Frank:
Great project!
I always feel uncomfortable driving under the counterweights on those bridges!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I've been using 4'x8' sheets of styrene for years, although only the first one was .040" and around $20.00. Since then the price has risen over the years, and took a pretty good jump a couple of years ago when one of the two local suppliers closed down. Nowadays, I use .060" 4' x8' sheets, and with the Canadian dollar being so weak, the cost is about $35.00...still a bargain compared to the equivalent amount from a hobbyshop. I'm currently on my sixth sheet, I think.
dknelsonlarge sheets of styrene are surprisingly inexpensive, if a bit awkward to deal with...
Initially, I thought so, too, but the dealer simply rolled it into a tube, put some tape on it, and it was good to go. It would have fit into the front seat of my little car, or I could have carried it onto a bus or ridden home on a bike with it tucked under my arm.
I use a lot of it....almost all of the structures on my around-the-room layout have only three modelled sides. The backs, interior bracing, and often the roofs, too, are all .060" sheet styrene...
The station, centre-frame in the photo above, is all .060" sheet styrene, with left-over windows from a Walthers kit.
More .060" sheet...
...retaining wall, roads, and sidewalks, too...
...and, of course, much of GERN Industries is more of the same, combined with some Walthers kits...
It's even useful for for building the carcass...
...of this scratchbuilt boxcar...
Wayne
I really enjoyed scratch building when I had no opportunity to build a model railroad. I "reverse engineered" several of the old Ambroid and Northeastern kits and built lots of similar rolling stock. I'd take two kit boxes, one with tools and one with parts and the in-work model, in my bag on business trips and spend evenings building models.
Now that I'm actually building a large layout, the biggest obstacle to scratch building is building the layout: benchwork, roadbed, track, wiring, scenery and structures. After years building the layout, actually operating the layout (either lone wolf or formal operating sessions) can easily put aside plans for further construction or scratch building replacements for things that are 'good enough for now'. I'm happy to have lots of fun things to do on a model railroad.
Grinnell
At present there are three obstacles, all of which can be overcome:
That said, I have no qualms about scratchbuilding anything, to published plans or ones I've made for myself. Contributing to that is my history of aceing every course involving pencil navigation, up to and including Naval Architecture. The Air Force built an avionics shop building to my design (and then moved Quality Control into it - go figure!) I designed and personally built modifications to my old home in Tennessee that greatly enhanced its market value. Scratchbuilding is the same, only 1:80th the size.
Yes, Matilda, 1:80. I model in HOj, not HO everywhere else. The odd (for the US) scale isn't much of a challenge. In fact, it makes redimensioning full size plans with metric dimensions easy.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - from plans with metric dimensions)
"What are your greatest obstacles in scratch building?"
Only one major obstical, "life".
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Three obstacles to scratch-building are what I would call the Three T's, Time, Tools, and Talent. If you lack one of the three you're not going to enjoy scratch-building. Also what helps is a high curiosity factor and critical thinking.
Bernd
New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. - Route of the Black Diamonds
protolancer(at)kingstonemodelworks(dot)com
riogrande5761 Only one major obstical, "life".
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Starting.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Mike
I bought a sheet of .040" white styrene about six months ago for $20 from Industrial Plastics in Anaheim, California. Looking on their web site this morning, I see that the current price is now up to $34. That is indeed a pretty hefty price increase! Still relatively inexpensive when you consider the cost of plastic kits.
Hornblower
I have never had an obstacle to scratchbuilding.
.
From the very beginning I was scratchbuilding, without even knowing I was doing it. My first HO layout at age 8 was populated with buildings I scratchbuilt from balsa and whatever I could find.
The only reason I would not scratchbuild something would be if a perfectly suitable model was available.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 I have never had an obstacle to scratchbuilding. . From the very beginning I was scratchbuilding, without even knowing I was doing it. My first HO layout at age 8 was populated with buildings I scratchbuilt from balsa and whatever I could find. . The only reason I would not scratchbuild something would be if a perfectly suitable model was available. . -Kevin .
Kevin you rock. Confident taking charge at the age of 8 custom scratch modeling from the start. I can't say that I started out that way I remember the little balsa wood kits that came in a little cardboard box with a set of directions when I was about 10,11 back then they where about 8 to 12 bucks a kit. And they looked pretty impressive when I was done building it. I can't even find stuff like that anymore. Although I probably may have on the internet don't know what it looks like don't know what I'm getting and it's like sixty seventy eighty five bucks. No thanks scratch building time.
It seems to me there would be more obstacles in some scratch building than others. Some examples but not all of what I think is the more of the tedious ones would be truss bridges, train cars, locomotives, cabooses, modern buildings and Industries. For example a truss Bridge is geometrically engineered and requires exact placement with correct angles and is very tedious as I found out. There's not a lot of room for error or slop if any. I would imagine it's pretty much the same case if not even more tedious building Railroad cars which I have no experience in but have a great admiration for looking at everyone's work that I've seen on these forums.
I would like to think as I'm looking forward and anticipating the scratch building of my lumber mill and coal mines that maybe these will have less obstacles and be less tedious. I want to create a look of them being old and worn down. In this case mistakes, distressed siding, gaps, Corners, fascia, windows ending up being a little crooked would be welcomed features and help create the look I'm after. But at the same token not over doing these effects to make the building look condemned.
Thoughts opinions?
Obstkale to skratch building....,
BIG FURRY PAWS!
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Track fiddler For example a truss Bridge is geometrically engineered and requires exact placement with correct angles and is very tedious as I found out. There's not a lot of room for error or slop if any. I would imagine it's pretty much the same case
I have built two scratch bridges and I am really happy with both. All the trusses are neatly in place, however, I can tell you that all those trusses do not bear the loads that they would in real life.
hornblowerTry something simple like a shack or small cottage for your first project. Once you've successfully completed a few simple scratchbuilds, you'll be ready to move on to bigger and more complex models. Before long, you'll likely wonder why you ever spent so much money on kits when scratchbuilding is SSSOOOOooooo much cheaper.
Well, I've bypassed the "try something simple" piece of advice for my first scratchbuild. It was Maxon Mills, a project that came out of the Kalmback publication "Lineside Structures You Can Build". Although I only built the front side of it, as it is the only viewable side, the roof lines, as well as the basic building structures, were a bit more than simple, with multiple gables and two attached structures. I needed a grain elevator/feed mill for my layout. I bought the Red Wing Milling kit by Walthers, but saw too many versions of it on other's layouts. The kit still sits in the box. My structure is truely a unique one, as I have never seen a version of it on any one else's layout.
As far as "cheaper" goes, I don't know how much money I have in that scratchbuild, and it took about a year to build (probably would have taken about a third of the time were it not for on-and-off work on it), I have to say, without a doubt, that building something from scratch is probably the most rewarding thing about this hobby, at least for me.
BATMAN I have built two scratch bridges and I am really happy with both. All the trusses are neatly in place, however, I can tell you that all those trusses do not bear the loads that they would in real life.
I know you put a lot of time and effort into building those bridges Batman. I built one. It took a long time and I think it'll be a long time before I'm too gung ho to build one again.
Also I'm merely a carpenter not an engineer. But I speculate you may be surprised in relation to real life size, weight and Statics of materials how comparable it may be when scaled down to a model.
If you're Bridges suit their purpose. You did done good.
Making sure every little detail comes out right!
For me, it would be figuring out the proper angles for a complex roof structure. Especially when there are no available plans or blueprints! And when you only have a 3/4 view of the structure on a photo, it's all seems to be big guessing game.
John R.
Assembling a Passenger car or a passenger car interior, then adding a lighting kit.
As far as tools.The only tools I found I needed for my scratchbuild structures was my X-acto knives,a jewelers saw and my HO or N Scale ruler. Of course the club project that I mention on page 1 I just measured the inches by using a 24" Draftsman ruler.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Yoho51 For me, it would be figuring out the proper angles for a complex roof structure. Especially when there are no available plans or blueprints! And when you only have a 3/4 view of the structure on a photo, it's all seems to be big guessing game. John R.
Yoho51 I wanted to try and help you out determining the angle of roof rafters easy for you. This will take out all the guess work. I made a chart to make this really easy.
Roof rafter angles are determined by how many inches of rise to 12 inches of run. This chart illustrates that. The chart scale is 1/4 inch = 1 foot because a standard protractor is Three inches from center to the radius curve. Three inches has twelve 1/4 inch increments that comes out to be your 12 inch run you need.
Now just put your protractor on the right top corner of the building and what ever roof angle you like or looks the same as your picture, there's the angle for your chopper.
I hope this helps.
Edit I forgot to mention subtract your bottom angle from 90 to get your top angle or just put your protractor on the top.
Getting off my rear and the forums and doing the building.