Scratchbuilding blueprints?

[Anonymous]

In a recent MR article the author said he built all of his modern downtown structures from the real plans he obtained. Does anyone know of a website where there is a wealth of plans / blueprints for modern buildings?

[Fergmiester]

I would love to know this. I would actually pay someone or company to provide HO scale blue prints as I'm finding some of the Do-it- yourself kits getting really over priced.

Fergie

[orsonroy]

The only websites I know of that have any useful industrial blueprints on them are the Library of Congress' and the New York Public Library:

www.loc.gov

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm

The NMRA member's handbook contains (contained?) several industrial building plans, and they've got many more in their archives. Hardcopy only though, and you have to be a member to access them.

[CNJ831]

Unless you are an experienced scratchbuilder already, I think when you find how much work it is to realistically scratchbuilt any large industrial or office structure you'll be glad to pay the money for most kits for large building.

Renssalear Poly Tech, home of the NEB&W, is an excellent site for examining various types of eastern architecture and how to build mills and other structures (you have to subscribe to the site)...but even with that help it's a lot of work if done well. Much better is to kitbash some of the larger building kits currently available.

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

Head to the local library (or Architecture Library if you are really lucky) and look up some architects. Most should have a nice selection of plans for some of their works in them. Then it's just a matter of doing some math and letting the copy machine do some work and you've got some nice blueprints to build from.

[West Coast S]

I sourced Sandborn fire maps as my first step, These maps are not available to the general public unless you are a approved registered user and even then they might not have what you seek. The Sandborn maps used in my research provided building footprints, overall demensions and name of business in addition to any roadways or trackage and a scale for measurements.

I've also had good luck contacting various industry associations..I now think blueprints, photos and additional history can be had on just about any packing house in CA as extensive files seem to be maintained by these associations. in addition there are several groups who are dedicated to preserving this history.

Don't forget the local library of the area your'e considering modeling, old articles can be a wealth of hidden facts.

If your road has a historical society tap into this for leads.

[jrbarney]

Jkgp35,
Well, they aren't exactly downtown buildings in most communities, but you can find plans for modern agricultural buildings at:
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans
And, I think you can view the Sanborn maps at libraries that have the necessary access and passwords.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine in Dallas, Texas takes pictures of building and makes his own drawings. He's built Baby Doe's Resturant and Pearlstone Grain Elevator both in Dallas.
Lawrence. NMRA Life member 743.

[nobullchitbids]

1) Best place to find FIRE maps is at the firehouse -- make friends with some of the bravest.

2) Do you REALLY want to model an industry all that accurately? Most industries actually worthy of rail traffic probably would be the only thing on the layout if you modeled them exactly to scale.

3) If you still are game, you might take a look at industrial cyclopedias such as the Cyclopedia of Chemical Technology, available at most local libraries of any size. Also, keep an eye out for library sales of the earlier editions (sorry, but the new replacement costs $5,000 and would reflect modern practices in any event). CCT sometimes shows small chemical facilities but more often shows the actual manufacturing process, allowing you to planbash your own version.

4) The suggestion re archetectural libraries was good -- very good. Many universities, e.g. Yale, have entire buildings set aside for such materials.

5) And don't forget to look at the cornerstone -- if you want to model a particular building, the cornerstone commonly has the name of the archetect on it, and once you know who he or she was, you always can hop on the telephone.

6) The Sunday New York Times has a building-and-archetecture section in it, often with excellent photos and sometimes plans of older buildings, particularly in the Northeast. I would assume many major newspapers follow this practice. A variant on this would be to consult town or church histories, which commonly show "the way things were" back then. Or, perhaps your local library has a generally unknown collection on a particular narrow subject of local interest (e.g. Silas Bronson @ Waterbury, Conn., has an out-of-the-way collection of stuff on the brass industry).

7) Another type of work I keep in my own library are the commonly published "50-year Histories" of longtime firms, e.g. Caterpillar, Volvo, Winchester, Ford, U.S. Steel, Weyerhauser, &c. These books often contain aerial photographs of facilities as well as pictures of equipment used in the processing (again, you DON'T want to build a to-scale model of a paper plant).

8) Many, many years ago, I think back in 1963 or so, MR ran an article, "Sometimes You Need a Shoehorn," about how to cut a smaller trackside industry down to model size (notice I did say "smaller"). You might try to find a copy, perhaps through the indexing service. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the author.

[Anonymous]

Citrus packing house photos are available at Jim Landcaster's Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures in Southern California (http://ljames1.home.netcom.com/scph.html). Plans for the packing house in Riverside, Calif., that is being produced by Yesteryear's Models are available on line at the Library of Congress.

Sanborn maps ARE AVAILABLE on line free from the San Jose Public Library at URL: http://sanborn.umi.com/
username: sjplremote
password: welcome

More resources on the citrus industry are available on my Yahoo site, the Citrus Industry Modeling Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/citrusmodeling/).

Bob Chaparro
Moderator
Citrus Industry Modeling Group.