Scratchbuilding...

[marknewton]

If you model anything outside the mainstream, scratchbuilding is a fact of life, as other posters have noted. That's the position I'm in, but it's a choice I consciously made, and one I'm happy with.

For those who are mainstream modellers, RTR and kits probably meet most of their needs, so scratchbuilding isn't a big part of their modelling activity, nor should it be. I suspect there is only a small number of people for whom building model trains is the main reason they are in the hobby, as opposed to running model trains. Again, RTR and kits ought to meet most of their needs.

So I think that there are less articles in MR because there is less interest. The same doesn't necessarily apply to the modelling press outside the US, but that's a subject for another thread.

Mark.

[Railphotog]

"Sctarchbuilding"?

Scratchbuilding! and kitbashing in the past was necessary if you wanted something that was not commercially available. Either you made it yourself or you did without, at least that was the case with my modeling.  I live in Canada and many of the stuff I saw on the rails was not availble in model form, so I started doing them myself.   No CN SD40-2's with wide cabs were to be found, so I added Canadian Prototype Replicas wide cabs to Athearn models.  The same for SD40's, GP38s, etc.  While these still aren't available from the mainstream firms, complete resin shells are.  I am interested in MOW equipment and had to kitbash old British made Tri-Ang Russell snow plows into Canadian versions.  Nothing suitable was available for a CN double ended plow that I saw locally, so I scratchbuilt one.

I scratchbuilt structures because what I wanted wasn't available, or if something close was, it cost way more than I was interested in paying.  I follow another forum whose members are mostly into structures, but most of them would rather buy and sometimes assemble the expensive craftsman kits.  I doubt if many of them would bother to scratchbuild, as they enjoy doing the kits.

Times have changed, more stuff is now available meaning there is less need to scratchbuild and/or kitbash like there was in the past.

[dehusman]

Actually we have fewer kits today than we did 20 years ago.  The majority of cars acome RTR, there are very few if any diesel locomotive kits, and the only steam kits are those that have been in production for decades (with some upgrades).  About the only thing still in kit form extensively are buildings.  there is a tremendous variety of track options, so handlaying isn't as much a priority (although the Fast Tracks jig system seems to be popular).

There is also and INCREDIBLE variety of cars. I remember the excitement because Athearn was making 3 new twin hoppers, that was amazing because all we had were cast metal Ulrich cars, the Varney USRA twin, the Roundhouse ???? triple and the Athearn offset quad.  That was it.  Now we have probably 20-30 varieties of plastic hopper cars.  40 ft steel boxcars?  all you had was the Athearn and Roundhouse cars plus a Train Miniature X29.  There are dozens of varieties of 40 ft boxcars now.

Kitbashing is down because you just don't have to kitbash as much.  In 1978 there weren't any RS3's and maybe one SD40 model.  Most of the diesels were pretty bad runners.  If you wanted a GP40, SD35, SD40, you had to kitbash it.  Now you just buy it right out of the factory, detailed for your variation.

Scratchbuilding seems to be on the edges.  Some areas its pretty much a necessity.  if you model any time prior to WW1 you are pretty much SOL from the major manufacturers, they just don't make anything applicable.  The Only big company that even tries is the former Roundhouse line (which has been in production making almost pre-WW1 cars for over 30 years). None of the more modern plastic model manufacturers has made a wooden truss rod car for the any time prior to WW1.  So everything is either scratchbuilt or craftsman kits (which has supported the era).

Dave H.

 

[danmerkel]

I know that this topic comes up from time to time and I'm not looking for people to identify themselves as scratch builders.  Instead, I'm just curious as to your opinion of scratchbuilding as it relates to the hobby today.  It seems to me that we have an abundance of kits of all kinds... rolling stock, all kinds of structures, etc.  Not to mention also that there is a very large variety of all kinds of locomotives available today.  Add to that the whole line of laser kits on the market and it seems to me that there doesn't appear to be much of a need for scratchbuilding today.

I'm not sure when I remember reading an article in MODEL RAILROADER that was specifically about scratchbuilding.  I'm not talking about super-detailing; those kinds of articles do seem to appear from time to time.  I'm thinking more along the line of the old E. L. Moore paper buildings that he was so adept at creating.  Even the "kit minglings" of Art Curren seem to not be as popular today as they were back then.

I'm drawing this conclusion because I'm looking for some drawings of some buildings to scratchbuild from plastic siding, roofing and pre-cast windows & doors.  But to be honest, I really can't find any.  A post here didn't get me anywhere with tower plans.  A MR book that I bought has a couple of them but it's an older book and, given the number of towers that dotted the country at one time... there should be more out there somewhere.

So do we direct the collective model railroading press or do they direct us?  Or to put it another way... are there fewer articles on the subject because there is less interest OR is there less interest in the subject because there are fewer articles?

Opinions?

dlm