Bought this box of building kits with 15 buildings. Mostly 1900s false front brick buildings. Had them for 15 to 20 years and figured with covid I could work on them. Extremely poorly made. All wall edges have about a 20 degree slope requiring much sanding to get them to where they could be glued without major gaps. Most kits have one or more walls short by up to 1/4". One kit had a back wall 1/2" too narrow to build a square building. None of the windows or doors fit in the openings cast in the walls. Many walls very warped that are very thick. Windows and doors Are all a scale 1' thick. Don't know if this is still made but if it is avoid it. It is called the Grand Valley set. Feel better for venting
I've never had one a quarter inch out of square, let alone a half inch and I've put a lot of their structures together. The trapezoid wall is an symptom of the very thick walls. Many of their kits date to the late 80s and have a heritage that traces to resin casting. They do show their age.
But, on the other hand, they're incredibly popular. I'd be amazed if you could go through 10 random issues of MR from the last 30 years and not see Goodfellows Hall turn up in a picture.
As best I can recall, most of the DPM structure walls required sanding to permit tight joints at the corners, but I don't recall ever having non-matching walls.
For most of the basic four-wall structures, the front (streetside) wall had the side walls cemented to its rear face, while the rear wall fit between the back ends of the side walls. That required only the front edges of the side walls to be sanded, while both edges of the rear wall needed sanding, which allowed the brick detail to be uninterrupted all around the structure.
I especially liked the variety of walls available for creating freelanced structures, although it was easy to run-up a sizeable bill. My version of National Grocers was my first attempt at such a structure...(click on the photos for a larger view)
...of course, since my layout is an around-the-room type, not all walls needed to be included...
...it's only recently that I got around to ballasting the track through that area....
I have only another 20-or-so DPM kits to build, but I'll get a liitle more mileage out of them by using plain sheet styrene on the walls that won't be visible, then use those extra walls elsewhere.I also have quite a few of the various packages of walls and details for freelanced structures, too...they'll be used-up on the layout's partial upper level.
Wayne
Here are a few of the simpler structures, which can be used as backgrounds on an around-the-room layout...
...and an early photo, with unfinished structures...
...at least the white structure, above, finally got mostly finished...
The designer of those kits, Bob Lunde, was responsible for making all of the Magnuson Model kits that were cast in resin. But when he started DPM, he switched to injection molded kits. The models were totally new but he used the same idea of casting architectural details in place. The difference is that the injection molds were metal castings instead of silicone molds. To make those molds work, they needed a good bit of draft angle on the edges. Otherwise they'd never come out of the mold and you can't exactly flex a metal casting to get a part out.
The other advantage of making the molds that way is that you could "sculpt" a pattern and know exactly that your finished part would look like. If not, the molds for all the separate parts would have to be machined by a tool & die maker and the costs would have been much higher. When Bob's first DPM kits came out, they were selling for $5 each! I'm sure the prices would have been much higher if the molds were made the conventional way.
The OP may not like the kits, but they are probably the most popular structure kits ever made. It's hard to find a layout without at least a few on them on it. Yes, painting them is not always fun and they do require some sanding, but after all, they are kits. They're just a different style of kit than some folks were/are used to where you have sprues of pre-colored parts that can just be snipped off and glued together.
Jim
I too have quite a few DPM models on my layout. For a few dollars, I got a lot of "play value" from assembling and painting these kits. I developed many of my structure-building techniques with DPM kits.
I think my Goodfellows Hall kit became F.W.Woolworth after downloading a sign to get the color and font correct.
I have put together a number of unique structures with DPM modular sections, too. In later years, I have been building more craftsman kits, but I wouldn't be much of a craftsman if I hadn't begun by honing my skills on DPM structures.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
The fact that the DPM kits and parts were styrene was a big factor, I think, in the popularity of the kits, as they were a lot easier to assemble, and especially a lot easier to modify or add details to.
As for painting, I usually airbrush them with the basic and most prevalent colour, then do the detail painting using suitably-sized brushes.
I think that this structure, below, may be parts from a Magnuson kit - I bought them as a plastic bag of mostly broken-parts, with apparently a lot of parts missing -
...as I built more than half of this structure using styrene...
Not that I can show pics (don't have a good way to post them. Just haven't got ambious to find a way.), but I have a couple of DPM bashed buildings on my layout as well. I have one building that is part of an industrial complex that is a bash using three Laube Linen Mill kits. (And yes as one can imagine it is a huge building for HO scale) The two long sides are the three long walls are from the kits. The window walls face the tracks that run by the area. The loading dock walls face to the inside of the complex. One each of the loading door panel and the window/door panel are glued together with the pilaster from one of the third walls cut out to glue between them to form each of the end walls. (The removal of one of the pillasters gave me a scar on my left index finger from a major knife slip. ) Doing that puts a loading door on each end. For my building the loading door is for the freight elevator to take items upstairs. If the item stays downstairs, it can just roll straight through.
The other bash is a simple one with bashing two Goodfellows Hall kits together side to side and using one of the extra side walls to fill in the back. This is a hangout space for people.
ndbprr One kit had a back wall 1/2" too narrow to build a square building.
One kit had a back wall 1/2" too narrow to build a square building.
I built an entire street of DPM buildings, and I love them all. Sure, they take a bit of filing and sanding, but that adds to the charm.
Rich
Alton Junction
I have used a number (more than 20) of DPM kits on my two N Scale Layouts. Never experienced the issues raised by the original poster. I think his problem with the back wall appearing too short comes from assembling the side walls to the front wall improperly. The side walls butt up against the front wall, the rear wall is placed between the side walls. Sometimes the building is not perfectly square but this generally can't be perceived by the observer on the layout. There is a bit of an angle on the sidewalls edges of the sidewalls but this is easily cured with a little sanding and/or some styrene strip bracing on the inside of the corner. I don't really have a problem with the thickness of the walls. I particularly like the ability to kitbash these, particularly as background models set up next to the backdrop or placed in a corner where you only need two of the molded walls. Or buildings in the foreground where the rear walls are not visible and can be replaced with plain styrene or brick sheet. You can get a lot of spare walls for future projects. Plus the walls are easily cut with a razor saw to fit the location desired. I find that different brick colors and trim can really change the appearance of the building. Roof details, awnings, fire escapse, signage, building additions can all make a difference. You can see this in richhotrain's city block photo above. One of the nice things about the DPM kits is they can be obtained at very low cost even from the major retailers but I have always found even better deals on old stock on ebay or at our local annual model railroad club train show. I've seen a number of the smaller building kits-- RoadKill Cafe, Char's Soda Shop, Hayes Hardware-- for less than $10 and some of the larger ones like Goodnite Mattress , Gripps Luggage, Trackside Transfer for less than $20. Plus the ability to recycle someone else's poorly painted model on the bargain table at the train show.
What DPM kits have going for them is they are cheap. With that comes some tradeoffs. One is that the wall ends need to be filed down so they are perpendicular. Even doing that, these butt joints are very weak. For that reason, I add 1/4" styrene rods in the corners to give a stronger glue surface. Most DPM kits that I have built don't have separate window and door castings. My biggest gripe is having to hand paint window frames, sills, trim etc. which is a very tedious process but one I take on in order to save money. I could do away with the above problems by buying more expensive kits or built up structures. Many of the DPM kits are available in both kit and built up form and on some occasions I have opted for the built up versions. More expensive but a lot less work. We have to make similar choices in other facets of the hobby. Spend more time or spend more money. This is the reason I no longer buy craftsman kits. They require me to do both.
Pantherphil Never experienced the issues raised by the original poster. I think his problem with the back wall appearing too short comes from assembling the side walls to the front wall improperly. The side walls butt up against the front wall, the rear wall is placed between the side walls.
Never experienced the issues raised by the original poster. I think his problem with the back wall appearing too short comes from assembling the side walls to the front wall improperly. The side walls butt up against the front wall, the rear wall is placed between the side walls.
There are realy tweo types of DPM, one is modular and that is the type I use the most. Both can make fine buildings but like the modular ones as they have separate window castings.
ndbprr All wall edges have about a 20 degree slope requiring much sanding to get them to where they could be glued without major gaps. ... None of the windows or doors fit in the openings cast in the walls.
All wall edges have about a 20 degree slope requiring much sanding to get them to where they could be glued without major gaps.
...
None of the windows or doors fit in the openings cast in the walls.
For the gaps in the corners, you can just fill them with Tamiya modeling putty. Then use a toothpick to scribe the brick detail in the partially-cured putty. Hope this helps. I've built several DPM kits and I've never encountered ones with separate window castings.
Matt
About four in the regular line have separate windows, not counting the modular parts.
ctyclsscs About four in the regular line have separate windows, not counting the modular parts. Jim
Pam's Pet Shop, Walker Building, Schultz's Garage and C Smith Packing House. They call them their 200 series, but they're lumped in with all the other kits on their website.
ctyclsscs Pam's Pet Shop, Walker Building, Schultz's Garage and C Smith Packing House. They call them their 200 series, but they're lumped in with all the other kits on their website. Jim
The chuckwood building. which is part DPM. I do find the modulars have to be assembled in floors with each sanded top and bottom to get a good fit. Assemled in a jig so they do come out the right length. All in all, I fond all kits need some level of sanding. But never had any large length descrepencies.
Shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space