4 Good Structures or 1 Great Structure?

[Anonymous]

If you had to decide between having 4 pretty good scratchbuilt structures in a specific scene, or 1 really impressive scratchbuilt structure in that same scene... which would you choose? I realize without giving specifics this is a vague question, but still think it's an interesting one.

John

[orsonroy]

I'd prefer one more impressive building (or complex) over four smaller buildings. Most buildings on model railroads are directly related to the rail industry, either servicing the railroads or being serviced by them. In terms of factories/warehouses/car destinations, I think one larger facility makes more sense than four smaller buildings that wouldn't realistically generate more than one carload a month (if that). Given the same amount of real estate, it makes more sense to model a single large facility that can handle multiple sidings, and received many different car types to support the industry.

[CNJ831]

The question is far, far too general to provide anything like meaningful answer. Are we talking about 4 large, pretty good buildings vs. 1 small great one? Or perhaps 4 town structures vs. one lonely store? Are these factories or residences? Together do the 4 have the same total footprint as the other 1? The possibilities go on endlessly. You can't begin to answer this question without significantly greater information. How about some?

CNJ831

[leighant]

I like what I call variety of scale, in industries, traffic and structures. Some industries that ship and/or receive in multiple car cuts or trainloads every day, some that get one or two cars every two or three days, and some that share a spur and only get an occasional car.

Sizes of structures follow similar pattern.
Sawmill complex has one building 500 scale feet long and a couple 200 scale feet long (which happen to cover staging tracks). BIG.

Creosote treating yard is about 120 x 200 feet, with several small structures, tanks, retorts, office building, etc. Dozens and dozens of stacks of ties and poles being aged and dried before treatment and piles ready to ship out.
Peanut butter plant is 70 x30' 3 story building with 1-story warehouse same footprint and several smaller buildings. MEDIUM SIZES.

Several small places, some as small as 15' square buildings- bulk oil dealers, tractor dealer, pulpwood shipper, freight house, gravel loading. LITTLE PLACES.

Another consideration is that LARGE complexes are often modeled as low-relief flats against background, or in connection with some double-utilization trick such as hiding staging tracks, etc. So for fully rounded 3-D models in which the model structure itself is the only thing, I guess I prefer several small structures. In terms of structures, overall scene, overall layout theme and operation, it is a mix that provides the best use of the space.

[Anonymous]

Actually I was thinking in terms of much, much broader strokes, ie. fewer structures but of better quality / more structures but of lesser quality.

[Jetrock]

A lot depends on placement--for a background area or a place otherwise not right up in the foreground, a few moderately detailed but not eye-popping buildings can help set a scene very completely without being too much work. A single amazing building is best for a foreground spot or other location where it will be the focal point of the layout or scene.