Shop interior details

[rs2mike]

Ok i have a couple bachmann 3 stall car shops. One i would like tomturn into an engine repair facility. Just bought a walthers overhead crane. Just found put it does not have the support system for it but i build that no problem. My question is where cani find details like drill presses, lathes, and other shop equipement?

 

[chutton01]

Which era? Different Detailing kits out there for different era.

In lieu of posting links to the Walthers Catalog which I am sure others will do, I wish to ask - would it be more cost-effective for you to simply make your own details (especially if they will mostly be hidden in the interior). Is this a showcase model shop, with removable roof for display, or can simplified scratchbuilt details work OK, particularly for items not readily visible - in other words, will simple shapes resembling band saws, drill presses, lathes, jacks, lube equipment, etc build from styrene sheet/strip/rod etc work?

[MisterBeasley]

Greenway products makes some:

http://www.greenwayproducts.com/storeroom/machineShop/index.html

 

[dknelson]

Greenway has indeed brought out some lovely examples of large, heavy duty machine shop tools over the years.  An engine repair facility would also have more normal sized drill presses and lathes in addition to the huge ones.  Portable welding stations are also common.   Unless you are planning an open roof showpiece model it is probably good enough to have a few nicely detailed machine shop tools  near the open doors while the stuff towards the back (dark most likely) need only look bulky and mechanical in nature.  Don't overlook the potential to be found for such things in common everyday materials in the house such as the inside guts of a dental floss container, the large threaded rod and toothed gear of a deoderant container, and such.  Once such items are painted gray or red primer, and modestly altered, it is amazing how different they look - very industrial.  

Dave Nelson

[ho modern modeler]

Try Faller, Brawa and Noch in the W catalogue, I've found drill presses, lathes, welding equipment and workbenches. Also JL Innovative makes some gas station items that might be used like oil cans and tools. Prieser makes this cool set:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/590-17185

[tomikawaTT]

If the machinery will be seen through windows, don't overlook the possibility of gluing photos of machine tools to a stiff backing, cutting them out and propping them up in appropriate locations.

Also, don't forget the industrial-grade power distribution system for those machines.  A big junction/breaker box and heavy-duty ductwork (bare 18 solid wire) will add a lot for minimal effort.

Of course, then you have to have the adjacent transmission line (with pole pigs) and building feeders...

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[chutton01]

tomikawaTT

If the machinery will be seen through windows, don't overlook the possibility of gluing photos of machine tools to a stiff backing, cutting them out and propping them up in appropriate locations.

This is also a very good way of filling up storages shelves that will only be seen at restricted angles/thru windows - get images of cartons, boxes, cans, etc off the web, clean up and clone the image to get rows of inventory, scale, print, and secure to the shelves in whatever manner works for you. Intersperse some 3-d inventory as needed, particularly in more exposed top shelf locations.
I was going to caution against Greenway details, as I had purchased several items (in particular the drill press, the arbor press, the bandsaw, and the Engine lathe) and they were kind of a bear to work with - lots of voids, uneven casting, slanted edges which should have been straight - took a lot of work with putty and filing to clean-up and even then they were only so-so looking.
I was going to caution, except I realized that I hadn't purchased these parts at the 2011 WGH in Edison, but the 2004 WGH! So, hopefully in 10 years Greenway has cleaned up their act.

[MisterBeasley]

I'll second the JL Innovated garage set.

 

The lighting isn't very good here, but you can see the welding tank and tool cabinet inside the gas station.  The set comes with a lot of stuff that's better oriented towards a garage, but would not be out of place in any kind of 20th century shop.

I like to detail the interiors of buildings, too, but some years ago I discovered that the viewer has very little visibility into many buildings.  Think carefully about your placement of details with respect to windows.  Before you spend $25-30 on models of machine tools, light up the structure and look through the windows yourself.  Often, a cardboard cutout will look as good as a scale metal casting.

[rs2mike]

Ok sorry to get back so late. It is a modern theme. I have not decided on whether or not to have a removable roof or have it right upnagainst facia and delete one wall. Myother shop has a removable roof on the main shop and the side shop.  Thanks for the info so far. 

 

[Railphotog]

 

 

[trainnut1250]

Try riograndemodels.com

[hornblower]

I'll second the photo image approach.  I have a large triangular shaped liquor store with large storefront windows on two sides located in a prominent foreground position on my layout.  It quickly became apparent that this structure had to have a fully detailed interior as it was so easy to see inside.  Thus, I built styrene shelving units and a check-out counter.  It wasn't too difficult to provide adequate detailing of the check-out counter but I quickly realized it would take an enormous amount of time to cobble together enough individual items to fill all the shelving units.  In desperation, I tried printing out internet images of liquor store shelves in HO scale, cutting out the strips of items from each shelf, gluing the photo strips to styrene backing strips, then gluing the backing strips to the shelves.  I folded the last items of each photo strip around the ends of the styrene backing strips to give more of a 3D effect.  It is amazing how realistic these photo strips look inside my liquor store!  I was also able to completely fill all of the shelving units in a few hours time.  I would suspect that similar results could be achieved using scale sized photos of shop equipment or whatever interior details are needed for a particular project.

[rs2mike]

Hey hornblower.

i like that idea. Actually am doing that for some interiors of buildings now.  I have a building that i put a photo od a restraunt in. Made it slightly longer than the dimension of building and bowed it in towards the back of the building. Makes it look deeper. Above that i have made the rooms into apartments. Still working on those floors but that was the concept.

thanks also for the pic of the interior shop that ?????? Posted. Sorry i forgot the name while i started writing the reply. My next request was going to be to show off some interiors for ideas.

 

thanks

mike

[hornblower]

Mike,

I have also used the interior photo background method you described but with mixed results.  I was able to find a few straight-on shots for the interiors of some types of businesses but most of the photos I found on the Internet are some kind of angled shot across the store.  The other problem is being able to scale down the photos without making the photo too small to fill the structure interior.  I just now thought about printing out two mirror images of the same photo if a wider background photo is needed.  I guess I'll have to try that.

[MisterBeasley]

Unless you're making a removeable roof or edge cut model, you can get away with minimal modeling and still end up with good-looking interiors.  I did this City Classics market:

And ended up with this once I put the roof on:

I used a few figures, but I concentrated them at the front of the store by the open door.  The shelves are just printed on the computer, folded and glued together, with an extra bit on the ends for "end caps" as they say in the grocery biz.  The back walls and floor, once again, are printed on the computer.

I do make sure to light my structures from above, not with bulbs stuck up through the floor.  When I look into the windows, I do not want to see a light bulb, but I want light inside the buildings.

[chutton01]

MisterBeasley

Unless you're making a removeable roof or edge cut model, you can get away with minimal modeling and still end up with good-looking interiors.  I did this City Classics market:

And ended up with this once I put the roof on:

I used a few figures, but I concentrated them at the front of the store by the open door.  The shelves are just printed on the computer, folded and glued together, with an extra bit on the ends for "end caps" as they say in the grocery biz.  The back walls and floor, once again, are printed on the computer

Mister B, I have seen the images of your Classic Market a number of times now, and it just hit me - where are the store's Checkout counters?  And for that matter, were are the extra shopping carts stored? I don't know your time-frame, but I do remember back when I was a kid in the '70s/'80s that many small super-markets (in Queens, NYC) would have a wide sidewalk in front of the store with lots of steel railing around to prevent the shopping carts from going "Walkies" (this was before the introduction of "reliable" electronic cart wheel locks to prevent the carts from leaving the property).

Unlike MST3k, No - its not just a show, I won't really just relax...

[hon30critter]

Shop tools are easy to scratch build using styrene and a bit of wire. These are scratchbuilt:

By comparison, here are some kits:

The kits are obviously more detailed and look great up close, but if you want to fill in the background you can do it for cheap by building your own

Dave

[hornblower]

Great looking shop tools Dave.  It is amazing how much detail our imaginations fill in when we mock up something "close enough".  Some details can be pretty simple and it is amazing how much a little paint helps.  I have an HO scale Atlas snack bar kit that I dressed up with paint and weathering.  I added several simple details to add a little implied action.  Mustard and ketchup containers were made by simply sharpening the end of a small diameter styrene rod, cutting the sharpened end off at an appropriate length, then painting the new container yellow or red. Paper plates are simply small circles of paper glued to the countertops.  I also added a few "items" to the shelves in front of the grill plus burger patties cooking and buns toasting on the grill.  I added a cook, a waitress and several people sitting on the perimeter stools eating.  Almost everyone whos sees the snack bar comments that my snack bar has such "incredible" detail.

[CTValleyRR]

I'm pretty much a Google Images and foam core guy when it comes to detailing interiors.

That said, the folks at Bollinger Edgerly Scale Trains (BEST, www.besttrains.com) have a wide variety of shop tools, tools on racks, welding rigs, etc., all white metal castings (unpainted).  They're also some of the nicest people around.  I stop in to say hi every year at the Amherst show, and my son usually comes away with a freebie!

[hon30critter]

Thanks Hornblower.

You should post some pictures of your snack bar. Sounds very interesting.

Dave

[modelmaker51]

Scale Structures Limited is another source for small details. http://scale-structures.com/ They also do ALloy Forms vehicles.