I searched through the archives/internet and found talk of a Glencoe US Capitol model. It seems to be of lower detail, but is hard to find anyway. I also found this model: http://www.megahobby.com/uscapitol3dpapermodel.aspx
It looks to be rather detailed, and based on the height dimensions it seems to be in line with N scale. Has anyone seen this model in person and knows of the quality/durability? Or does anyone know of another N or possibly HO scale version?
I used to own a model of the US Capitol by Glencoe Models, but I sold the unbuilt kit last summer. The box claimed it was Z scale, but I never checked the measurements. I suspect the model was “selectively compressed”.
The kit is very simple, I believe all the detail is molded on. It would be a nice kit for a school project, and with some painting and landscaping, could be very nice.
Glencoe Models also made a kit of the US White House. It was billed as N scale, and again it was seriously compressed. (The Capitol model took up about as much space as the White House model.) In the 1970s, these kits were sold by Sears, with a set of tiny statues of US Presidents. I actually had one of these as a kid, and the model did not require glue for assembly, which was handy if you wanted to bring the kit to school for show and tell. I bought a kit more recently, but sold it when I sold the Capitol.
Glencoe also made a series of figures of US Presidents, that had been offered by a number of sellers over the years. (Marx Toys may have sold these figures at one time.) I believe they were about 2.5" tall. The same tooling was used to produce the 1" figures in the White House set I mentioned above. In the late 1980s - early 1990s, Glencoe was advertising that the figures would be rereleased, but apparently this never happened. I was kind of looking forward to painting up a set.
Is Glencoe Models still in business?
Based on the dimensions I found for the Capitol (on the net) the paper model you found appears to be less than 1/2 N Scale at approximately 1:400. N Scale is 1:160.
I found this wooden model. Also approximately 1:400
http://www.curiocityonline.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1028&gclid=CI_g86aTxq0CFWgaQgodWxhRhA
I had a plastic White House wqhen I was a kid, may be middle 1950s or so. To my Lionel tinplate eys, it looked HO, but was probably actually a smaller scale.
If I had it now, and it was not a (oooh, gosh don’t touch it?) collectors’ item, I would probably consider kitbashing into a courthouse, post office or college.
Marx made a Plasticville style US Capitol building in the 1950s-60s.
No clue as to the scale though. Always looked way undersized for O scale, so it might work well for HO or N.
Hard to find info on it online, but this is the best I could:
Oh, shoot… I was looking at the model’s width as its height. Ohwell. Thanks for the help, everyone! I’ll keep an eye out for the glencoe or something else that might be in N scale. Without finding one my current plans are dead in the water unless I want to scratchbuild the US Capitol when I have yet to even put together my first kit. 
The kit I had in the late 1960s - early 1970s was probably originally made by or for Marx. I used it with my HO trains in the 1970s, and the “HO” soldiers I had were much bigger than the White House’s doors, and bigger than the Preiser figures (which were labelled as 1:90 scale) I had at the time. I think those Preiser figures were bigger than the doors.
And yes, the building would have made a nice courthouse or city hall.
I recall that Con-Cor/Heljan sold a HO replica of Independence Hall to capitalize on the Bicentennial; it also could have been made into a nice courthouse.
But do you really need a to-scale N scale model? I don’t know the exact dimensions of the US Capitol, but I would think that even in N scale, it would probably too large for a layout.
Is it possible that a 1:400 scale model would work for you as a background model? (Sort of a forced perspective thing.)
It is possible, but I’m new to all of this.
I was planning on it being more of a focal point than a background model, but that may need to be what I settle on. The rail line in DC pretty much comes over the river from Virginia, runs by some federal buildings, through a neighborhood, then goes under the Capitol and comes back out at Union Station. My current thought is that this will be a shelf layout in a corner and it seemed the capitol would be nice up on a hill in the corner. Still possible as a background, but as I figure things out over the coming months hopefully it will become more clear.
I’ll try putting together a crude footprint or cardboard set of boxes in the 2 scales and see how large they seem for a layout.
According to the Architect of the Capitol, the main dimensions of the building are as follows:
**
In N scale (.075"/foot), that would make the Capitol some 56.3475" long by 26.25" at its widest point, by 21.6" high.
Trying to fit what we want into the space we have/can get is a constant problem all model railroaders face.
I guess I was only thinking about the height. Maybe it should just be part of a backdrop or severely forced perspective. Even at half of N that would make it 2’ wide.
The sight lines aren’t really there for it, if you’re being exacting. Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson memorials yes though. And the distances are a bit wonky. There’s a lot of territory between the tracks and the Capitol. Unless you removed the office complex at Capitol South. To me, parring down the office high rises along the tracks in SW to free up visibility would ruin the vibe of the area.
You have sort of a view from where the tracks turn to the north, right up 395. For as huge as that building is, its surprisingly hard to see from ground level off the Mall, isn’t it? I work near Federal Center SW and walk Virginia to L’Enfant every day with the tracks right there. I may or may not have sketches of a series of planned modules of L’Enfant Plaza for “someday.”
But like I said, it all depends on exactly how “real” you want to aim for. I once had a girlfriend who asked me how much space it would take to build Union Station and I said “the whole house.” She thought I was joking. That’s the hard part of getting downtown in a major city.
The likely answer is that I need to re-evaluate my thoughts. I clearly haven’t considered scale as much as I need to. I would deifnitely think the office complex at Capitol South could go, but I would probably prefer to have Jefferson anyway. I was just thinking that the tracks going under it would be interesting. It doesn’t need to be too “real” I don’t think. But as this is my first ever model, it is hard to say where the road will lead me as far as interests go.
Definitely if your standing near the Washington/WWII/etc you don’t see the Capitol. You also don’t see any railroads. I’ve lived her so long that I’ve taken such things for granted and I don’t really think about the sight lines like I need to for this. I do play bocce at Garfield park, which is very near the tracks that go near 395 and N toward Capitol South. It would be neat to sneak a small bit of that park in. I also live not TOO far from where the tracks come out of Union Station and follow NY Ave, so having that area would be nice. I would clearly have to chop out fragments of the city (most notably the Capitol and Union Station) to model both. It also gets decidedly un-urban north of Florida Avenue. The reality is that DC doesn’t have a particularly urban landscape for its railroad. If only the streetcar plan was done (if it ever even has a car ride its rails).