I don't know anything about that product. But from what you said ,why not get a few styrine sheets and strips and some windows ,and scratch build what you need?
Just walls and roof,a few window/doors, don't need a lot of detail, should be EZ
Hi PED
I am guessing no one has used them.
The simple expediant of painting the inside black will give you the light shielding.
As you are using them as background buildings they will not need a high level of detail. I would however suggest doing a bit with the roofs if they are visable from the normal viewing angle.
I have found if the roof looks good from the normal viewing angle, it can fool the eyes into believing the rest is just as good even if its just a plain brick red flat wall.
The other old trick that helps as well is starting with a VERY high detail foreground border line overkill and slowly tapering the detail levels off as you move further back, this really helps to fool the senses into believing you have a very highly detailed scene all the way through to the back drop.
regards John
Since no one ever responded to my posting, I will respond with what I have done since my original posting. I went ahead and purchased two kits. Neither was made with a 3D printer. I am guessing they were milled from sheet plastic. All the cuts were very smooth and the walls snapped together quickly. Took about 3-4 minutes to assemble the bare kit. Joints were tight but I will putty and paint everything anyway. The kits are very plane Jane. Virtually no detail except for the window cutouts (very clean cuts). I plan to use them as background but will do the following anyway:
- add light shields to interior to avoid any "see thru" effect
- add window glass. The interior walls are totally flat so this will be easy to do. No need to add glass to back walls against the backdrop.
- paint exterior. This may be tricky. The surfaces are flat with no detail (bricks/etc) and painting the window frames (many per building, non removable) a contrasting color will be a challenge. I will figure something out.
- add some exterior detail to give them some American character. If you have ever been to Japan, you will recognize how these plane Jane, boxey, no detail structures closely resemble many of the structures in Japan. I think I can hide this look with some window decorations and various external detail.
In general, I am pleased with what I have seen so far for use as background buildings. I think using them in the foreground as part of the main scenery will present some problems. The general archicture of the buildings is different from traditional American styles and placing them side by side will emphasize the differences.
It will be awhile before I get to the scenery details but it looks a reasonable and cheap approach for background structures so far.
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
I want to use shallow building against my backdrop to add depth but I need a bunch to do what I want and using regular kits will be expensive. I have seen Outland Model kits on a popular shopping site and they are very cheap. They appear to be just the walls and roof with no windows or other details. Info indicates they just snap together. I realize they are budget kits made with a 3D printer and the details may be a bit coarse but I think they may do well for what I have in mind to put on my backdrop as background buildings.
My approach would be to just use the walls in various combination to represent a row of city buildings. I would paint all of the walls, add clear windows and some other details to give it some depth. Probable use putty/etc to minimize visible joint lines.
Has anyone used any of these simple kits yet (N scale)? Impressions? Problems? Any reason my approach will not work?