions For This Week are Really Simple:

– Have you tried “kit-bashing” before? If so, what all have you kit-bashed together?

– What is your preference for parts-- looting commercial kits, buying purpose-made parts, using found parts-- some of each? What do you think gives the best results?

– If you’re a proponent of kit-bashing from commercial kits, do you have any favorites-- i.e. Walthers Cornerstone, DPM downtown kits, etc.?

– How much “bashing” (combining / modifying of parts) must you do to really consider the results “kit-bashed”? Would simply making a flagpole from a bit of left-over sprue count? Or do you think it oughta be more substantial than that?

– What’s your favorite or least-favorite project and why?

As usual, I’m looking forward to your thoughts and comments!

Photos are always fun too :slight_smile:

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I have been kitbashing and scratchbuilding since I got back into the hobby in 1978.

I have no preference for a parts supply,anything is fair game.

Any kit (and some prebuilt) models are fair game.Nothing goes on my layouts “box stock”.

That flag pole from a piece of kit sprue is not kitbashing.It is scratchbuilding.

Imhave no least favorite project ,they are all my favorites.[:D]

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Interesting topic… Pretty much everything I build is kit bashed to some extent. Matter of fact, I don’t know anyone who builds structures exactly as they are designed. We all have our little changes, additions, subtractions we do…

I personally love wood structure kits. Much easier to switch stuff around than plastic… Bar Mills, Sierra West, FSM, and other craftsman kits, they all make excellent starting points for something different. Presently, I’ve got some Branchline lighthouses on the bench. Grafting 2 of those buildings together and losing the towers will make an awesome New England company H.Q.

Get out the knife and straightedge, and start cutting stuff up. It’s fun!

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I build most of my kits pretty much “straight up (per the instructions),” but I’ve also done a little kit modifying - just taking a kit and making changes. I don’t recall blending more than one kit. Here is one kit modifying project:

It began as a Jordan Highway Miniatures school bus kit. I added a NWSL Flea mechanism and a scratch built pilot truck, using N-scale wheels:

I’ve modified a few structure kits, too. This one was intended to be a boat builder’s shop. It was a fairly plain looking 2-story design:

It would have been too tall to look credible on my layout, so I reworked it:

I think that most folks who build kits eventually get around to revising them in one way or another. It seems to be sort of the natural growth of creativity.

I like craftsman kits in general, so I really can’t speak to the question about source of parts. Mine generally come from craftsman kits. On the Dream, Plan, Build video series, I recall seeing one segment covering the blending of two masonry buildings (two plastic kits) and the results were very good.

As far as my favorite kit bashing project, it would have to be the railbus. It was a lot of fun - the mechanism fit perfectly within the body, so it went together pretty quickly and without any hangups. I don’t really have a least favorite.

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That rail us is a work of art! Very nice!

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– Have you tried “kit-bashing” before? If so, what all have you kit-bashed together?

It’s hard to remember when I haven’t kitbashed. I especially kitbash structures. I consider ready-to-run rolling stock as ready-to-rebuild. I have done only a little locomotive modification. One reason for kitbashing- I don’t want my railroad to look like everybody else’s…to look like a bunch of frequently seen kits. I like to model scenes with a feel and a sense of place, so I try to find a way to get that from what is available, with only a little scratchbuilding. I have gotten ideas from many kitbashing articles, but I don’t believe I have EVER copied one of those projects. Rather I bash to fit my space and my desired scene.

– What is your preference for parts-- looting commercial kits, buying purpose-made parts, using found parts-- some of each? What do you think gives the best results?

– If you’re a proponent of kit-bashing from commercial kits, do you have any favorites-- i.e. Walthers Cornerstone, DPM downtown kits, etc.?

Whatever fits – or CAN BE FIT- to create the feel and

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I usually build kits following the instructions. If I want something not available as a kit, I usually parts/scratchbuild it. I’m always picking up parts at train shows, hobby stores, as well as keeping all the left over pieces from kits.

But I have some kits and RTR that I picked up with a little bashing/modifying in mind.

Enjoy

Paul

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Yes, an NYC emergency war caboose from a MDC wood boxcar and the doors and windows from a Walthers NYC wood caboose.

The best results come from the best products available. I use whatever. Sometimes that’s scratch-building something if the part(s) aren’t available, or buying it commercial, if it is. If it’s an intricate, well-produced and/or hard to replicate part, why try and re-invent the wheel.

DPM kits are fun to bash and embellish.

I think there are varying degrees of both kit-bashing and scratch-building. IMO, drawing a line in the sand and saying “This is…but that isn’t…” is a waste of time. Some projects take more or less time to “bash” than others. The important thing is the end result; no matter how much or how little time you spend on achieving that.

My favorite are the projects that are believeable; the least-favorie being the ones that are not.

Tom

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I do a lot of modification–not so much rolling stock, but buildings and especially bridges. I’ve got about 12 bridges on the Yuba River Sub and only about 3 of them are ‘straight from the box’. the others have been either ‘bashed’ or modified from the kit in some way. For instance, my Deer Creek Viaduct started out as two MicroScale tall viaducts, but then I modified the girders to conform to a 36" radius curve, and fiddled around with the towers. Another bridge–my Bullards Bar arch bridge is an ‘Americanized’ Faller German kit.

Probably my most extensive ‘kit-bash’ was converting an old brass PFM 3800 series Santa Fe 2-10-2 into a Rio Grande F-81 2-10-2 ‘lookalike’. Turned out pretty well, if I do say so. In fact, when I got lucky and could actually AFFORD a brass F-81 (Precision Scale), my PFM turned out to be much closer than I thought–enough that I’m not afraid to run them side by side for comparison. The Brass Purists were aghast at my ‘desecration’, of course, but what the Hey, I ended up with two smooth-running F’s, even if one is a ‘kinda-sorta’.

So yes, I enjoy ‘bashing’. I don’t do a lot of it, but when I do, I have a lot of fun doing it.

Tom

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– Have you tried “kit-bashing” before? If so, what all have you kit-bashed together?

Yes, a lot of time since the last 12 years so far. Modelling Canadian trains makes kitbashing almost an obligation to me. My locale, Quebec City, is particular for it’s French heritage, so buildings from American or Canadian aren’t ideal to represent structures built prior to 1880.

So far, I kitbashed almost all my steam engines, rebuilt my MoW cars and tackle with diesels. Most structures actually on the layout are kitbashed from various parts.

– What is your preference for parts-- looting commercial kits, buying purpose-made parts, using found parts-- some of each? What do you think gives the best results?

Both. I think the quality of results is mainly associated with the crafmatnship deployed to bring eveything together.

– If you’re a proponent of kit-bashing from commercial kits, do you have any favorites-- i.e. Walthers Cornerstone, DPM downtown kits, etc.?

Anything that fits the bill. I like DPM, but using too much on a layout maybe be repetitive. I like to scavenge AHM, Heljan, Walthers, Bachmann and other kits together. I’ll take a chimney from one, the front from an other and the siding of a third one.

– How much “bashing” (combining / modifying of parts) must you do to really consider the results “kit-bashed”? Would simply making a flagpole from a bit of left-over sprue count? Or do you think it oughta be more substantial than that?

Habitually, we I have to saw the original shell, I feel like I really doing bashing. But honestly, the limit is quite fuzzy on that aspect. It range from superdetailling to Frankeinstein creation.

– What’s your favorite or least-favorite project and why?

My favorite one was my CNR Spectrum 2-8-0. I did it in only a few days without commercial parts. Everything that needed to be redone or added was made from scraps including ballpoint pen tubing! This project tought me kitbashing wasn’t about

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Some kitbashing. Kitbashing means modifying a kit, as opposed to scratchbuilding where you start from scratch. Kitbashing is more than just paint shop stuff, new paint and decals.

One favorite project. This started out as a regular structure (you know four walls and a roof). I

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Most of my stuctures are scratch built and most of my rolling stock is kit bashed to some degree. For example, in this photo of my HOn30 logging camp, the round house, crane, shed, and loading platform are scatched built. The blacksmith shed is a bashed Woodland Scenics kit. The flat car is bashed from the frame of an N gauge flat car. the disconnects are bashed from 4 wheel British N gauge carraiges. The yarder on the dock is bashed from a yarder casting and the box car is bashed from a HOn3 kit.

The hardest bashing job I’ve undertook was this California & Northeastern 4-4-0 No 1. The research alone took many years but it is on of my favorites.

Peter Smith, Memphis

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– Have you tried “kit-bashing” before? If so, what all have you kit-bashed together?

Yes, I have kit bashed buildings, structures, freight cars, and passenger cars.

– What is your preference for parts-- looting commercial kits, buying purpose-made parts, using found parts-- some of each? What do you think gives the best results?

My preference depnds on what is being modeled and what materials are available from various sources. Using left over parts from kits can be a time saver if they are appropriate for the model.

– If you’re a proponent of kit-bashing from commercial kits, do you have any favorites-- i.e. Walthers Cornerstone, DPM downtown kits, etc.?

I really do not have a favorite brand.

– How much “bashing” (combining / modifying of parts) must you do to really consider the results “kit-bashed”? Would simply making a flagpole from a bit of left-over sprue count? Or do you think it oughta be more substantial than that?

Actually, I don’t put much thought into whether a model is scratch built or kit bashed.

– What’s your favorite or least-favorite project and why?

I don’t have a single favorite project. Here are some I like. … Reggie’s Junk Yard and Auto Parts was fun to do, and it is a bit whimsical. The auto parts store was kit bashed from an old junker wood box car obtained from a train show. The shed behind the gate is scratch built as is the dog house for the junk yard dog named “Dawg” .

“Silver Fountain” is a Diner-Parlor-Observation Car kitbashed from a Walthers Budd observation car.

The large grain elevator was kit bashed from several kits of

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I do some kit bashing in a limited way. It really depends on the space I have for a particular building and the results that I am looking for.

The parts that I use depends on what I have on hand. However, on my favorite project, I did go out and buy a second building of the same type.

I will generally use whatever I have on hand if it fits the project.

I think a kit bash should change the original appearance of the structure in some way.

My favorite kit bash was the Herritage Furniture background building that I modified so it would fit on two levels. There is a track level (original ground level) that is higher than the truck dock level which is the lower ground level (which I added).

(The building on the right in the photos below.)

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Wow! I like gandydancers 2-level Heritage Furniture! [;)]

A philosophic thought about kitbashing. It is a little akin to motion picture set design where the designer sees a way to use an existing stock set on the backlot to represent something different from what it was originally designed as. For instance, a wild west town might be redressed a bit to become a Yukon gold rush boom own in Alaska. A Bible-story temple set from a 1920s silent movie became part of the island native’s great wall in the original King Kong and then the same set was re-dressed to be set afire as part of the burning of Atlanta in Gone With the Wind.

A 90 minute drive from my home in Corpus Christi takes me to a reconstructed Spanish presidio built to protect a mission in the 1700s.

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– Have you tried “kit-bashing” before? If so, what all have you kit-bashed together?

Always. There are very few structures on my layout that are stock from the box.

– What is your preference for parts-- looting commercial kits, buying purpose-made parts, using found parts-- some of each? What do you think gives the best results?

Anything and everything. Over the years I’ve accumulated tons of junque, and have bins and boxes to keep it all more or less sorted. Larger structures are usually a combination of several kits, augmented with some scratch built pieces that use Evergreen sheet and strip stock, or perhaps modular wall sections, or perhaps something I scavenged from a totally non model railroading source, such as these storage bins fabricated from plastic sleeves gleaned from a scrapped chandelier…

– If you’re a proponent of kit-bashing from commercial kits, do you have any favorites-- i.e. Walthers Cornerstone, DPM downtown kits, etc.?

Whatever works… This mill complex is a combination of a bunch old Heljan kits, DPM modulars, a Walthers built up, and a bunch of scratch bashed add-ons…

– How much “bashing” (combining / modifying of parts) must you do to really consider the results “kit-bashed”? Would simply making a flagpole from a bit of left-over sprue count? Or do you think it oughta be more substantial than that?

Anything that takes a stock kit and makes it “mine” is enough. Maybe it’s just rearranging some window placements, maybe it’s putting an addition on a built up, or adding some of my own roof details to an otherwise stock kit.

– What’s your favorite or least-fav

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Don’t limit the raw material to kits. Bashing RTR equipment also works.

Here’s a pic of my “NW2M,” a Kato NW2 that was converted to narrowgauge and had a steam generator and dynamic brake added. The conversion provided enough room under the extended hood and repositioned cab so that the DCC decoder install was much easier than it would have been. In fact, the unit has been on the deadline for the last 4 years because the decoder install was going to be a PITA.

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When I initially saw this thread, I thought, “Yeah, almost everything on my layout.” However, after some consideration, I realise that much of it can be discounted.

What I’m left with is Bertram’s Machine and Tool Works, a Walthers Vulcan Foundry built with the two long walls facing the viewer:

It was combined with an addition made with brick walls from an MDC 3-in-1 kit. The roof is mostly left-over panels from a Vollmer roundhouse, with others, along with the loading dock, made from .060" sheet styrene. On the near end, the office complex is a re-worked LifeLike Fairhaven Bottling Plant, while the low structure tying everything together is parts left from the bottling plant, along with some scratchbuilt stuff.

Here’s what used to be the Vollmer roundhouse. I built it into a shop to better suit the available space:

…and from the rear:

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/doctorwayne/structures%20and%20a%20few%20b%2

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My first kitbash was on one of my first layouts in the early 1960s (was kitbashing even a name back then??). I cut the end off 2 Revell engine house kits to make it longer so my Athearn pacific would fit. I have done quite a bit of kitbashing of buildings on my former layout; they are mostly sitting on a shelf waiting for a home on my new layout. I used “How to Model Kitbashed Structures” now out of print as a reference for a number of them

Some of what I have kitbashed in Greenvale Junction include the Walthers Centennial Mill background model. I discovered that the kit had a back wall, so I cut one end wall in half to make a set back section and used the back wall to extend the front width. It became the Country Kitchen Bakery in the back center of this photo. Another kitbash was a Wathers Merchants Row 1 that I cut down in width and removed the front (since only the back will show). This made a low relief background model near the backdrop at the right rear of the photo. The buildings on the backdrop are made with the Model Maker program and printed on photo paper.

Another kitbash involved a City Classics tile front building. Originally 5 stories, I feel it was too tall for the area in Sheepscott I was planning, so I removed one floor and added an interior. The Shamrock Hotel was made from 3 or 4 Lifelike Belvidiere Downtown Hotel kits. I added one floor and used the side walls and spliced the narrow end walls to make a square structure fron a rectangular one. I added an interior, lighting and a Miller Engineering animated sogn on top

IN one of my references, there is a photo of some B&M

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Kitbashing is the name of the game when it comes to making almost everything I want, so it’s a standard part of my modeling. Kitbashes include installing Japanese irimoya tile roofs on small buildings, butchering AAR hoppers and SP cabooses into articulated coal hoppers and coal brakes and assembling completely different superstructures on steam locomotive mechanisms. My big colliery’s major structure will be an unsanctified union of a Walthers mine and some old Athearn composite hopper car sides, plus scratch-built conveyors and support structure.

All of the above. Whatever I find that gives the result I’m trying to achieve is what I use.

Any kit is a candidate for kitbashing. I have no preferences.

Adding or making minor changes to details is superdetailing. When the change involves altering structure or completely re-purposing the model it’s a kitbash if the parts are largely prefabricated, such as windows or complete walls. The line between kitbashing and scratchbuilding gets fu