Bob. Part of my Clarence Dock section is on a 6 inch wide plank. Using pictures of warehouses on the backscene gives me ----
Looking from the wider section
Off course you could put your half relief buildings in front to give depth. I have a town scene behind my half relief buildings.
Just my
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Thanks David - I had considered using photo backdrops but couldn't find anything I liked the look of, or was varies enough over the length I wanted to cover. Anyway, I've had fun making up my skinny buildings, and I've a few more to go before I declare "enough industry!" and go back to the rural coastline section of the layout.
Bob
FowlmereRR Any ideas? A couple more of my skinny buildings:
Any ideas?
A couple more of my skinny buildings:
I have done this on my old layout, as illustrated in the before and after photos.
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks, Rich! I'll certainly look at that idea and give it a try on one of the thinner buildings.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I don't have any issue with the quirky architecture of many of the wood craftsman kits over the years. There are lots of quirky buildings in real life. What I dislike and find unrealistic in small scales like HO: Excessive weathering on EVERY building on the layout. Exaggerated details no one would actually see from 25' away, let alone from the 200 scale ft we typically view our models from. Wood grain showing thru painted buildings. Wood siding is baby butt smooth when new, the wood grain does not show thru the paint, new or old, unless there is EXTREEM heavy weathering and deterioration. Same goes for nail holes...... You can't see a nail hole in a board at 15 feet, let alone 150 ft. Exaggerated details just look toylike to me, but maybe being trained in architecture, I have a hyper sensitive awareness of proportion and scale...... AND, wood grain does not scale down...... When this topic comes up, there are always the comments about how dirty railroading and industrial areas are - true enough, but even at that, some things are new and clean or repaired and refreshed from time to time. BUT, more importantly for me, I am interested in, and model a space "wider" than the 100 or 200 feet either side of the tracks. I like giving the railroad a context for its existance. Tried building one layout with the "shelf" approach - hated it before it was complete. So I'm going back to deep scenes and more modeling of "non railroad" buildings and features. I just picked up some more old Suydam kits, Dorothy's house from SS limited, and some classic plastic kits for the new layout. I have multiple Suydam lumber yard kits which will be combined to create a large lumber company complex. All of these will be built to look only lightly weathered and well maintained. Sheldon
I don't have any issue with the quirky architecture of many of the wood craftsman kits over the years. There are lots of quirky buildings in real life.
What I dislike and find unrealistic in small scales like HO:
Excessive weathering on EVERY building on the layout.
Exaggerated details no one would actually see from 25' away, let alone from the 200 scale ft we typically view our models from.
Wood grain showing thru painted buildings. Wood siding is baby butt smooth when new, the wood grain does not show thru the paint, new or old, unless there is EXTREEM heavy weathering and deterioration.
Same goes for nail holes...... You can't see a nail hole in a board at 15 feet, let alone 150 ft.
Exaggerated details just look toylike to me, but maybe being trained in architecture, I have a hyper sensitive awareness of proportion and scale......
AND, wood grain does not scale down......
When this topic comes up, there are always the comments about how dirty railroading and industrial areas are - true enough, but even at that, some things are new and clean or repaired and refreshed from time to time.
BUT, more importantly for me, I am interested in, and model a space "wider" than the 100 or 200 feet either side of the tracks.
I like giving the railroad a context for its existance.
Tried building one layout with the "shelf" approach - hated it before it was complete.
So I'm going back to deep scenes and more modeling of "non railroad" buildings and features.
I just picked up some more old Suydam kits, Dorothy's house from SS limited, and some classic plastic kits for the new layout.
I have multiple Suydam lumber yard kits which will be combined to create a large lumber company complex.
All of these will be built to look only lightly weathered and well maintained.
Sheldon
Also make sure your building signage fits the period of your railroad. I have seen too many nice period buildings (30s40s50s) with signs done with a Word program in a Helvetica font. There are a large number of fonts available online - of which many will match your Old West or Depression era buildings.
rrebell ATLANTIC CENTRAL I don't have any issue with the quirky architecture of many of the wood craftsman kits over the years. There are lots of quirky buildings in real life. What I dislike and find unrealistic in small scales like HO: Excessive weathering on EVERY building on the layout. Exaggerated details no one would actually see from 25' away, let alone from the 200 scale ft we typically view our models from. Wood grain showing thru painted buildings. Wood siding is baby butt smooth when new, the wood grain does not show thru the paint, new or old, unless there is EXTREEM heavy weathering and deterioration. Same goes for nail holes...... You can't see a nail hole in a board at 15 feet, let alone 150 ft. Exaggerated details just look toylike to me, but maybe being trained in architecture, I have a hyper sensitive awareness of proportion and scale...... AND, wood grain does not scale down...... When this topic comes up, there are always the comments about how dirty railroading and industrial areas are - true enough, but even at that, some things are new and clean or repaired and refreshed from time to time. BUT, more importantly for me, I am interested in, and model a space "wider" than the 100 or 200 feet either side of the tracks. I like giving the railroad a context for its existance. Tried building one layout with the "shelf" approach - hated it before it was complete. So I'm going back to deep scenes and more modeling of "non railroad" buildings and features. I just picked up some more old Suydam kits, Dorothy's house from SS limited, and some classic plastic kits for the new layout. I have multiple Suydam lumber yard kits which will be combined to create a large lumber company complex. All of these will be built to look only lightly weathered and well maintained. Sheldon I accually used to be able to see nail holes from 25' in deterorated siding, used to be able to read the small print on N scale cars with the naked eye. Could also hear things I told was imposible to hear, you know those things that only mice are soposed to hear, those bother me but I can not hear them but my first encounter with them was after years in the trades. I have relatives that can accually hear them.
I accually used to be able to see nail holes from 25' in deterorated siding, used to be able to read the small print on N scale cars with the naked eye. Could also hear things I told was imposible to hear, you know those things that only mice are soposed to hear, those bother me but I can not hear them but my first encounter with them was after years in the trades. I have relatives that can accually hear them.
Well yes, if a building has deteriorated to the point of ZERO paint and extreemly weathered wood, then you can usually see some kind if trace/indicator of nail holes at 15/25 feet.
BUT, 25' in HO is 3.45 actual inches. Do you really get your eyeball 3" from a model for general viewing.
Even two feet away is 174 scale feet, that is a whole different story.
But I really don't care much about the choices others make, I'm not interested in having very many run down or abandoned buildings on my layout.
It is simply depressing. I build models to escape the depressing aspects of the real world. I want a nice balance of realism, but nothing like the George Selios version of the great depression.
I model 1954 because I like the trains from that era, and it was a time of renwal and expansion after WWII.
I get what you mean but being a renovator most of my life, I see profit in old run down buildings. I bought an old mobile home for my daughter that was in very bad shape and been redoing it for the past six months.
rrebell I get what you mean but being a renovator most of my life, I see profit in old run down buildings. I bought an old mobile home for my daughter that was in very bad shape and been redoing it for the past six months.
I'm doing another one right now, 1895 or so, Queen Anne Cottage style farm house in South Central Pennsylvania, about 35 minutes from where I am in Havre de Grace.
But I don't buy them and flip them, I get paid time and materials to do first class restorations. And when I'm done it will function like new house but feel like a time capsule back to 120 years ago.
I never saw where you could do them right and make any money flipping them.