Holy Crow! Are these things actually paintable? And what about those burrs and what not that has to be razored off. Geez, someone please tell me they are awsome once finished. [banghead]
You mean like the chimneys? Yeah, they’re not very clean. But, it’s a kit, right? You’ve got to cut stuff off of sprues, and trim flashing. The roof is fer-shure the wrong size, and has to be cut down, and you’ve got to sand the mating sidewalls square like it says in the instruction sheet. A few seconds with a file will clean up the metal castings, and then you can paint them. I usually use cheap acrylics.
A DPM building kit is just a starting point. I usually spend about a week to put one together, if you count all the trimming, fitting, painting, brick-mortaring and “accesorizing,” as Martha Stuart would say. But, I like to provide a nice scenic setting for my Alco RS-2, after all.
Welcome aboard.
Yea, the chimneys do need a bit of cleaning up but they aren’t too bad. Even so, DPM kits are very nice looking structure once you square, glue them up and paint them.
Tom
I had a lot of fun and satisfaction with my DPM N scale feed store/implement dealer kit. But took lots of time.
implement
Mostly scratchbuilt heavy eqpt unloading platform
Service dept interior
baggage room for future layout.
It is a big chore to clean and sand/file the burs off of all those pieces. I just finished the Motercycle bar kit. It came with two DPM buildings and about a 100 small metal castings, including ten motercylces, two dogs and a cat. It also came with a pair of pants and a shirt that can hang over the balcony railing. It took quite a while to complete because I was working on it during soccer season (I am a coach on one team and assistant on another) I think it turned out great. So much so, that at the last show I was at, I bought the Train station and freight building kit. This one only has about 60 metal castings.
If you take your time and sand these properly, these detailed pieces will truly make the scene you are working on. I get great comments on this kit all the time.
There are some instructions that should have come with your kit. Personally, I would wash the pieces to get the oils off them and then prime them. I should probably spray them with dull coat, but I am afraid it will change the color and I really like the way it looks right now.
I slice off the big burrs with a hibby knife (the blade is well shot afterwards!). Go to work with my selection of needle files. Wash in warm soapy water to clean. Rince and let dry completely. Prime with a light coat of dark grey primer. Then paint and weather. It does take time, but these can be very effective kits. I like to make the Woodland scenic mini-scenes and these are the same white metal.
Thank you all very much. I was about to “86” these items and buy individual plastic pieces, i.e. - 55 gallon drums, pallets, chimneys, etc. and paint them instead. But you guys convinced me to not give up, and to…“git 'er done.” [:D]
For 55-gallon drums, anyway, you can’t beat metal models. All the plastic ones are closed-top, and any time I’ve seen plastic barrels, drums, garbage cans, etc., with open tops, the sidewalls are always unrealistically thick. Take a look at the nice 55-gallon drums from JL Innovative Designs, for example. Nice thin metal walls, open top, and they look great either painted or left as bright shiny metal.
Not that plastic can’t be used for good details, though. I’ve been putting fire escapes on some of my structure kits, and I’ve found that both the Tichy and Walthers plastic models are very nice, sharp, clean plastic castings.
I love the DPM kits. They may take a bit of time to sand/file/square up/clean/whatever, but the finished product is well worth the effort. I only have about 6 of these kits at the time, but I’ve built some more for a club layout as well. I do plan on buying more of these (and Smalltown USA is about the same). I usually take about 5-7 evenings (not necessarily consecutively) to build, paint, put texture on the roof, install “glass”, detail, and finish a “kit”. This does not include time spent on any detail castings, which I will often simply toss into my detail box, and do a bunch of them at one time. When the building is ready, I will rummage around in the detail box for some ready, suitable details. I might take 2-5 evenings (definately NOT consecutively) to finish 100 detail castings, I’d have to spread these out over time so as not to get burned out doing them. This IS a hobby after all, so why get stressed over a few metal detail parts? Just do them as the mood strikes, and when you’re done, you can take pride in them knowing you took your time to do them right.
Brad
I think the DPM kits are great built up. I’ve built a few and would recommend them to anybody. Pikestuff building kits are good as well if your looking for modern looking steel warehouse type buildings.
This is DPM Laube’s Linen Mill. You can always add your own roof details and just because something come in a kit does not mean that you have to use it on that kit! I like to take detail items from one kit and place them all around the layout.
