I'm wanting to build some of my own 50's era city structures from scratch (...or even combined kits), but don't know where to begin.

What kind of experienced advice can you scenery gurus offer for a nimrod like me when it comes to scratch building?

When it comes to kit-bashing, what are the best kits to work with from the various manufacturers? Are different mfg's kits compatible? ...which ones are incompatible?

What sources are best for scratch building supplies?

Mgc

quote:

Originally posted by Mgc:
I'm wanting to build some of my own 50's era city structures from scratch (...or even combined kits), but don't know where to begin.

What kind of experienced advice can you scenery gurus offer for a nimrod like me when it comes to scratch building?

When it comes to kit-bashing, what are the best kits to work with from the various manufacturers? Are different mfg's kits compatible? ...which ones are incompatible?

What sources are best for scratch building supplies?

Mgc

I'll offer general advice since 50's is 50 years too new for me,

Start with something simple and work your way towards complex while honing your skills and in parallel start kit-bashing and let that activity evolve into pure scratchbuilding.

Consult the source list at the top of the Scenery Section.

mgc:

Don't know if you've seen any of my scratchbuilding posts or not, but I can definitely offer an opinion for you.

I had absolutely NO EXPERIENCE scratchbuilding when I tried this project:

Mom and Dad's house

I winged it a ton.

I was sort of intimidated before I tried it because of the many scratchbuilding articles that I had read. It seemed like there were "ways" to do things and I didn't know those "ways". But I forged ahead regardless.

For this particular project, I can't tell you how novice and naive I was. I mostly used common sense and made things up as I went along.

I bet you can do the same.

- walt

And, yes, some like Walt do wade right in,

So, come on in - the scratchbuilding waters are fine!

Post your questions, pictures of what you'd like to build, and I'm pretty sure that help and answers (not necessarily in that order) will be forthcoming.

i jumped in too ... without having any previous experience at all. yes, i was intimidated at first, especially after seeing the level of talent residing here on the scenery section. but with great advice, positive words, encouragement at every turn, and a few "atta boys" and pats on the back i now feel confident to at least give it a try.

so jump on in ... the water's just fine. just beware of the fish!

Actually, I've done some scratch building to-date. I've built several arch bridges for the layout, I trestle bridge, and my favorite, an operational drive-in theater. I'll send some pics of the drive-in when I figure out how to do it...

Creating buildings from scratch that look like they belong in my 50's town is another story. I'musing a lot of the MTH building structures as a base for my city, but I need several "fill-ins" where ther are open areas left in city street alignment. And my B-I-G, most challenging task will be to build a passenger train station on the scale of a Union Station.

So if I were to fill in the city blocks with kit-bashed structures, what are the best kits to work with? ....are kits from the various mfgrs compatible?

Thanks for the discussion so far.

Mgc

There are many "how-to's", as well as, sources of scratch-building supplies and craftsman kits in the Scenery Soourcelist(above). This list has been compiled for you from many forumites experience. Check out some of the websites for your needs.
Dave G.

Mgc,
Just curious, but do you need to build complete buildings from scratch, or would building fronts suffice? A first step might be to purchase a few fronts (like the ones OGR sells) and scratchbuild whatever you need (roof, side, etc.) to fill-in your city blocks.

And if you've built trestles from scratch, I wouldn't worry about not having the skills to tackle buildings!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mgc:
I'm wanting to build some of my own 50's era city structures from scratch (...or even combined kits), but don't know where to begin.
/QUOTE]

Model railroader magazine or railroad model craftsman magazine offer paperback books on scratch building. Check them out online of at a local hobby shop. I'd also suggest you buy a few craftsman type kits and build them for practice and instructions. After a few kits it will be a lot easier to build from scratch. A lot of this stuff just needs to be learned by doing...dave

Since a good selection of Ameritowne "city" fronts are available, I went with those. There was plenty of hands-on work to make them unique...painting, adding/subtracting floor levels, even detailed interiors. Scratch-building is fine for something that you want, but is not available. One example, in my case, was a White Castle hamburger joint (a White Tower kit is sold, which I also have). If there is a certain city building that you have seen, then go for it. But sometimes a kit-bash will be close-enough. I just converted a Plasticville hospital into a Zippo Lighter headquarters. Joe

What makes the Ameri-Towne buildings ideal for kitbashing is the fact that all wall sections of various kits are compatible with each other.

Plus each is scored on the back for easy separation at each floor level.

Check out the details of the kitbashing contest for Ameri-Towne structures going on now sponsored by OGR. See the thread at the top of this scenery forum page.

Jim

Here are some pictures (I hope) of my drive-in that I built last summer.




http://ogaugerr.infopop.cc/groupee_files/photo_albums/2...A5530474B641BA1C.jpg

Two more drive-in pictures that were alligned incorrectly...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mgc:
Two more drive-in pictures that were alligned incorrectly...
[QUOTE]
I like that idea of putting a TV into the layout. I could watch Warriors games while playing with the trains.

It's actually a portable DVD player with detachable 8" screen. The player unit is under the table in a drawer so that I can change DVDs. I typically run 50's-60's era Disney cartoons on continuous play.