A Tribute to City Classics

[MisterBeasley]

As you probably know by now, Jim Sacco of City Classics passed away earlier this month.  He and his company have provided us with a rich texture of structure kits and details that let us build up our towns and backgrounds for our trains.  I got a lot of “play value” from these kits and what they did for my town of Moose Bay.

 

My first City Classics kit was the Supermarket.  I built a whole new section of town to get the right corner angle for this L-shaped building.  I decorated it for the A&P of my youth, and added lighting and grocery store shelves to the interior.

 

 

 

The Grant Street Building is a simple four-walls-and-a-roof kit with a very elaborate front face.  I spent about two weeks painting the front to bring out the details.

 

This is the only building on my layout with a modeled basement.  I hollowed out a space beneath it, and modeled a small shoe repair shop with stairs going down from the sidewalk outside.

 

 

Again, large windows cry out for interior details.  The upper stories are simple, but the ground floor has a restaurant with tables and customers.

 

 

Another simpler 5-story structure is next door.

 

 

Down the street is the Diner.  It’s a simple model, too, but it also has a lot of Transition Era built in.

 

 

Again, big windows demand an interior.  I went all out on this one, and really like the result.

 

 

Finally, this set of 3 company houses is still under construction and not yet exactly situated on the layout.  The houses can be customized, so I built each one a little differently.  I put some interior walls and floors in to avoid the hollow shell look, and provide several lights in each one.

 

 

Jim has provided add-on details for his structures.  I have adorned many of my kit windows, both City Classics kits and others, with the window shades, Venetian Blinds and window signs.  These small details add a lot to the realism of my structures.

 

Please feel free to add your own examples of City Classics structures to this thread.

[wrench567]

  Very nice tribute Mr.B.

  I have a lot of details from them and an unbuilt kit of the diner. Hopefully the family will keep it going.

    Pete.

[gmpullman]

I've had this City Classics gas station hanging from a hook in my RR workshop for over 20 years! It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I found this tiny triangular spot for it among the big-city buildings:

Street-Scene-high by Edmund, on Flickr

As a kid I recall a station just like it under the Cities Service brand name. I'm going to paint mine just like it.

Kelly's Cities Service by Tom Kelly, on Flickr

Regards, Ed

[ricktrains4824]

wrench567

  Very nice tribute Mr.B.

  I have a lot of details from them and an unbuilt kit of the diner. Hopefully the family will keep it going.

    Pete.

 

Last I heard there were solid plans to keep City Classics going as a business.

Jim and his team created many great kits and details for them, along with helpful corner braces to keep things square. (Even if they were not his kits.) And Jim was a very thoughtful modeller, hiding many nice details on his show layout, inspiring many with what the companies kits could do I am sure.

I know I was very impressed when I saw his show layout, and even more impressed with Jim himself. 

[Howard Zane]

Holy cow, Jim was a major plus and force in our hobby. I had no idea he had passsed. His kits were just wonderful and came at a time when urban modeling was catching on. Jim would send his rejected elevations to me as I would then kitbash them to form my cities. He was also and excellent modeler....and a fine person. I will miss him and I hope City Classics can keep on going as their models as said are excellent and then some.

[mlehman]

I am saddened to hear of Jim passing away. He was a friend. Met him on line during a discussion on another forum, we took up an intermittent exchange on line, then I had the good fortune to meet Jim F2F at the 2016 NMRA convention in Indianapolis. A great and persoanble personality, he was the sort of person who gave you faith in humanity.

He was also the primary designer behind the current NMRA logo. He often got some grief over the way people misrepresented the image, but it was the epitomy of a good logo as it is simple and memorable while conveying the essence of the organization's work.

I've used a lot of the City Classics Picture Windows and have a CC freight terminal kit on hand I've been thinking of building and this may just inpsire me to find a place for it and begin the build. Here's a pic of my restaurant interior courtesy of Picture Windows.

A bookstore:

The food co-op in Purgatory, a work in progress.

So glad to hear that City Classics will endure and keep Jim's vision of wonderful yet simple kits that capture the essence of the heart of the city, big or small, vital and alive in miniature.