Who's Scratchin' Now?

[jacon12]

Would like to do it if I only knew how![:(]
Maybe one day I'll have time to learn how to do the simpler things. I'm constantly amazed at the talent of some modelers.
Jarrell

[rogerhensley]

I found that kitbashing was important, but to fill those spots that call for something unique or special, scratchbuilding is necessary as in the case of Suki Plastix. You can see the story at: http://cid.railfan.net/scratch_plastix.html

[steveblackledge]

i get scrap plastic out of the bin at work, a great source of free material for model making, i just unrolled some plaster cloth to find plastic tubes (1/2") that look just like round latice work steel columns, or they will once painted black or grey[:P]

if it's free, it's for me

[pcarrell]

Trainnut,

Plastic jars it is! Thanks for the tip. I know I'll be using this one.

KenLarson,

That coke pusher is really impressive. Very intricate. Thanks for sharing.

GP_38-2,

I find myself using plastic for background structures and wood up front. It's just so hard to find good scale wood in N. [:(]

[Anonymous]

Phillip,

I find the process to be pretty forgiving, so I don't have a set ratio. I use a combination of black and brown shoe dye mostly black (10 to 1 ratio btwn black and brown). I find that the alcohol lasts forever but that I have to add the shoedye almost every time I do a larger project. Start with a good sized glass jar, fill maybe 1/2 full of rubbing alcohol and put enough shoedye in it to turn it jet black when shaken. Try a piece of wood...let it soak maybe 5 min. and pull it out (I sacrificed a fork for this, the mixture will stain your fingers) and let it dry on aluminum foil. You can adjust the darkness by the amount of time the wood stays in the mix. You are using scale wood, right? It doesn't work too well on plywood or the laser cut wood stuff. There are lots of methods to weather wood. All the train guys I know have a "Jar".

An easy project to see how this will work is to buy some scale 1x4's and put a wood deck on a flat car. Cut all the pieces, stain em' and glue em' right over the existing deck using Aileen's tacky glue. Looks great, easy to do and you will be hooked....

I know there are people out there who prefer painted styrene to wood but in my experience the plastic doesn't have the depth that real wood has, besides I love the look.

BTW: Don't ever drop the jar. The mess will land you in the doghouse for years. I broke one in the garage, I can still see the spot years later.

[Anonymous]

I've scratchbuilt [or at least heavily kitbashed] several of my steel mill structures; I've also kitbashed a few Athearn BB locos. Usually, if I can find [and afford] a ready-built version of a loco I want, I prefer to buy that rather than try to kitbash one.

[Anonymous]

I started a pole. Most people that posted go with plastic????????????
Anyway It's Craftsman or Scratch building for me. I can scratch build something for a lot less money. The wood to build it costs $10-$15 dollars and the same plastic one cost $30-$40 say that's a lot.

[pcarrell]

Hey Guy,

Love the water tower. Very nice work, as is your whole layout.

Those fences bring up a question though. The coloring is so good.

You mention an alcohol and shoe dye mix. What are the ingredients and ratio's of this mix if you don't mind sharing. It just looks so much like the old weathered wood that I would like to reproduce for a barn project I'm planning that it would be perfect.

So if you don't mind tipping your hand a little... [;)]

[CNJ831]

I scratchbuild quite often, generally for contest modeling, after which the model goes somewhere on the layout.

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

Have scratchbuilt a couple of water tanks (see the link in my signature for photo), building or two, catenary, loading docks and a few flat cars. Enjoy it quite a bit. Not much time for it now.

[Anonymous]

I am becoming a scratchbuilding fiend. Might give up new items entirely and becoming a rebuild and scratchbuild freak.

James

[pcarrell]

howmus,

Very nice! So when you commin' over? [:D]

All,

The results so far are very telling don't you think?

17% Scratch a lot

38% Scratch some of their stuff

21% Kitbash

7% Find their stuff on the hobby shop shelves

3% run them right out of the box

14% would love to give it a shot, if they only had the time!

Very telling indeed!?!? [8D]

[Anonymous]

I kitbash Buildings. I know i'm decent. i took a mine complex and turned it into a grain elevator. i have also Scratchbuilt a couple things. i'd like to do more

[emmar]

I have the plans for some replica HO scale mine buildings that I got two years ago from my parents and I still haven't found any time work on building it so I put myself in the "I'd love to find time for that someday" catagory. I did make some mountains from scratch last winter, but they ended up looking kind of weird because I made the plans myself. I am not a kit basher though because many people would never have time to build anything for their model railway if they didn't build kits.

[Anonymous]

I go inbetween I don't do it all the time but it's been a long time since I've done a plastic (3yrs or so.)

[simon1966]

I am starting to accumulate a stock of styrene sheets and will very soon undertake my first scratch building project. It will be a model of the 2 room house of my wife's grandmother, in which she raised 10 kids in a mining village in Illinois.

[howmus]

I have only done a little scratch building but consider it to be the most fun. My latest project is the Ice House (red building)pictured below. Completely built out of scale (HO) lumber cut on a Micro Mark table saw, the only pre made part is the steps. Even the paint was mixed from several shades of red and black to get the "barn red" close to what I wanted.

[Fergmiester]

I've built a couple of trestles, signal lights and a Turntable (uncompleted) I intend to do more as I find the house kits way to expensive ($60+ CDN for a Branchline Kit). I have pre formed bass wood and several size windows and doors and plan on building several homes over the next month time permitting.

Fergie

[jeffshultz]

When it comes to kitbashing, I'll limit myself to structures, thank you. Pikestuff building materials are practically modular, so I can do interesting stuff with them.

[West Coast S]

I've got the erection drawings converted to 3/16 scale for the SP C-8 2-8-0 on the workbench, i'll be building two at a time from scratch now that a source for drivers and rods-valvegear has been found. My Bachman On30 2-6-0s are back from re-guaging, have to fini***hem up as T&NO M4s. One might say I use nothing as is out of the box.

[orsonroy]

Scratchbuilding is great, and I do it as often as possible. Using ready-made windows and detail parts, and Evergreen styrene, scratchbuilding is as easy as assembling high-end plastic kits, and simpler than building many craftsman resin or wood kits.

I mostly scratchbuild structures in HO and N, but I've dabbled in scratchbuilding N scale rolling stock too, with two cabooses and 20 34-foot wood gondolas under my belt (scratching freelanced cars in N is REALLY simple!). Some of my HO scale kitbashing projects couold be considered semi-scratch too: I've turned Roundhouse Pullman Palace 80-foot passenger cars into flat kits, chopped up the sides & rearranged them to get the window combinations I needed, and reassembled them with scratchbuilt roofs.

On the agenda is to start scratchbuilding more rolling stock in HO (my primary scale). Mostly 36-foot double sheathed boxcars, but I've also got a few cabooses and passenger cars in mind as well.

[IRONROOSTER]

I've done some scratchbuilding. I prefer it, but it takes time which is in short supply.
Enjoy
Paul

[cheese3]

I love it. I make buildings all the time. I also like to kit bash but not as much as scratchbuilding.

[SpaceMouse]

I don't find I fit in any of the categories. I know that I will end up kit bashing the majority of the structures on my layout, but haven't executed them yet. If you are talking rolling stock, I've just built a few kits. Most are still in pieces.

[pcarrell]

Just so you all know where I stand on this...

I've scratched a couple of things, but not a bunch.

I do find it enjoyable to do once in a while.

Let me know what you think. [8D]