i would like to tinker in scratch building for my new layout. what web site would be a good starting point . what thickness is good for solid buildings?
Since no one has tendered an answer, I wil try.
I don't know of any sites but you can do a search for Railroad Model Craftman magazine older pages where they often had scale drawings for parts to scratchbuild buildings to scale. They have renewed their mag and I don't really know if they have continued that trend or not.
Do a google search for "Ho scale model drawings" or "HO scale buildings drawings" Or "designs" and see what you come up with. try several searches with different key words and phrases like that.
AS far as using carboard, the most common to use was cereal-box cardboard. If you don't use cereal, make nice with a family with kids who use cereal and ask for the empty boxes.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
I have seen some incredible modeling by our counterparts in Japan so clearly, quality modeling with cardstock is possible. But in general normal cardstock is not the best material because it quickly takes on a wavy quality due to absorbing humidity, even when it is braced with wood. Perhaps sealing it first with shellac (which has no water in it) would create more usable material. The cardstock in cereal boxes is cheap and plentiful but seems to me prone to fuzziness. I think a cardstock specifically made for projects such as Bristol Board would be a better bet. And at that point you are spending some money so, seriously, I would suggest trying styrene.
Dave Nelson
To find articles on card stock buildings go to the top of this page, the light gray line, find RESOURCES. Under that is Magazine Index. This should give you not only MR articles, but those in MRC and a number of other publications.
Good luck,
Richard
If you want good quality board to scratchbuild with, you will want either Strathmore or Bristol board. Unlike cereal boxes or shoe boxes, this material comes in plies-a core material and two finished sides. You can get inexpensive material, but do yourself a favour and spend the extra jing. Go to Michaels or AC Moore. I tend toward using black as a lot of what I build as buildings I will want to avoid the "see-through" look. That is only good for stuff from Victoria's secret, et al.
More advice is to always give this material a coat of sealer-after you brace the living daylights out of it! If you do not, it will make new York pretzels look like a straightedge. There are many articles in past issues of Model railroader, railroad Model Craftsman, et al; some of the contributors were the likes of Al Armitage, E.L.Moore, etc, and were some pretty interesting reading in of themselves.
You can purchase very large ponderous sheets, or much smaller, easier to handle sheets of all colours-and a fair amount of textures. NOW...Also do yourself a favour and go toseveral web sites: Rusty Stumps, Northeastern Wood, and this little beauty: modelrailroadsoftware.com for some of the nicest brick you will ever find! For fifteen bucks or so, you really can;t fo wrong. Use 65lb paper and you will like the results.
Rich
EF-3
You can get cheap styrene plastic in sheets from walmart and the like by purchasing "For Sale" signs and such. While they are printed on one side, obviously, they work just fine in many projects, especially for turning regular structures into background buildings. And the signs are typically very cheap. A good, easy way to get sheet styrene.
John
Not all the "for sale" type sign plastic is the same, a lot of it is PVC and cannot be glued with styrene cements or even CAs.
For the life of me, I can't see why anyone would go back 50 years in technology to use Strathmore or any other cardboard to build buildings. Styrene is easier to work, doesn't leave all the fuzzy edges, neads a lot less bracing, doesn't have to be sealed and it's cheaper.
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
I get good quality card from my picture framer free of charge. It's amazing what these people throw out. Well worth checking out.
Dave was right - Shellac will do a great job of sealing and preserving card.
You might like to check out some of the European modelling forums for ideas.
Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0
Try this site http://bellsouthpwp.net/n/8/n8hfi/card-faq/
Enjoy
Paul
British modelers are very comfortable in using card for models. Two kit manufacturers are Metcalfe and Superquick. A quick google will find their websites. I've built several Metcalfe kits and love 'em. While the buildings are definately British prototype, the bridge, viaduct and platform kits are usuable (and inexpensive). May be a good way to get ideas for your own structures. Scalescenes.com also has card structures that you can download and print off. Haven't tried any yet, but looks interesting indeed. While I'll admit card models are old technology, they do look pretty good from anything over a foot away.
I vote for styrene too. There are lots choices in sheet stock for patterns for brick, steel or wood walls and there are a ton of strip materials for adding details. There are also several suppliers of windows and doors. Styrene glues up very quickly with solvent cements and is very stable. Try Evergreen Scale Models for sheets and strips. Walthers has some very nice brick sheets. Grandt Line and Tichy Train Group make great windows and doors.
By the way - congratulations on giving scratch building a try!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Congratulations on scratch building objective. It's a lot of fun.
I go through a fair number of legal or smaller sized top bound tablets. The cardboard backing them is fairly thick and tough--can be good or bad. But it's free and I've used it for years in certain applications. Coating is a good idea too.
If you're ever in doubt about size, just measure and compare to the prototype. I use my precision calipers which give me a good measurement and then just do the math and scale it using the 1/87. My calipers are probably one of the most useful tools I own for scratchbuilding.
davekelly British modelers are very comfortable in using card for models. Two kit manufacturers are Metcalfe and Superquick. A quick google will find their websites. I've built several Metcalfe kits and love 'em. While the buildings are definately British prototype, the bridge, viaduct and platform kits are usuable (and inexpensive). May be a good way to get ideas for your own structures. Scalescenes.com also has card structures that you can download and print off. Haven't tried any yet, but looks interesting indeed. While I'll admit card models are old technology, they do look pretty good from anything over a foot away.
Clever Models http://clevermodels.squarespace.com/ is a great source for US prototype paper building kits. They are in PDF format and can be easily modified using a Photoshop type ( I use Corel Paint Shop Pro) program. They have over 80 textures (brick, stone , wood, tile, etc) available.
Cut out paper building books can be scanned and modified too.
BANKmod1 by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
I have also found photos of both prototype and model structures that can be used as the staring point for a paper model. The building above was made from a photo of the front of an O scale model. The side and back walls were made by copying the front wall brick and copying and modfyfing the door and window
Photoshop type programs and copy and paste elements, change their size, color, even shape.
Some nice can be done using Evans Design Model Builder, but it uses a proprietary format which limits its usefulness somewhat. .
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
I recall a layout article in the past year in MR where the owner liked to use Dunkin Donuts boxes.
He said he liked the stiffness and the smooth surface of the cardboard.
You could probably grab a few extra coffee stirrers with your donuts if you want to keep costs down, plus you get to eat the donuts!
Eric
I wish I was a headlight
On a northbound train
Everything and I mean everything you need including tons of information on building with card stock can be found on the Clever models web sight
www.clevermodels.net
If you go to the blog and search a few pages you will see lots of craftsman level scratchbuilds. there are tutorials and free models to download. The kits for sale are all under $10 and there are collections on DVD
Clkever models is the undisputed leader in card stock structure kits.
Thom
Thanks for the mention.
Thom from Clever models. PS I'm just about to put up a new freebie
The Rogue Valley Model Railroad club uses cardboard box material to make large lumber mill structurres as place holders on their layout. These card board structure also fill the new layout for visitors to see something in place. Takes an hour or so to build and paint with a spray can.
This station was scratch built from srathmore stock. First all four sides were drawn to scale in one long peice on the srathmore board. The windows and doors were then cut out with an Xacto knife. The entire drawing was then cut out, folded together and glued where two adjacent corners met. individual stained and weathered bass wood boards were glued to the strathmore sides and window and door castings place in the holes preveously cut. The tops and bottoms of the strcture were then braced with bass wood to hold the stucture ridged and the roof was then addded.
Peter Smith, Memphis
The LION was just playing around with his computer and made these buildings out of the top of his head.
I used Serif PagePlus, printed it out on 11x17 heavy weight paper on a Xerox Color machine, folded it and glued it to Styrofoam. I will be trying more of this. I have had good success printing railroad elements on paper and I use silicone caulk to glue it down. This damages neither the paper nor the Styrofoam. If you do not happen to have a 11x17 format color laser printer in your house, you can take the file down to a printer's shop or to Staples, and they will print it for you.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Some Xerox DocuColor printers had a routine which allowed large images to be printed on multiple sheets of paper that could then be spliced together to make images larger than 12"x18" (the largest most Xerox machines can print). This might be a useful thing for people trying to print backdrops or large structures. Come to think of it, it might come in handy printing out some of the larger drawings from the new MR DVD.
Dan
AltonFan Some Xerox DocuColor printers had a routine which allowed large images to be printed on multiple sheets of paper that could then be spliced together to make images larger than 12"x18" (the largest most Xerox machines can print). This might be a useful thing for people trying to print backdrops or large structures. Come to think of it, it might come in handy printing out some of the larger drawings from the new MR DVD.
The Serif PagePlus program will do this with any printer. I have used this for station walls and backgrounds. There is a bit of overlap from one page to the next, this gives you the opportunity to make the cut in the least obtrusive place.
An architect's office will have a wide format printer that uses rolls of paper and can make any size you like. These are ink jet type printers, and you can easily use $30 to $50 worth of ink for one print.