I'd second a lot of people in that DPM kits are good for kitbashing. A word of warning though, their chimneys are just not really as good as they could be. (meaning the ones on urban structures, their factory ones are fine)
P.S. Nice buildings, nbrodar!
667CDP Beautiful buildings there Wayne!! Absolutely beautiful! Any chance of posting a shot of that other industry you have on your layout in the background of your mainline pic???? With handywork like that, you have to share it with the world!!
Beautiful buildings there Wayne!! Absolutely beautiful!
Any chance of posting a shot of that other industry you have on your layout in the background of your mainline pic????
With handywork like that, you have to share it with the world!!
Thanks, 667CDP. I'm guessing that you're referring to this one:
I have lots more pictures of GERN Industries, but rather than hijack this thread, here's a Link to the others.
Wayne
Hi!
Like many of the previous posters alluded to, the DPM structures require some work to make them fit properly, but the end result can be really nice. They are OK in my book, but I prefer other manufacturers.
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Thanks for the kind words, Hal. I have quite a few of the DPM kits, unbuilt, for another town that will be built on the second level of the layout, but the powerhouse/steam generating plant, shown below, is the only other DPM building currently on the layout. It was built from some of the leftover sections from the National Grocers buildings.
Wayne... your buildings blow my mind! Great job.
Hal
Hansel It sounds like most of you have built the kits for a specific building. Have any of you tried to build a building using the modular walls sections that DPM produce? Thanks, Hansel
It sounds like most of you have built the kits for a specific building. Have any of you tried to build a building using the modular walls sections that DPM produce?
Thanks, Hansel
I used the modular wall sections to build National Grocers Wholesale Warehouse, a multi-building complex that fills some odd-shaped lots in the town of Dunnville. The back wall of the foreground structures, and the visible wall of the background structure are curved. Hidden walls, roofs, and interior bracing are .060" sheet styrene.
Any ideas for making this kit into another building, modifications, details, ect:
A cool idea would be to plug one window with balsa or basswood, making it seem like that part of the building was having renovations. Any inputs on this?
~Justin
Modeling New Haven despite what his user name says...
Hansel wrote:It sounds like most of you have built the kits for a specific building. Have any of you tried to build a building using the modular walls sections that DPM produce? Thanks, Hansel
I built this model of the Norfolk Passenger Terminal with DPM modulars.
If everybody is thinking alike, then nobody is really thinking.
http://photobucket.com/tandarailroad/
Tim Fahey
Musconetcong Branch of the Lehigh Valley RR
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
de N2MPU Jack
Proud NRA Life Member and supporter of the 2nd. Amendment
God, guns, and rock and roll!
Modeling the NYC/NYNH&H in HO and CPRail/D&H in N
Thanks, guys and gals,
It is amazing what everyone can do with a little plastic and a big imagination. I will order some today, after get done painting my track.
I really like the DPM models. this is the first one I built:
I'd echo the above posts, pick a smaller kit and get your feet wet on that, then tackle the bigger kits or bulk packs.I have 8-10 DPM's on my layout. Because of that experience, I've started scratchbuilding most of the rest of the structures I need.(sorry, DPM!)
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Odd size space
Solution
The building was built using one of DPM's bulk packs. i don't recall which one.
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Hansel wrote: It sounds like most of you have built the kits for a specific building. Have any of you tried to build a building using the modular walls sections that DPM produce? Thanks, Hansel
I love them.
Here's a large steel mill I made with the steel sash modules:
This is the front of a brewery:
And this is a small station, that is arched window modules I sliced and diced:
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
Otis wrote:I am working rather quickly because I feel behind schedule with my loco conversions (I collected so many in the past year).
Otis,
Just to reiterate what MB said in his post above. Take your time putting these kits together and let you imagination soar a bit. Like MB, I've found that when you "personalize" your kits with extra detailing, it really makes the scene come alive and makes assembling the kits all the more fun. Window treatments, lights, people, etc. - they all add to the "realism of the illusion".
Don't feel you have to rush to make up for lost time. More often than not, rushing leads to quick or rash decisions...which leads to frustration...which leads to regret. Enjoy the journey, as well as the ride.
Take your time, Otis. You'll be glad you did.
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Otis wrote: bogp40 wrote: most of the buildings in this pic are DPM Wow, am I impressed! Is that your layout, bogp40 or a club layout or display?
bogp40 wrote: most of the buildings in this pic are DPM
most of the buildings in this pic are DPM
Wow, am I impressed! Is that your layout, bogp40 or a club layout or display?
This is a club layout, http://www.ssmrc.org/ . Our building is more than 3x the size of my house.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
MisterBeasley wrote: I've been working out the details of this Miller Engineering sign, which actually sequences through the letters H-O-T-E-L. Of the 42 possible sequences that comes with the sign, I picked the one where the E flickers, as if it's not quite a healthy neon tube. Very effective.
I've been working out the details of this Miller Engineering sign, which actually sequences through the letters H-O-T-E-L. Of the 42 possible sequences that comes with the sign, I picked the one where the E flickers, as if it's not quite a healthy neon tube. Very effective.
Man oh man oh man! As my son would say, "That is sweet!" and he doesn't just mean cute.
I am working rather quickly because I feel behind schedule with my loco conversions (I collected so many in the past year).
I have ordered several of these DPM kits now, based on the information above. fellow in Ebay has them at $4.00 less ea. the website price. Don't know if they are on sale anywhere else, but they are a nice price break from everything else I see.
I have been having a good deal of fun lately learning to weather and paint structures while my Zephyr was out for repairs (it came back yesterday). In the last 3 weeks I built 7 kits of various sizes and weathered about 10, including some Cornerstone series that had been sitting in boxes.
Now Mr B. I am going to lie awake thinking of how to decal windows and add interiors....for the next 10 years!
I think it is clever of you to alter the structures to other functions with signage. I started that right at the outset, by printing out signs for my lumberyard and station house that match those of businesses etc. from my boyhood town on the prairies. I wonder how those families would feel if they knew their businesses were frozen in time on an HO layout 2000 miles from the originals.
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
My work on DPM structures has all been a learning process. I take my time with each and every one. Typically, it takes me a week or two to get one of these on the layout, even though there are typically fewer then 10 parts in the whole kit. To me, it's all about customizing each structure, but the techniques aren't difficult once you've done them once or twice.
This is my current effort, turning the DPM "First National Bank" into the Heartbreak Hotel:
The Heartbreak Hotel sign is a decal, printed on the computer and then applied to a small strip of styrene. The awning is just printed on paper, and formed over a wire frame made from floral wire. I've been working out the details of this Miller Engineering sign, which actually sequences through the letters H-O-T-E-L. Of the 42 possible sequences that comes with the sign, I picked the one where the E flickers, as if it's not quite a healthy neon tube. Very effective.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thanks to all who responded for the great info re: DPM.
And MisterBeasly, I don't know if I will ever get the time to be a great detailer like you, but I know the mark to shoot for now that I have seen yours.
This forum can be humbling!
I have built several of these same kits in N scale. They are reasonable priced, readily available, relatively easy to build and paint, and look great. This leads to their one big issue--everybody has them. If you watch you will hardly see a layout in MR that does not have at least one if not several of them. The key, therefore, is to modify some of them sufficiently to make them look unique. Therein lies the real fun. These are cheap enough to experiment and play with by making them taller or shorter or putting a couple of them together to make your own kitbashed structures. Overall I'd have to say I love them for this very reason.
Ron
Owner and superintendant of the N scale Texas Colorado & Western Railway, a protolanced representaion of the BNSF from Fort Worth, TX through Wichita Falls TX and into Colorado.
Check out the TC&WRy on at https://www.facebook.com/TCWRy
Check out my MRR How-To YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RonsTrainsNThings
Thanks for the kind words.
One other warning about DPM kits: On some of the kits I've built, they mis-sized the back walls. They're 1/8 to 1/4 inch too long. So, if you assemble them without cutting off a bit, the building walls will not be square, and the footprint will be trapezoidal, not rectangular. It's not a big deal to cut the wall down a bit, but it's not something one expects to have to do with a kit.
My new favorite technique for finishing a roof is to use a rattle-can of that "stone-textured" spray paint. For a tar roof, I use black, and then add a little black and rust weathering with powders, and finish it off with Dul-Cote to keep the weathering on the roof and off my fingers. This gives a much finer grit finish than trying to ballast it, and it's faster and easier, besides.
VERY nice work --model and photography -- there MisterBeasley.
Dave Nelson
The DPM kits do produce some nice buildings if attention is given to the assembly as mentioned. They are great for kitbashing w/ all the wall sections that are offered separately.
Not only do I use "square blocks" to check the corner for sanding fit, I use some scrap hardwood blocks that have been cut to 45 degrees for a sanding jig. Not everyone will have access to this type of scrap but I found they make assembly so much easier. The 45 degree block will hold the wall section at the proper angle as you drag it along a piece of fine sandpaper laying on a solid flat surface. The alternate method is to prop the wall section up on a 1/2 or 3/4" block and use the 45 cut sandind block against the corner. Power sanding w/ a belt or disc will work but is generally much too aggressive for this task.
Most all DPM kits are designed for flat or slightly pitched roof w/ a mansard or parapit. The styrene roof panel suppied w/ the kits seems a bit to flimsey, so I will back it up with an additional piece or some stiffeners. Styrene square stock mounted to the walls works well for roof support. I finish the roofs to simulate tar/ gravel with fine sandpaper (wet or dry). Adding ballast/ sand to the roof just seems to coarse. For slightly more pitch fine wet or dry paper cut to strips for rolled roofing.
The DPM kits are excellent for backgroung or backdrop structures. This is esspecially true when a building needs to be modified for a trapazoid or angled track to the backdrop.
misterbeasley: still love seeing what you're coming up with next, great detail and interiors and lighting.
This is DPM's "Other Corner Cafe." On the left side is "Pam's Pet Shop," which I've re-flagged in honor of my LHS, Maine Trains. (Well, who doesn't like trains more than gerbils?)
This is two of their townhouses. (It's the same kit. I bought 2 of them.)
They call this the Front Street Building. I offered "businesses" to two of my daughter's friends, and ended up with a pizza place and a fortune-telling parlor.
This is called Goodfellows Hall. I detailed it as a Woolworths:
The kits are great starting points. They don't come with a lot of parts. In fact, most of these are just 4 walls, and a piece of styrene for the roof. They also include some clear plastic for window glazing, but that's about it. As mentioned before, the doors and windows are molded into the wall sections, so they need some hand-painting. The detail level of the wall pieces is pretty good, though, and if you have the time and patience to work on the kits, they come out pretty well.
I've added a lot of details to all of mine. Besides the interiors, all the signs and the Woolworths awning were printed on my computer. I've made decals for the windows, and other decals to add advertising on the outer walls. Even though a kit may be called the "First National Bank," don't expect to get a "Bank" sign with it.