Have about 15 Walthers building kits to put together. Anybody have any pictures of modified buildings to show? Either paint or structural differences. Thanks
ndbprrAnybody have any pictures of modified buildings to show? Either paint or structural differences.
Maybe a few... (the pictures will enlarge if clicked upon)
Walthers grain elevator, with a scratchbuilt farm supply store and a reworked scale house...
...this one is parts of two kits for Walthers' Front St. Warehouse...
...and the same structure removed...
...with the leftovers used to create the street-side portion of a factory that makes caskets (the rest, not modelled, is in staging on the other side of the backdrop)...
This one is is an industrial supply company (tools, hardware, wire, steel sheet and shapes, etc.) made from parts of two Walthers' George Roberts Printing Plants...
The leftovers from it, plus two kits for what I recall to be a Walthers' Auto Assembly Plant (not sure of the actual name of that kit) went into making Mercury Knitting Mills, a model based on a prototype that would have been a lot bigger if fully modelled like the real one...
This is Bertrams Machine & Tool Manufacturers, built from Walthers Vulcan Manufacturing. I used both of the long walls on the visible side, while the rear, not normally visible, is simply .060" sheet styrene...
...the Company's office building, in the background, is a much modified version of LifeLike's "Bottling Plant", with the stuff between made-up of some scratchbuilt stuff and a few MDC brick wall sections from their 3-1 kits.
This one is another Walthers kit... (not sure, but might have been a feedmill or farm supply building) ...at least the part with the gambrel roof, but the lower front wall has been cut off, and pushed out, with a scratchbuilt loading platform added...
The sidewalls on the pushed-out part are Walthers brick sheet material, as is most of the added-on wing, although I believe that the wall with doubledoor is from the unseen side of the structure - that side, like most of my modified structures, is more .060" sheet styrene - I buy it in 4'x8' sheets and have gone through at least 3 or 4 sheets.
This is Walthers "Small Coaling Tower", but because I had limited space for it, I modified it to have only a single coal chute. I did replace most of the kit's detail parts with similar ones from Tichy, as the latter are much more finely rendered...
...the sandhouse and sanding tower, seen in a view from on-layout, were scratchbuilt...
GERN Industries uses parts from several Walthers kits...
...including their ADM plant with elevators, along with an add-on set of elevators, plus Walthers Red Wing Milling.The warehouse in the foreground is scratchbuilt, along with the silo support structure, the chemical storage tanks and much of the walls in the background. All of the walls of the Red Wing kit were used on the visible side of the plant, with plain .060" styrene on the unseen sides...
I built Walthers' REA transfer warehouse for a particular spot on my layout, using, as usual, all of the kit's parts on the visible side of things, but later moved it and decided to also redo it. Here it is, under re-construction and in its original paint job...
...here it is re-painted...
...and with a treatment of drywall mud for mortar...
...and cleaned-up and re-assembled...
This was, I think, originally Walthers' Reliable Warehouse & Storage, but I modified it, as usual, by using all of the kit's walls on the visible sides. It's based on a nearby canning factory which processes both fruits and vegetables...
This one is a combination of two Walthers' American Hardware kits...
...with modifications to create a covered loading dock...
Here's yet another Walthers kit, this one for Greatland Sugar. As usual, both long walls were used on the visible side (in most cases where this is done, at least one of the wall sections needs to have some material removed from the end which will be attached to the as-is other wall section - this is usually to maintain door and window spacing. For this kitbash, all that needed to be removed was the pilaster from one end, to allow it to be affixed to the pilaster on the end of the other piece).Here it is with a coat of orange paint (my favourite for bricks, as it was a very common brick colour in my hometown...
...and with a coat of drywall mud...
...and cleaned-up a bit...
...and mostly completed...
I also built Walthers City Station kit, building it mostly as intended, although I did redo the bricks in a buff colour, similar to that which was common in the particular town for which I chose to name it...
...although I did close-in the original porte-cochere that was on the far end of the kit, changing it into a post-office wing...
I still have a few more Walthers kits to build, along with quite a few DPM structures, and the Atlas kit for Middlesex Manufacturing, the latter which might get some add-ons from both Walthers and DPM.
I hope that I've shown at least a couple that might inspire you.
Wayne
doctorwayneI hope that I've shown at least a couple that might inspire you.
Your hope has been fulfilled.
The drywall mud for mortar is a new one to me. Any important fine details of the process which I might not intuitively see, what with having not much used drywall mud in my life?
Milton Farm 2 by wp8thsub, on Flickr
Milton Farm 2
The Walthers barn was modified by cutting in some Grandt Line windows, adding a scrtatchbuilt foundation, and scratchbuilding a lean-to from styrene siding and roofing.
DSC01080 by wp8thsub, on Flickr
DSC01080
Ideal Cement Unfinished 3 by wp8thsub, on Flickr
Ideal Cement Unfinished 3
I kitbashed parts of several Walthers kits into this cement plant, including an ADM elevator, along with parts from a New River Mine and a coal flood loader.
Milton Fuel 4 by wp8thsub, on Flickr
Milton Fuel 4
The foreground of this scene has tank car unloading platforms modified from Walthers kits. Behind them is a feed mill using a Walthers kit with a few extra parts, and an annex from a Walthers Interstate Fuel warehouse with a Waltehrs grain conveyor and piping.
Rob Spangler
KitbashOn30The drywall mud for mortar is a new one to me. Any important fine details of the process which I might not intuitively see, what with having not much used drywall mud in my life?
I use the pre-mixed stuff, which is available in a fairly small container, but you should be able to do lots of structures from that one container.If you wish to paint the bricks a colour different from the plastic in which the walls have been cast, assemble the basic structure first. Use the paint of your choice, and apply it with either a brush or an airbrush - spray cans might work, but in many cases, the paint may be too thick or come out of the nozzle too heavily, filling-in the mortar joints. Let the paint fully dry before adding the mortar, as you don't want to rub away the paint during the rest of the process
To apply the mortar, I use a clean rag over my finger tips, simply smearing it on (make sure to work it in around details, such as window sills, which protrude above the rest of the brick surface). It will dry pretty quickly.
To finish the brickwork, it's best to work outdoors, as the resultant dust will make a mess indoors.Use a clean rag over your fingertips to rub the excess drywall mud off the surface of the bricks, which will reveal the mortar that's left in the joints. Shake-out the rag frequently...preferably downwind. Make sure to carefully clean around those protruding details, sometimes with a rag-covered fingernail, although in some cases, you might need to use the tip of an X-Acto blade to get into tight places.Once all of the brick has been cleaned, you'll notice that the colour of the brick will be somewhat muted, which is pretty-much the first step in weathering.
You can later add more weathering if you wish, and this also includes using washes - as long as you simply apply it and let it run down the walls, it won't affect the mortar (other than making it look weathered just like the bricks). I would suggest not using a brush to work the washes into the mortar joints though, as it may remove the drywall mud.
doctorwayneShake-out the rag frequently...preferably downwind.
Hmm ... I just can't imagine why that would be a thing ...
I certainly can't compete with the good Dr. Wayne! But this structure is built using a refabricated Walthers ADM grain mill kit, and Walthers wall panels.
All the tanks are made from PVC pipe, and the piping is all sprues, and the fire escape work is also kitbashed from Walthers kits.
I still have the silos from the original ADM mill in the original box. Another project maybe?
Mike.
My You Tube
Great-looking scenes, as usual, Rob. Your trackwork always lends a lot to your scenes, too.
I hadn't realised, until you posted, that I forgot to include that Walthers feed mill. It's in a location where I have plans for something else, and will likely be moved to somewhere on the partial upper level of my layout.
mbinsewiI certainly can't compete with the good Dr. Wayne!
Don't sell yourself short, Mike. That's a good-lookng scene with lots of activity, and I can easily envision it as another GERN Industries facility. I like the depth of the scene, too, thanks to the backdrop...very nicely done.
I also like the weathering on the freight cars, especially that long hopper in front of the tall silos...very convincing.
Thank you Dr. !
I do have a couple of Flexi-Flow hoppers I'm slowly redoing, thinking maybe I could letter them for GERN, so I can bring in some extra additives to the milling and bakery plant.
"Grandma Ginger's Foods" is always developing new products.
The cold storage addition on the far right is actually all cardboard, with some plastic parts involved.
ndbprrHave about 15 Walthers building kits to put together. Anybody have any pictures of modified buildings to show? Either paint or structural differences.
I don't want to build these kits and have cookie cutter versions of what everyone else has. It would be nice if Walthers had an add on set of castings that allow easy extension of the walls between the same kits allowing easy building of more realistic structures.
ndbprr I don't want to build these kits and have cookie cutter versions of what everyone else has. It would be nice if Walthers had an add on set of castings that allow easy extension of the walls between the same kits allowing easy building of more realistic structures.
Rich
Alton Junction
Walthers does still sell DPM building kits, along with DPM indiviual wall sections, for building your own, or adding on to structures.
Go to page 2 to see the wall sections.
mbinsewi Walthers does still sell DPM building kits, along with DPM indiviual wall sections, for building your own, or adding on to structures.
The DPM modular walls are among my favourites, but I wish they were a little more affordable.
I'm also a fan of DPM's smaller structure kits, and have several on my layout...
...along with a box-full of unbuilt kits that will be used on the upper level of my layout.
You can buy them through Walthers, like many other products, but DPM is now owned by Woodland Scenics.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Wow, nice work on the kit bashes! thanks for posting!
richhotrain My objection to them is that they appear too large for HO scale, especially if they are situated close to other Walthers buildings on the layout.
My objection to them is that they appear too large for HO scale, especially if they are situated close to other Walthers buildings on the layout.
Conversely, I find the opposite in buildings I've used as reference.
This building https://goo.gl/maps/hMe9HHfcnfmouHKeA is roughly the same size between the pilasters as DPM modulars.
This one down a couple doors down https://goo.gl/maps/5PdtYoDrD8MDx3su5 is a dead ringer for the City Classics Smallman Street Warehouse modulars (probably not a coincidence. It is on Smallman Street...).
This one a few blocks away https://goo.gl/maps/dJXFzRLo8gCrctkM6 is sized more like Walthers modulars, but without pilasters.
Nittany, thanks for posting pictures of real warehouses to compare against DPM and City Classics! Any idea when these buildings would been in operation?
IDRickAny idea when these buildings would been in operation?
I don't know when they were built, but they definitely existed in the 1920s. The tracks were pulled up in the late 60s, I believe. They've been occupied until very recently, like the last two years. I suspect that they are being renovated right now, presuambly for apartments.
I believe that this was originally the Otis Elevator Company, in Hamilton, Ontario...
...during WWII, they built Bofors guns for the war effort. Later, Studebaker Canada built cars here, including the last ones ever produced.
Not too far away, to the west, was American Can, a decent candidate for the Atlas Middlesex Manufacturing kit...
East of Otis was the Imperial Cotton Mill...
It's been sub-divided into rental units for small businesses, including artists, and film-makers....
I'm not sure, but I believe that this was one of several Westinghouse plants within the city...
This is the head office building for Westinghouse in Hamilton, and it's currently undergong extensive interior renovations...
This is part of Westinghouse, too, but in the west end of Hamilton...
...and I believe that this was the steam plant for complex...
This plant alone covered 50 acres, and while many of the buildings are now gone, several of the newer ones still remaining are part of a new "Innovation Centre", promoting new industries.There was another Westinghouse plant in the city's far east end, making air brake systems.
This one, in nearby Brantford, another large complex of over 30 acres, was the Cockshutt Plow Company, which employed about 6,000 people...
During WWII, the plant built landing gear for the Avro Lancaster bombers (which were built in Malton, now part of Toronto) and wooden bodies and wings for both the Anson trainer and for de Haviland's Mosquito fight/bomber, aka the "Wooden Wonder" or Mossie.
I think that most of the plant is gone by now, but I believe the main office, shown below, has been saved and, perhaps, re-purposed...
I've always been a fan of older industrial buildings, but most of them are so big that it's difficult to show them in their entirety and most of us would be hard-pressed to model them in their entirety, too.
richhotrain ndbprr I don't want to build these kits and have cookie cutter versions of what everyone else has. It would be nice if Walthers had an add on set of castings that allow easy extension of the walls between the same kits allowing easy building of more realistic structures. I don't think that is going to happen. Which Walthers building kits do you have? Why not just buy two of the same building and kitbash them into larger, perhaps more irregularly shaped, structures? Rich
I don't think that is going to happen. Which Walthers building kits do you have? Why not just buy two of the same building and kitbash them into larger, perhaps more irregularly shaped, structures?
NittanyLionThis one down a couple doors down https://goo.gl/maps/5PdtYoDrD8MDx3su5 is a dead ringer for the City Classics Smallman Street Warehouse modulars (probably not a coincidence. It is on Smallman Street...).
Man, that PRR fruit auction hall across the street from other side, north side, of Smallman has gotta be around 1500 feet, 450m, long!
Would make about a 17ft, 5m, model without engaging selective compression.
It is 1535 feet long.
That's the only surviving part of the PRR freight house complex in downtown Pittsburgh. The freight house was on 11th Street and was about 800 feet long with 8 tracks. The storage tracks and open air platforms ran from 13th St to 21st St between the Fruit Auction and the Allegheny. All parking lots now.
In HO scale, it would have been about 42 feet long.
NittanyLionIt is 1535 feet long. That's the only surviving part of the PRR freight house complex in downtown Pittsburgh.
Hey, my ballpark estimate based on Google Maps little scale at lower right of screen was pretty good!Sounds like quite a complex. Wonder how many thousands of tons of freight went through there back in the day. Wonder how many people worked there or in connection with it in its heyday.The PRR fruit building especially caught my attention since I had just finished reading once again Kalmbach's little book about the citrus and produce industries and the railroads.
Selective compression is a given BUT it would be nice to have buildings that dwarf the trains to be the most obtainable compromise. Walthers steel mill buildings drive me nuts having spent 50 years in the industry. They are a joke. I realize they need to call a building something but they are drastically undersized as are everyone else's buildings. Calling a 3 story building the Sears Tower is a gross understatement and not realistic.
dknelsonThis ability to mentally imagine the "hidden" structures within a kit or within a collection of kits is a genuine skill. Like any skill it needs practice.
I think Dave said pretty well.
Not knowing what kits you have, we are all anxious to see what you come up with.
I must have missed the part about the Sears Tower
My first effort will involve 2 hardwood furniture buildings. I have an 18" block buttress wall 90degrees to the outside wall
I intend to put mirrors on either side and wrap the base and end with the hardwood buildings hopefully making the butress wall disappear.. either side will have the name of a different company and separate sidings.
ndbprr My first effort will involve 2 hardwood furniture buildings. I have an 18" block buttress wall 90degrees to the outside wall I intend to put mirrors on either side and wrap the base and end with the hardwood buildings hopefully making the butress wall disappear.. either side will have the name of a different company and separate sidings.
ndbprr Selective compression is a given BUT it would be nice to have buildings that dwarf the trains to be the most obtainable compromise. Walthers steel mill buildings drive me nuts having spent 50 years in the industry. They are a joke. I realize they need to call a building something but they are drastically undersized as are everyone else's buildings. Calling a 3 story building the Sears Tower is a gross understatement and not realistic.
On the other hand, true to scale sometimes looks odd. Most of our trees should be as big as soccer balls and basket balls, but they'd look absurd on our layouts.