I have a Superquick engine shed that I made in high school. I'm now retired and the building is as sturdy as ever -- a bit of wear on some corners.
Metcalfe has made a difference to the kit market. Superquick refurbished a number of their kits and came out with some really good new ones.
I use yellow carpenters glue for mine, and Krystal Kleer to hold the windows.
I plan to be demonstrating at the Toronto Christmas Train show in November.
--David
Great Subject. Just for fun, and since Halloween is just around the corner, try these. They're free, and can be size up/down for your scale if your printer supports it:
http://www.haunteddimensions.raykeim.com/index301.html
Bobby
One detail I forgot. The semicircular arches over the doorway are cut from fiber washers I found at the hardware store. Painted them to match the other "cardboard" brickwork.
The picture I posted was before I covered up the wood stob at the far left end...
I have been trying reply for two days but could not get my picture to post. Today I posted to another thread the same way I always do and it worked so here I go again. (And sometimes I can paste material I have pre-written on word processor, and sometimes I cannot paste....)
Johnston High School in my fictional East Texas courthouse square town of Johnston.
Home of the Johnston Lumberjacks.
Cardboard structure came from plans in Railroad Model Craftsman. I made a photocopy of the plans onto COVER STOCK (slightly thicker than regular copy paper) and sized in the photocopying for N scale. I used that monochrome (black-and-white) photocopy for the doors and windows, using a Hiliter marker to color them. Then I used Walthers N scale brick paper (They made it 20 years ago and I still have a small stock) and laminated it over the brickwork. Then I took heavy cardboard to make -what you call em?- lintils- architectural dividers. Painted them gray before gluing on. And used a "sailing ship" eagle figurehead for the concrete patriotic eagle decoration over the main entrance.
This is the front and about 25 scale feet of one side in a triangular wedge for a narrow relief building against the treeline divider down the middle of my layout. That treeline had little wood stobs holding it to the tabletop base. (Yeah, sorry, I have a mostly flattop layoiut table)
To hide one of those wood stobs, I built a small school annex building to suggest the school's mechanical room, a tiny structure 10 by 15 scale feet, built from bits and pieces of leftover bashed plastic kit--- but I covered the plastic structure with the same BRICK PAPER so it would resemble part of the school building. Sorry, I don't have the picture of that annex up on "Railimages" any more where I can show it.
I don't think the brick paper is available any more but I have easily and successfully "rolled my own" drawing two or three bricks in a computer drawing program, "copying and pasting" to make my own brick paper to print out. And I have drawn up and printed out completre sides of building, to assemble onto cardboard....It's fun!
Steady on, fellas! My list of favourites is getting HUGE!
Thanks for all the helpful links.
Mike
Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0
I recently bought an HO Paper model of the New Haven Union Station fom Westport Model Works. It is full scale, over 4 feet long. It is beautifully printed on heavy paper ready for mounting to card stock or sheet styrene. It has EVERY BRICK of that building which has a very unique brick pattern.
Check out his web site www.westportmodelworks.com for his catalog of solid and background buildings based on actual prototypes. I can't wait to get my layout started and add dozens oif these great buildings.
Check this site out.
http://home.wanadoo.nl/schatborn/index2.html
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
I am also using Cardboard for modeling!!The support for this Bringe and the tunnel portals ar made from Cardboard
Also the Grainelevator far in the background is made from Cardboard!
tgindy
The light bulb has just gone aglow! I am building a small switching layout and I need some buildings that I can paste against the backdrop as background. That's the idea! just use either scratch built or kits as these structures. I am thinking, with all the paints and with the help of the computer, one can make some quite convincing and interesting background structures.
Thanks for the idea!
Hi tgindy
I have the Metcalfe goods shed [first pic] on my oo layout and it's terrific, even if I was the builder!
It's strong, well-detailed, affordable, has easy to follow instructions and I've even put a light inside and because the card is so thick - double thick in many places - the light does not shine thru the walls. I don't know how long it will last. I suspect it would last ages in the right environment. I weathered it to a degree with artists pastels. Emphasising painted-on shadows like those under window sills works well. I was very surprised how tough the building is. The scored edges of card e.g. corners of buildings need special attention because they lack colour and must be worked on to disguise them.
The Superquick brand Swan Inn in the 2nd pic is also card. It's thinner, easy to build and nicely detailed. It too is lit successfully. Of the 2 I'd rate the Metcalfe more highly, but both are excellent. I toned down the bright whites of the inn with artists gesso, and painted acrylic blue on the trim to alter the hue a bit. No adverse effects from that.
I used white glue on both but be careful not to spill any on the outer surfaces.
Most of the buildings on my layout are card kits. My wife likes the look of them better than plastic. At train shows I do a demonstration of building the kits.
I build in OO scale, but there is a marvellous N layout Limpley Wharf that is all Metcalfe buildings. Metcalfe have a nice product where they provide row houses either full or in low relief, with the choice of fronts or backs, backs being what you usually see from the train.
For OO (HO) British style, there are also Superquick, Bilteezi, and Prototype. Prototype are a more time consuming kit as details are built up in layers.
I once built an NTRAK module where the total cost of structures (14-15 of them) was less than $15. They were Fiddlers Green (mainly their old west town) which I bought in a package deal before that company went internet. Although more caricatures than real models, they made a very effective scene.
About 50 years ago my first decent scratch built model were was an HO meat packing plant based on photo of a Frank Ellison O scale model in a book promoting Loinel trains.
I have scaned a number of the Dover HO building (as well as others) into my computer. I plan to print them in N scale for use on a future layout.
Here are some sources of paper model kits:
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/
http://www.papermodels.net/
http://www.erichotz.com/whitewash.html
The next two are makers of more expensive very detailed models:
http://www.clevermodels.com/
http://www.papercreek.com/main.html
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.