I will also add that cardboard mockups are about the best tool I use.
Possitively, absolutely no offense taken unclebutch. [:)]
Mike.
I don’t use any software - just a t square, triangle and straight edge to make rough pencil drawings to get the job done.
I usually put the plan under a sheet of glass and build on that. I often will free hand certain things (such as trestle bents) rather than use fixtures, to save time.
To keep things square during glue - up I use a straight edge and 123 blocks. I also use lots of mock ups to check the fit of a model and make a decision about the amount of compression to use.
Guy
Hi mrrdad,
I’m a recent arrival in the hobby with no room for a layout yet, so I came in with a view to embracing the modern tech for “scratchbuilding” what I want.
For CAD software there are a lot of free/low-cost options available. I know people have designed buildings, cars, and details with TinkerCAD (free online solid modeling tool), Sketchup Make (free basic version of more extensive package) and Autodesk Fusion360 (commercial, but free license for hobbyists). I know a lot of people who love F360 and hate Sketchup, but I learned that first last winter, and used it to design a subway car and a building.
I still have to add a second motor truck, LEDs and a DCC decoder, but through a combination of 3D printing (both on my own and via Shapeways) and molding and casting I’m pretty far along with the car:
I haven’t gotten around to assembling the building yet, but have copied the projected views from Sketchup to Inkscape (free vector graphics program) to modify the drawings in order to use the laser at my local makerspace to cut/engrave the walls from 1/8" thick acrylic.
I just came to the realization, that the term ‘‘scratch build’’ is a pretty wide brush.
I build generic buildings,that may or maynot represent a real structure,and dabble in small farm equipment.
Some use real blueprints to reproduce a exact scale model of a real building
Then we have those that build engines and rolling stock
Now we have folks who use technology, to make thire own parts
Shouldn’t there be some kind of distinction ? as in the scale of our trains, or dc/dcc ect. ect.
or am I over thinking again,
I get what your saying.
I guess in it’s simplest form, scratch build, you make all the pieces, kit-bashing, you use pieces that come from different kits and packages, and then there is the combination of the above.
I like your farm machinery thing. When I was a kid, store bought farm toys weren’t allowed, maybe Christmas, but that was a stretch. So, I always found my self out in the farm shop, using wood, wire, and what ever I could find, to make our own, I say “our” as I was the oldest of 4 boys.
Mike.
To me, when I make a mockup structure it is because I don’t have the materials to build the final structure but I do have cardstock, so it’s more a question of supplies.
As for plans, about half of the scratch built structures I have made I just winged it, knowing the space I had and the supplies that I had. The other half of the structures were made following plans from RMC magazine or other sources.
Currently I am building a historic California mission with plans from a elementary school project where kids build them with cardboard. I am using styrene for mine. My roofs will look better also because I found the proper Spanish tile made in plastic. I’m also adding custom interiors.
I like cardstock mockups. They help me figure out the layout of everything in a section of my railroad. It’s not much help to me in designing an individual building, but it helps whe putting everything together. Her, I’ve got a few buildings made from DPM modules, plus a kit and one side of a Cornerstone building flat.
I got the look I wanted, with the canal and the track curving over it.
There is a software package specifically for your purpose called Model Builder by Evan Designs at modeltrainsoftware.com
The basic package is $45…It also has add ons such as Advertiser (over 200 classic to modern advertising signs, including blank signs…$30.00), Window Designer (Add window treatments to plastic buildings or hand made…$40.00), Brickyard (print sheets of brick or stone in any scale…$15.00), Sign Creator (street, highway or rail side engineer signs, editable signs for street names…$40), Stained Glass (churches and art deco buildings…$15.00) and Graffiti…$20, or you can do like I did and buy the whole package at $150.00…another neat thing about the software is you can bring in photos or images you find elsewhere (or design in Photoshop) and it will scale them for you. Hope that helps.
Hi Mel, I know the “feeling” on the aging process, and things hurt! lol I will be beginning shortly to model the transition years, 1950s - early 60s so I can have both steam and diesel running. The main area will be Holland, MI (along Lake Michigan) which will have a branch end in Chicago and at the other end, the Pere Marquette passenger and ore mines northward in the UP of MI. I’ve experimented for 2 years, and am ready for the BIG one! I better get going while I still have some movement left! lol (any pics of your layout?)
What I like to do is use an old inferior in materials kit (they can be had for cheap) and build it (sometimes with many modifications) in better materials. Some of the old designs are great but sometimes the materials were not or it needs to be bigger or smaller or ect.
Hi Bob
I don’t normally take pictures of my layout per se. The main reason is because after 30 years its still 20% or so unfinished and that is an embarrassment. I’ve been at it more since I retired as much as the old age thing will allow, spurts here and there. I have 120 or so posts on my blog, there are quite a few sectional pictures of my layout, mostly project type posts.
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
EDIT:&nb
Bob,
If it may be if use, I’ve got a lot of construction pics of my Cascade Extension in a thread that starts here:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/219241.aspx?page=1
It’s a mix of traditional (L-girder, mostly) and new (pink foam scenery base, with about 75% of it done so it’s removable.)
Hi Ed, lots of good stuff in this post. I have never used a CAD program to design structures for my layout. I used to use TurboCad back when I was building fighting robots for Battle Bots and Steel Conflict, however. Powerful and inexpensive if that’s the way someone wants to go.
I pretty much use the picture on the internet>picture in my head>make it fit on the layout method. I use scale lumber and a scale to get lengths close to what would be considered prototypical. Other than that - as has been said - I pretty much fly by the seat fo my pants 
Here’s a depot I made 100% from scratch with the exception of the doors, windows, shingles, pidgeon, and pidgeon poop.
Thanks,
s~
Nice to see some TH&B stuff, s~.
Wayne
Yeah, I like the look of it, Wayne