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I started scratchbuilding as a teenage model railroader because I couldn't afford the expensive kits. I think I used plans from magazines and cut the basic shapes out of cardboard, scribing siding on with a dull knife. Basswood wasn't around much then, so I used balsa wood for the inside supports, window and door framing and trim. Some were painted with some house paint my father had around, diluted with paint thinner. Kinda crude I guess but served the purpose at the time. Later as an adult when I got back into the hobby, I did as others have mentioned, I assembled some expensive kits by Campbell and Fine Scale Miniatures. It dawned on me that I could use the very same methods to make my own structures, which I did. In rolling stock, the Roundhouse "3 in 1" kits were a great learning tool too. They weren't actually kits, but some of their bits and pieces from their lines with plenty of good instructions. Best of all they told me exactly what I needed in styrene sheets and strips, and what sizes of Plastruct shapes to get. I made their steam shovel, Jordan Spreader and several more. Not quite like the RTR kits of today! Bob Boudreau
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