I see that Bachmann is reintroducing two more Plasticville kits, the Marshall's Office and Restaurant and the Barber Shop and Saloon.
http://www.modelrailroadnews.com/PDF/NEWS%20-%20Loco%20-%20HO%20-%20Bach%20-%20I-Hobby.pdf
I'm not real familiar with these kits, but know they can be variable in adherence to "scale." I assume no changes will be made other than packaging updates. Anyone know how close these are to HO? I could see some kitbashes working, but only if not grossly out of scale.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I'm not sure about any new Plasticville kits, but they used to be much smaller than HO scale. One set we used to have on our club layout was so out-of-scale that a delivery truck was taller than the store roof.
My only recent purchase approximately five years ago was their "ranch house" kit, which was such horribly cheap, flimsy, shiny plastic that I just threw it away.
Mike,Those Plasticville structures isn't worth a hoot and just not worth looking into..With that said I have seen them used as background buildings to suggest distance but,still they just didn't look all that realistic.
I suppose on a kid's Chuggington or Thomas layout they would work quite nicely.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Almost all Plasticville buildings are decent candidates for kit-bashes. The doors are usually a little shorter and window castings are too thick. The roofs usually have too big shingles or too heavy a gravel look to them, but I've used them successfully on several kit-bashes. You have to look beyond the box. The two new ones look very "western" themed. It all depends on the prices and how much you're willing to work to get a decent build out of it. They will take some imagination, some extra detail parts, and some work, but you can get good results, not for the plop and play crowd. mh
mh,
That's pretty much what I plan on doing.
cacole,
If these are smaller than HO, I can make them work. I have some spots where I can force the perspective, so smaller will work. I've heard than some are bigger than HO, which really wouldn't work, which is why I was asking.
Larry,
Well, I got plans beyond shaking the box with these. More and more, I regard kits as a convenient pack of raw materials for better things...
mlehman Larry, Well, I got plans beyond shaking the box with these. More and more, I regard kits as a convenient pack of raw materials for better things...
Cool! Keep us posted on your project(s) progress.. I'm always looking for a idea to steal er,ah,ahem..Borrow...
I didn't think I'd get to this project so soon, but I ran across one of the P-ville Marshall Office and restaurant kits so took a hack at things tonight...
First, this is a great little kit and it is HO scale
I decided it was just what I needed to finish the "wrong side of the tracks" in Rockwood -- well, really, the whole town is on that side of the tracks, except for the RR facilities.
Here's what it looks like from the back. I stretched it by using the front and back walls to make it into a flat, with a few interesting jogs in it that are easy to make.
Here's the front: Street level view. There probably should be a railing in front of The Iron Horse so inebriated patrons don't stumble out onto the tracks! And the overhead shot shows the shallow depth of these flats to fit in the limited space available: Now that the major actors in this scene are in place, I can work on detailing it. BTW, this kit reminds me of the burger shop that sits next to where the Silverton train sits at the end of the track when in town for lunch.
Here's the front:
Street level view. There probably should be a railing in front of The Iron Horse so inebriated patrons don't stumble out onto the tracks!
And the overhead shot shows the shallow depth of these flats to fit in the limited space available: Now that the major actors in this scene are in place, I can work on detailing it. BTW, this kit reminds me of the burger shop that sits next to where the Silverton train sits at the end of the track when in town for lunch.
And the overhead shot shows the shallow depth of these flats to fit in the limited space available:
Now that the major actors in this scene are in place, I can work on detailing it. BTW, this kit reminds me of the burger shop that sits next to where the Silverton train sits at the end of the track when in town for lunch.
Guess you won't be running 1880s double stacks with that "The Chuck Wagon" sign hanging over the tracks like that.
Make it movable, they can use it as a semaphore...
The Chief Engineer has already corrected the issue with the sign.