OK… top ten did not work out…
So… what is everybody’s single favorite Fine Scale Miniatures kit.
Here is a better view of mine, a very nicely assembled Barnstead Lumber:
-Kevin
Yeah, those are the reasons that I would not have any FSM kits on my 1950s urban setting layout. Also, those kits were offered in the 80s and 90s, fifteen to twenty-five years before I began scale modeling.
Kevin, is there someplace where we could get a look at the various kits so we could offer an opinion?
Rich
Kevin, very nice work. But for me, I would have to skip the dilapidated shed and make it somewhat better maintained.
This is a perfect example - I have never in my life seen an operating business actually using a structure in that condition.
Yet that is a George Sellios trademark.
Sheldon
Rich, you can see many of them here by clicking on the kit description:
http://fsmkits.homestead.com/kit_history.html
Sheldon
Joining the choir of not having owned any. Way too expensive. Are small structures $100 (or more) worth it? I hope for that price they are easy to assemble and find.
They appear too old for my 1980s layout.
Well, maybe you and others need to understand this is a product from a different era in this hobby when building difficult kits was the “norm”.
I don’t have any either for the reasons I have explained.
I don’t know where you live, or what you model, but there were plenty of old buildings still standing in 1980 - just maybe not these kinds of buildings in the settings you are modeling - so I do get that part as well.
Most of them don’t fit my theme either and I model 1954.
As for cost - as I have explained before - in this business cost is not determined by what manufacturers think people will pay.
Cost is more controlled by “cost to produce”. As these kits became more elaborate they became more expensive - plain and simple.
Building kits like these was never for everybody, and likely even fewer are interested in them today.
Now, here is the thing - I have lots of these, and will likely buy more:
http://www.laserartstructures.com/
Scan thru and notice the difference.
Sheldon
Every fine scale miniature kit I am familiar with includes the parts in pristine condition and gives instructions to make them look dilapidated.
Really? You have never seen a semi-abandoned structure in an otherwise fully operational business.
I can think of hundreds of times I have seen run-down buildings in places of business. Everything from Norfolk Southern’s yard near Atlanta to United States Sugar’s Maintenance facility West of Clewiston.
My first job was for a service point for General Motors industrial diesel engines in South Florida. The main shop building was beautiful, but we had a core storage shed out back that looked a lot like the building at Barnstead Lumber.
When the new generator set was installed at the Lee County Civic Center the old enclosure for the previous generator set sat there for a decade and rotted before it was finally removed.
Surely you have seen rotting barns on otherwise fully functional farms.
-Kevin
If you like the building, yes, they are worth it.
Kit #180 “Sand House” commonly sells on eBay for less than $100.00 and includes all these castings. Easily worth the price all by themselves.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
The wooden parts for the four structures all come bagged and most are pre-cut to length.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
The instructions and templates are all excellent.
Easy to assemble… NO! Quite the opposite.
There is nothing difficult about assembly, there is just a lot too it.
When I assemble my “Sand House” the plan is to use the two buildings in the middle as a suuply shed, and the two pole sheds in other locations.
-Kevin
I did say “actually using”. As for farm buildings, much more chance of seeing abandoned buildings today than in 1954.
Most old barns around here are built from American Chestnut, and as such they don’t rot even when abandoned, and there is big money in taking them down and salvaging the lumber when they are no longer wanted.
There is a difference between heavily weathered and aged, and just plain falling down.
In any case your lumber yard looks great, I just would have done that one item differently.
It is no secret that I have never cared for the George Sellios view of the depression era.
The scenery on the Severna Park Model Railroad Club layout depicts building
Having renovated houses in Baltimore in the 70’s, I can tell you there are parts of town like that, many. I live in California now and I see decay near the tracks in all major citys and minor ones like Napa in wine country where the average resort room rate can be $600.00 or more.
I have four kits from Branchline Laser Art, and might get one or two more.
There is not much character in the line of buildings, and these date from a time when laser cutting was offered as a short-cut to scratchbuilt appearances.
Nickle’s Milling And Feed is my favorite, and I’ll bet with painting and some extra details from RailKits and SS Ltd it will be a nice structure, but right from the box it is pretty bland.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
An example of as-built from the kit:
[|)]
Except for the generator enclosure at L.C.C.C. all my examples were in use.
From my observations, management decides to stop maintaining a building long before employees decide it is no longer a good place to stash stuff.
-Kevin
[quote user=“rrebell”]
ATLANTIC CENTRAL
Sold them for years when I worked in the hobby shop. Had a good friend who’s layout had that sort of theme and he built lots of them. They are works of art, and in my opinion my friend made them better than the originals.
I’ve built lots of other craftsman kits, Campbell, etc.
But in general, FSM kits don’t fit my era or theme all that well.
I’m sure I could take one and turn it into my vision for my layout - but as presented they are not my thing.
Never saw one that I felt would fill that perfect spot on any of my layouts.
While my layouts often have had some rural structures and industries, my theme has always been to depict a small city, a reasonably prosperous one, and the rural areas either side of that city.
Industry can be messy and dirty, and old building do show age, but even when I sold MATCO TOOLS in the oldest parts of Baltimore, few buildings/businesses showed the kind of neglect often protrayed in FSM kits as presented by their designer.
These kits are simply not in line with my life experiance - even with my considerable time spend in rural Appalachia. Even the people in West Virginia know what a paint brush is…
To those who are struck by the prices - look closely at the complexity and detail. I have no problem with their value - if I wanted one.
Sheldon
Having renovated houses in Baltimore in the 70’s, I can tell you there are parts of town like that, many. I live in California now and I see decay near the tracks in all major citys and minor ones like Napa in wine country where the average resort room rate can be $600.00 or more.
Anyway…
I was really interested in what Fine Scale Miniatures kits other model builders had as their favorites.
-Kevin
I understand and I appoligize for being part of the somewhat negative view here.
Even with my Architectural talents, I just neve looked at one of those kits and said “I need one of those on my layout”.
I like the cleaner, more to scale, look of the LazerArt buildings.
To each their own.
Sheldon
Never owned nor built a Fine Scale Miniatures kit, but George Sellios’s imaginative and masterful work helped further my interest in the hobby, structure modeling and attention to detail. As a kid I watched my father build a wood and paper model airplane kit, ever since there’s been a certain fascination in how a ‘box of sticks’ can be hewn into a remarkable model.
Regards, Peter
I own two.
2 stall Enginehouse
Roadside Delights
Both are top notch.
Roadside Delights is about the only one that interests me from a theme/application standpoint on my layout.
Sheldon
All of the FSM kits I have seen have attractive basic architecture with proper proportions. I’m sure they are very rewarding to build and detail if you have the patience for that sort of thing.
I’d build them reflecting pristine condition and skip the dilapidated look. Afterall, you’d think that an operating lumber company could at least find some spare boards to fill in the holes.
But I model somewhere in the neighborhood of 2010, so corrugated metal buildings (ala from Pikestuff) and poured concrete walls are the basic ingredients of my kitbashed and scratchbuilt structures. I have never owned any FSM kits.
Wilfrid J Brambell Co.
Emporium Seafood
Rawlins Sawyer Chemical
FSM kits are amazing and really sparked my imagination as a kid. I always enjoy reading about them and seeing what other modellers have done with them.
I just got this one tonight on eBay. It was less than $75.00 including shipping and taxes.
Seems good to me.
-Kevin