"Craftsman kits" Caricature or Prototype?

[fwright]

I have a hard time lumping Campbell kits in the same lot as FSM or Bar Mills.  The two latter mfgr's kits include a huge amount of detail items intended for scattering around the completed kit to create an over-the-top impression of dilapidation.  Also, the architecture does seem somewhat whimsical to me.  I guess they're supposed to look like something you would find up in the mountains of New England during the depression, 'cause they sure don't look like they belong anywhere else in the US.

As for Campbell, I know that they produced at least one series of kits based on prototypes found in Quincy, CA, and that their "Grandmas House" kit was patterend after a prototype in Coupeville, WA.  I built one of their kits that was nearly a dead ringer for an actual lumber mill on the Washington coast.  Also, Campbell doesn't include all the detail parts, so there is less of a tendency for the builder to create an unrealistically cluttered kit.  I believe most Campbell's kits, if not exact copies of the real thing, have a fairly strong prototype influence.

Tom

I concur with Tom.  As I understand the history, many of the Campbell kits came from various structure articles in Model Railroader.  Others came from real prototypes.  True, some of the Campbell kits have whimisical and cute names, and the "how it looks built" pictures may suggest a caricature.  But the Campbell kits I have built had no suggestions in the instructions or materials in the kits for building other than the straight forward structure in normal to good condition.

I had planned to use the open air fruit packing shed and platform in the picture as the basis for my narrow gauge to standard gauge transfer facility.  That's one of the positive aspects of Campbell kits to me - the complete templates and instructions and wood construction make for easy modifications into something that fits my specific situation.

just my thoughts

Fred W

[Anonymous]

 I believe some Campbell kits are based on prototype structures from out west. Some Branchline's follow prototypes from the northeast and American Model builders kits seem to be basic structures. FSM, Fos Scale, Bars Mills and others seem to follow the Sellios idea of extra additions and pipes and stacks etc, but as the model builder, you can decide how much "character" each building recieves.Mike

[Jetrock]

Model railroads are, in some ways, caricatures in themselves: instead of a miles-long railroad, we have an impossibly short mainline with shrunken mountains. Instead of a whole town, we place a half-dozen buildings, typically also dramatically under-scale for their apparent purpose. In a moderately sized town that has been around long enough to have some history, there are hundreds of buildings, only a handful of which may stand out as particularly charming, stylized or dilapidated. Because we don't have the room to model hundreds of structures, we generally don't think to model the mundane ones with a single charming representative--although of course we could, but a visitor would probably go "Well, that town looks kind of boring and plain, except for that one building with the peeled paint and a half-dozen cats congregated on the back porch near the trash pile and the washerwoman hanging her laundry!"

 

A modern-era model railroader could model a 21st century  suburban tract with a row of identical pseudo stucco homes in two alternating shades of taupe (with a pair of HO scale SUVs parked in front,) and put far-away signs on the backdrop for Target, Wal-Mart, In 'N Out Burger, Blockbuster Video and Applebee's to represent the business district just out of view, although that in itself would be a caricature of the real thing, with hundreds of homes, and typically in most of such a development the retail segment is nowhere in sight.

[potlatcher]

I have a hard time lumping Campbell kits in the same lot as FSM or Bar Mills.  The two latter mfgr's kits include a huge amount of detail items intended for scattering around the completed kit to create an over-the-top impression of dilapidation.  Also, the architecture does seem somewhat whimsical to me.  I guess they're supposed to look like something you would find up in the mountains of New England during the depression, 'cause they sure don't look like they belong anywhere else in the US.

As for Campbell, I know that they produced at least one series of kits based on prototypes found in Quincy, CA, and that their "Grandmas House" kit was patterend after a prototype in Coupeville, WA.  I built one of their kits that was nearly a dead ringer for an actual lumber mill on the Washington coast.  Also, Campbell doesn't include all the detail parts, so there is less of a tendency for the builder to create an unrealistically cluttered kit.  I believe most Campbell's kits, if not exact copies of the real thing, have a fairly strong prototype influence.

Tom

[reklein]

I've seen whole layouts housed with those porcelain buildings by I believe Dept. 56. Talk about yer caricatures! BUT!! those things sell like hotcakes at premium prices,so its all in what one likes. I,Myself am somewhere in between the caricature and totally realistic, somewhere in between Thomasa Kincaid and a photo.

[jecorbett]

I think a lot of craftsman kits have a lot of character built into them to make the visually interesting. Most business structures are not terribly interesting looking because they are designed to be utilitarian. On the other hand, there are some businesses whose structures have evolved over the years, with an annex here, a patch job there so there are probably real world counterparts to these sort of characterized structures. A whole layout of these types of structures probably would be cartoonish but to have one or two to add visual interest to a layout shouldn't strain believeability. The modeler always has the option of omitting some of the junk and the clutter that he feels doesn't represent a truely life like scene. Each modeler has to decide for himself what looks realistic and what is over the top.

[simon1966]

Chip, there is no doubt that there is a market for the romanticized kits, I suspect heavily influenced by FSM.  These models are not for everyone and certainly don't really fit into a layout that is going for realism, or a more modern era.  Some of the wood laser kit makers produce models that are much less stylized and more realistic.  American Model Builders and JL Innovative come to mind.  This could easily turn into one of those "Is Sellios a realistic model builder?" debates, but suffice to say that in their own way the romantic kits are incredible creations.  They bring an artists view of the wrong-side-of-the-tracks that can be re-created by ordinary modellers.

[SpaceMouse]

Granted, I've never seen a Fine Scale Miniatures or  Sierra West Structure, but when I look at the ads in the mags for the likes of Bar Mills and Campbell's and others, I see highly stylized structures to the point of unbelievability. It seems every one is detailed to the point of looking like a hillbilly flea market. 

Now I have both Muir Models and Campbell's and the difference between the two is that Muir Models uses a specific prototype (ala 1890 Sacramento Sand House or Melrose Station) and is pretty much no non-sense. Campbell's on the other hand tends toward the romantic, that saloon that you would have liked to have seen or the hooker hotel that you might have gone to if you weren't married or afraid of VD.

Of the two, Campbell's is the one still in beeswax.