1st i know some of you can just draw out an idea from your head and make it come alive and it looks good but im not one of those people so where do all the rest of you find the “blueprints” of what you want to model
2nd windows. i have such a hard time with windows the best i can do is print them off on the printer and paste them dehind the window openning . its an ok way of doing it but its missing detail and would like to know if any one has a better idea other than kit bashing im cheep and the thought of rendering a model un useable is just not in my vocabulary
Ironically, one of the best sources of scratchbuilding plans USED to be the pages of MR magazine. All of the scratchbuilt structures on my layout came from plans published at one time or another in that magazine. These days it appears such articles appear only rarely.
A nice source for windows is http://www.grandtline.com/index.html . The other method is practice. It troubles me to read where people won’t try to do something because they don’t have the confidence.
Just a while ago someone stated that the wanted a particular structure for their layout that was not mass produced. None of us who scratch builr regularly were born with the skill. I personaly started small and worked my way up. some of my first works were eventually used on other projects and some still exist as they were originally built
Another way is to just find pictures of the structure, building, or locomotive that you are wanting to model and use that has your basis of measurement. It’s handy if you can find a picture with a “known” fixed measurement in it - e.g. like a doorway, person, animal, car, etc. Measure the “known” in the picture then calculate the ratio to make it 1:1. Once you have that figured out, you can then reduce it to whatever scale you are in.
Courtney, just a quick word of advice. If you are just getting into scratch-building, pick an “easy” project to do first - e.g. a small shanty - before tackling something more complicated. This will help you hone your skills, not be a huge time sink for you that you can’t finish the project in a reasonable time frame, and you’ll run a lesser chance of getting discouraged.
And, if you mess up, you mess up. The important thing is to garner those important skills and sometimes we best obtain them from our mistakes. As a hopeless perfectionist at times…[gulp]…it pains me to even write that…but it is true. Over the few short years that I’ve been in MRRing I’ve learned to “loosen up” and not get quite so uptight about things when I modeling.
As far as windows, Courtney, Tichy Train Group might be a great resource for you. He has all sorts of window types and shapes, as well as doors and detailing. If you need plate glass material for your windows, Mylar (e.g. overhead transparencies) works quite well for that. Be sure though NOT to
Stebbycentral is quite correct that a major source of plans of all types used to be Model Railroader magazine, particularly from the 50’s through the 70’s. Likewise, their plans covered all manner of items, including bridges, industries large and small, along with railroad-specific buildings. While other magazines have included scaled diagrams/plans from time to time, none has even approached the volume and diversity MR once offered. Purchasing of stacks of old MRs from local train shows (usually priced very cheaply) is a good starting point to building a library of scale plans and ideas. However…it is a tremendous advantage to develop your own drafting skills if you like scratchbuilding.
The question that really needs to first be addressed here is are you looking to build rather rough, low quality, stand-in models for your layout, or reasonably realistic models. In most instances, going the cheap route results in the former. Quality in modeling is what traditionally has set the actual model railroaders appart from those who are simply toy train enthusiasts.
While highly accurate/realistic appearing models can be totally scratchbuilt, windows and all, by highly experienced craftsmen, most
Those small detail parts that you can get from companies like Nscale Engineering are what I use for mine— things like the pallets and barrels. In N scale, trying to carve up little things like those pallets are kind of hard on one’s eyes!! The assorted grab bag types of things that one gets from GrandtLine are perfect for those projects as well.
The rough scratchbuilds sometimes can be disguised as old abandoned structures—just cover them up in plantings like trees and such
You can find a lot structure floor plans on the internet. You’ll usually get dimensions and elevations that are easy to scale to your layout. Aladin built kit homes in the early part of the last century and CMU has all of their catalogs on line. It’s a great source for houses. Several laser-kit companies use them for their “craftsman kits”
Work from photographs. Visit the structure and photograph it from all sides, and take closeups of signage and complex details. Be sure that the structure fills the viewfinder to give you the best picture. If you have them bring a long tape measure and a friend and measure the major dimensions of the building. Measure the doorway and window heights. Bring a 6 foot long rod and lay it against the building so it shows in the photos.
Back at your desk start a scale drawing. Use squared paper, it makes it much easier to get things square. Make the traditional three views, front, side and top. Look at the photos as you draw. Use a scale rule to make a drawing that is full size in the scale you are building too (HO presumably). Take the dimensions from your notebook or by scaling off the photograph with dividers. Set the dividers to match the 6 foot rod you laid in the photo. Then with the dividers count the number of 6 foot steps it takes to get from one end of the structure to the other. Or set the dividers to match the height of a doorway or window.
Once you have your drawings all you need to do is cut out the pieces of your structure and cement them together.
I have done windows by merely making a window frame of stripwood around the window opening. Grandt Line offers loads of precast windows. Or you can take the molded plastic windows from old junk kits.
i did useing MR and built the shelter feed co. in the aug. issue. It came out realy good for my second try at scratch building i would show it off but for now i only have pic’s of it on my facebook and i havent had time to figure out how to put them on here from photo bucket yet BUT i think i have the scratch build bug going on so now all i want to do is build my own
Another good way to learn scratch building ,is to build a couple simple Campbell kits or a simple laser cut kit and note how the plans and parts work together. Then draw up your own diagrams using a scale rule to keep your sizes and proportions reasonable. Don.t get too complicated,just outlines and window and door locations. If it doesn’t work out for where you wanted it use it somewhere else on the layout.Tichy is a good source for windows as is Grandt line. If I were starting out I’d buy one of their big kits of miscellaneous windows and doors to get an idea of whats available. Just like in the real industry its simpler to use standard sizes instead of reinventing your own. BILL
I find most of my plans for scratch building in the OLDER issues of MR magazines and the NGSL Gazette. True, the newer MR magazines have very little if any plans. You can find the older issues of MR at most public libraries.
Search on that site for whatever industry or building you want. It might take you 15-20 minutes to find one that matches what you are searching for (because you can get hundreds of hits) but there are thousands of photos of buildings and hundreds of plans and elevations of all sorts of prototype buildings.
Estimate building sizes from photos. Most prototype buildings are HUGE and you will compress them anyway, so you will have to do some compression. Build mock ups out of cardboard to test the size and shape of the structure, then build it for real. I also like to kitbash structures, that is a great way to learn how buildings go together. When you get a kit, make lots of photocopies of the walls and roof sections. then cut and past the paper wall sections together to see what types of combinations you can come up with. Don’t be afraid to add wall sections or cut them back, replace roofs, add doors, close door and window openings.
After a few kitbashes, scratchbuilding won’t be that hard.
Keep an eye out for some of the older Kalmbach books, they collected and reprinted articles on scratchbuilding. I used one for my first scratchbuilding project - a small section house with 2 windows, regular door, and double door for handcar.
Don’t worry about mistakes, cover them up. I had one corner with a gap so I planted a bush in front of it.
