How many would rather scrach build, then buy kits.

[Autobus Prime]

Has anyone tinkered with making large buildings out of 1/4 in thick foamboard. Presently trying to use this stuff for my locomotive shop walls, using stryine channel, I beams and angle to hide the edges and I'm also useing it  for window caseing and doorways. Perhaps the wall thickness is a bit of overkill, but they will support two traveling cranes.

Just curious of what you use and how you go about it......John

J:

I think the foamboard, if a little thick for some buildings, might be a great base for printed brick paper, which I am beginning to see as a really great material, perhaps even the quickest way to make a truly realistic brick wall. Tone and weathering is everything with brick.

I love to scratchbuild because it's fun and cheap.  I'm not rich, and I like fun.  I'm also slowly discovering that it can be very quick, maybe even quicker than most kits.  Another nice thing about scratchbuilding is that you have an infinitely large product line to choose from...a whole world of past and present buildings, and completely original ones.

Here is a station I am working on now:

Methods and materials are discussed in this thread:

http://cs.trains.com/forums/1385055/ShowPost.aspx

You might be able to do some of the same stuff.

("Working on now", meaning "Was working on before new baby, will eventually get to at some future date." :) )

 

 

[desertdog]

Has anyone tinkered with making large buildings out of 1/4 in thick foamboard. Presently trying to use this stuff for my locomotive shop walls, using stryine channel, I beams and angle to hide the edges and I'm also useing it  for window caseing and doorways. Perhaps the wall thickness is a bit of overkill, but they will support two traveling cranes.

Just curious of what you use and how you go about it......John

J:

I think the foamboard, if a little thick for some buildings, might be a great base for printed brick paper, which I am beginning to see as a really great material, perhaps even the quickest way to make a truly realistic brick wall. Tone and weathering is everything with brick.

I love to scratchbuild because it's fun and cheap.  I'm not rich, and I like fun.  I'm also slowly discovering that it can be very quick, maybe even quicker than most kits.  Another nice thing about scratchbuilding is that you have an infinitely large product line to choose from...a whole world of past and present buildings, and completely original ones.

Here is a station I am working on now:

Methods and materials are discussed in this thread:

http://cs.trains.com/forums/1385055/ShowPost.aspx

You might be able to do some of the same stuff.

("Working on now", meaning "Was working on before new baby, will eventually get to at some future date." :) )

 

 

I use foam board as a flat support surface for some of my buildings.  I also tried it for making walls but had trouble getting a clean cut. Even with a very sharp knife, the paper would tear or the foam would cut unevenly. If anyone has a secret on how to cut it cleanly, I would be interested.

 

John Timm

 

[SaltRiverRy]

"When I got home from work, they had built several small buildings out of card stock and balsa wood, and used a lot of spare parts I had lying around.  I was so proud."

Great job with your kids. Our hobby will survive!

[Master of Big Sky Blue]

My philosophy for scratcbuilding is this, if a kit is available for what I need, Use it, If not scratchbuilding is also fun. Also have fun with kit bashing to.

 

James

[jwar]

Desertdog.   I have the same problem with getting a nice straight cut. Im using styrene (angle, chanel) on all edges and it look's OK, may post a pic this weekend....John

[R. T. POTEET]

With exeptions, of course, I don't buy anything until I have proven to myself that I absolutely can't do-it-myself. I do not begrudge kit manufacturers designing and marketing these things - I admit to not having bought any in awhile but I have put a few together in my day - but these yayhoos take $10,000.00 vacations to Maui while I can't afford to get out of the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west. A pox on their houses. If my plans for the next five years get even halfway to fruition I hope to be able to join them - I'll probably not go to Maui but it is not beyond my dream to be able to affort a $10,000.00 vacation.

And yes, jwar, scratchbuilding is a little time consuming but at this particular moment I have considerably more discretionary time than I do discretionary income.

[garya]

Has anyone tinkered with making large buildings out of 1/4 in thick foamboard. Presently trying to use this stuff for my locomotive shop walls, using stryine channel, I beams and angle to hide the edges and I'm also useing it  for window caseing and doorways. Perhaps the wall thickness is a bit of overkill, but they will support two traveling cranes.

I was going to use the stryene metal wall sheets, toured three hobby shop's and only came up with  three packs, the building is 22x 18, so I will use these for other buildings.

Just curious of what you use and how you go about it......John

 

 

 

Look at http://www.horailroad.com/clinic2/cl2_005.htm for foamcore buildings.

[rolleiman]

Sometimes, ya gotta scratch!! Show me a kit for THIS one, I'd consider it. Honestly, for most things, I'd rather scratch build (but I'd never get anywhere with it) as I don't want my layout looking like a walther's catalog. I'll use Merchants Row II for example. While it's kind of neat to see what others have done with same kits (color schemes, detailing, etc) to make them unique to the builder, that same building set, if it exists at all doesn't exist on every main street in the USA.

[shayfan84325]

I like to build craftsman structure kits:

I like cutting pieces and making them fit right, but scratchbuilding requires so much planning, research, and ordering of parts and materials.  The kits make sure I've got what I need to build a structure.  With the LHS 50+ miles away I'm willing to pay for someone else to do the planning and shopping.

But I build bridges and trestles from scratch:

I find that's the only way to get just the right bridge to fit the space in my layout.  For that I'm willing to do the planning, shopping, etc.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I scratchbuilt all of my scenery and benchwork. 

[rolleiman]

 

(my scratch replica of FSM's Jefferies Point Stave & Heading Co.)

CNJ831

Before I read your description I thought that Was the FSM kit. Nice work!! Just goes to show that king george isn't the only one who can do such work... 

[desertdog]

This may interest some of you.

 http://www.scratchbuildersguild.com/portal/

Rich 

Rich,

Thanks for providing the link.  I will have to give the black on black foarmboard a try.

John Timm 

 

 

[toot toot]

I've been a scratchbuilder/partsbuilder for over 40 years, i tend to follow particular prototypes, and since i model an era where there isn't much in commerical products available.  I use commercial windows and other detail parts.  My rule is if i can do better myself, then i will.  Usually i use wood and metal or plastic details, but recently i've been experimenting with my own plaster substitute castings. 

 

i've posted some photos of my current project at

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?board=Scratchbuild;action=display;num=1204128776

 

my main reason for scratching, is to get what i want, not what is commerically available.  Since most of my models are viewed from arm's length i don't bother with too much detailing. 

[stebbycentral]

I became a scratchbuilder out of necessity, I started out in N scale back in the days when you were lucky to find a half-dozen structure kits in the cataloge.  A couple of my structures were built and rebuilt more than once as my skills improved.  Then years later someone comes along and releases a kit of the same structure...

 

[desertdog]

I find it interesting that there are so few hobby shops that offer materials for scratchbuilding, let alone offer clinics.   On the other hand, whenever the topic comes up here or on other forums, there seems to be a lot more modelers who scratchbuild or at least kitbash than one would expect.  Perhaps the art of do-it-yourself has not totally been lost in our present era of ready-to-run and built-ups.

Just an observation...

John Timm 

 

 

[jecorbett]

I see two reasons to scratch build structures or rolling stock:

1) You enjoy the process as much or more than the finished product.

2) There is no suitable kit or prebuilt item available not is there one close enough you could kitbash to get what you want.

I have never had an instance when either applied to me. Scratchbuilding seems like such an old fashioned way of doing things. Kind of like using a slide rule. I haven't done that since they came out with the pocket calculator. My time is at least as valuable to me as my money and I simply don't want to devote 100 or more hours to build a single structure. Whatever added benefit might come from scratchbuilding a structure simply isn't worth the added effort. Basic kits can be painted, weathered, and detailed to look almost as good and in some cases better than a scratchbuilt structure.

[on30francisco]

I find it interesting that there are so few hobby shops that offer materials for scratchbuilding, let alone offer clinics.   On the other hand, whenever the topic comes up here or on other forums, there seems to be a lot more modelers who scratchbuild or at least kitbash than one would expect.  Perhaps the art of do-it-yourself has not totally been lost in our present era of ready-to-run and built-ups.

Just an observation...

John Timm 

 

 

I get most of my material at the large discount arts and crafts stores in the area. They have styrene, stripwood, brass, structural shapes, some details, and are starting to carry some train specific items. In addition to these, they stock MANY other items that are useful. Their inventory and prices puts most LHSs to shame.

[JimRCGMO]

While most of my buildings so far have been kits (per the directions), from here forward I expect to be doing more kitbashed ones, with a few more scratchbuilt ones. I'm a fan of Art Curren's books, and have a warehouse/manufacturing building that I'll be building from DPM modular sections. Even on my kits that I build, I look for ways to modify them from the same-as-everyone-else's version of it. I like some of the craftsman kits (have two currently in the queue of structures to be built), but again, would like to customize mine so they are different from the catalog shots.

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[twhite]

I've always been more of a 'basher'.  I did a lot of scratch-building when I was much younger, not out of necessity as much as just to see if I could do it.  I wasn't really satisfied with what I did, except for a few bridges, but it seems that every time I get a building kit, for example, I just can't leave well enough alone, and try and 'modify' it to what I think it OUGHT to be and how it would fit into the general concept I have of my layout.  This might span the gamut from adjusting a few details to re-designing it all together.   I just can't help but 'tinker.'

I generally leave rolling stock alone unless there's something I need that simply ISN'T available commercially for what I need, then out comes the tools.  Case in point: An ex-Chessie dome car assigned to the 1950 Rio Grande "Royal Gorge."  Try and find one commercially.  A little Con-Cor kit-bashing and interiors from about five manufacturers and there it is.  Well, enough so that I'm not embarrassed to run it, I mean. 

I will admit that as far as my steam locomotives, I've done quite a bit of 'bashing'.  For instance, I have no problem at all about changing out Feedwater Heater systems on some of my brass locos--along with headlights--and I don't mind admitting that one of my two brass Rio Grande F-81 2-10-2's started out life as a Santa Fe 3800 series from PFM until I went berserk with a hacksaw about ten years ago.  I mean, hey, Bill Schopp was hacking up PFM's for RMC like crazy in the late 'fifties to make prototypes of locos that even HE knew would never appear on the market!  I just followed his example.  Besides, brass isn't SACRED, is it?  Just easy to work on.   And that's why my three Akane Yellowstones sport new PSC Elescos, pumps and headlights.  Of course, if the brass loco is cosmetically exactly what I always wanted, all I do is improve its running characteristics. 

Bridges?  There's not a one of my 15 bridges that isn't a form of kit-bash from an available kit. 

Hey, it's fun.  Actually, I think ALL of us, when we look back at our MR, can honestly say, "Yah, I had to adapt this to what I needed."  Scratch, bashing, or otherwise. 

I wonder if secretly, the MR manufactureres don't EXPECT it?  

Tom

[wm3798]

Well, I guess I'll put my money where my mouth is...  I love to scratch out structures.  Here's a few samples...

84 Lumber, based on the store I worked at years ago...

Engine terminal ready track and fuel rack... Evergreen and Plastruct parts plus some stuff from the junque box...

N scale Train Order stand - cobbled together from scrap rail and other bits and pieces...

The Company Store at Vindex.  Evergreen siding, misc. parts.

Engine House for the Chaffee Branch

The Train Order Office at Shaw. 

And how about a couple of bashes...

A grocery terminal from a DPM factory and a couple of Model Power brewery kits.

A steel warehouse addition for an old AHM loft building

A fancy downtown hotel from a Model Power GE Building (First two floors are scratch built)

And a couple of works in progress... 

The beginnings of the Elkins, WV Roundhouse and...

My Cumberland Station project.

Yeah, I dare say I like scratching and bashing...

Lee 

 

 

[toot toot]

those are great looking

well done!

[CSX_road_slug]

What an excellent thread, I bookmarked that scratchbuilders guild URL!

I've been a basher/scratcher for over 12 years, mostly out of necessity; I model the steel industry, and the unique structures associated with it are nearly impossible to find in kit form.  Even the ones that Walthers did ~10 years ago, they're just a starting point - I needed to scratchbuild several of the signature structures to replicate the type of mill I wanted.

Here are some of my works thus far:

1) An enlarged version of the Walthers HO scale blast furnace.  The only remaining Walthers component is the cast house - everything else is various sizes of PVC piping plus a bit of Plastruct for the smaller details.

 

 

2) An overhead traveling 'ore bridge' crane [in brass].  Walthers introduced their own styrene ore bridge kit 6 weeks after I gave a clinic on building this thing.

 

3) Kitbashed basic oxygen furnace (BOF) facility.  I started with two of the Walthers Electric Arc Furnace buildings, then added a rectangular plexiglas* enclosure with lots of Plastruct tubing and structural shapes. 

* This was in January 1997; if I had known about foamboard I'd have used that instead, much lighter!

 

I can't simply walk out of my LHS with any of these... 

[jag193]

I scratch and bash because it's the only way that I get what I want (who makes an adobe kit?) or the thing just won't fit where I want it to.  But, if the kit will work, then I will use it as well.

 Here's a bashed one (in O).

 

Bits and pieces of old Chooch kit plus stuff from the scrap box.

[Ron_P]

I have scratchbuilt a few pieces. I hope this picture is not too big. I have a few more projects but they are not complete enoughfor me to post.

 

 

[SpaceMouse]

I think I want to change my vote.

I think I like scratch building better, it's just that materials are a hassle in my area.  Kits come with everything you need more or less.

[dehusman]

I rarely if ever build a structure kit the way it came out of the box.  Virtually every structure kit I've built in the last 20 years has been modified in some way.

Dave H.

[jecorbett]

We should add two more choices to the original two, kitbashing and ready-built. If it were feasible, I would build my entire layout with ready built structures. I just don't enjoy structure building at all. It is tedious and time consuming if you want to achieve even OK results. Obviously, ready-built choices are very limiting so you couldn't build anything but the smallest of layouts using this choice. Kits would be by next choice. I usually build them as designed. I guess the reason I'm not really excited about either kitbashing or scratchbuilding is that I consider structures to be just filler that create the setting for the trains to run through. To me, the trains are the star of the show and I want the focus to be on them. I don't need elaborate structures to accomplish that. It's nice to have a few standout structures on a layout that are attention getters, but for the most part, I consider structures to be just faces in the crowd.

[ShadowNix]

I love to do both!  As a relative newbie, I learn techniques from each craftsman kit i do... That being said, I get great satisfaction from scratchbuilding... here is my how truss bridge:

 

I will post my scratch build yard light tower soon...gotta put the lights in.... 

Brian

[sfcouple]

I love to do both!  As a relative newbie, I learn techniques from each craftsman kit i do... That being said, I get great satisfaction from scratchbuilding... here is my how truss bridge:

 

I will post my scratch build yard light tower soon...gotta put the lights in.... 

Brian

Holy Cow!  That is beautiful.  Congrats on an excellent job of craftsmanship.

Wayne  

[ShadowNix]

Thanks, Wayne.  The plans were relatively easy to find online and were a mixture of instructions/websites on how to assemble a howe truss (I can find the sites again if anyone interested...)  The key to scratchbuilding structures like bridges, trusses, etc. is JIGS!!! here is another of my scratchbuilds in progress...here are the prototypes:

My version (in progress gotta paint and add lights....)

Up close where the lights will be...

I have such fun finding the prototype pictures then planning and finally building...I will post pic's  of the final version soon.... working with 38GA wire is really fun (trying to make 5 working spotlights... scratchbuilt enclosures from brass!!!) 

Brian