How Many of You Still Build Kits?

Hello, I am going to start this coming week on 2 kits I got 2-3 weeks ago. I have the #941 Barrettsburg Tool & die   And The #950  O scale flag company. As soon as I get the Evergreen Plastics pieces I'll be ready to run with them. I just got all the paint and glues needed to start.  Well wish me luck on building them, this will be my 1st attempt at building these models.  Scot 

If you have any questions, just write this forum. As you know you will get all the help you need. I read and re-read the instructions, fit everything before you glue, and above all, take your time. Good luck. Don

A couple here and there.

Branchline

Steam Era structures

Hi! wish I had the talent to do this kind of stuff!  You guys are amazing!

Harold

I was inspired by Art Currens work to use available kits and Kit bash them into structures that were nice on a layout but did not exist commercially. Here are two projects that use the Plasticville Bachmann coaling tower. One project makes a larger coaling tower and is straightforward. Often times its worthwhile to do a little scratch building to get what you want

The second project was more involved, irequired cutting and fitting of the kits to make a retail coal dealer. This one was weathered a bit.

You can also do things with foam core and building sheets from people like Westport Models. I made this building front to represent the Sealtest Dairy that was once in Jamaica near the LIRR station. The Building is no more than 6 inches deep including the loading platform and the overhead canopy. Not quite the scale replica but for me it captured the feel.

Last project id s creamery and ice house. I saw this as an S scale kit and thought it might look good as an O scale model. Here is the mock ups. This is a scratch built using evergreen styrene sheets and materials , grandt line windows and doors and other details like HO scale ties and strip wood to make a nice wood loading dock.Scaling the plans was creating a creamery that was a bit longer than the standard styrene siding sheet, so i let the sheet dictate the dimensions and repositioned the doors and windows. It  worked fine . First is a photo of the mockup,. second is a photo of the creamery. It is not in place on the layout just yet.

Does taking a MTH built structure kit, dis-assembling it, altering it and painting then putting back count??? I am a kit builder and scratch builder first....I can't leave B/U alone...... A Lionelville pre built building reworked a LOT.

Oh yes. Taking apart and putting back together with your touches counts. The MTH city buildings are built from modular pieces. It is therefore possible to take these apart and re-assmble them so that they are taller than the factory built or shorter than factory built. Either way it gives nice variation to your layouts downtown skyline.

Frank 53, I think your Bar/Bus station is one of the best DownTown deco kit bash projects ever. Saw it on their web sight when you first did it. Thanks Don

These are just some of the kits I will be making for the new layout. Got a lot of work to do.

Frank 53 did you use super glue to attack the Miller neon around the windows? Don

BTS  Elliott and Sons Supply

BTS Cabin Creek Coal Tipple.

Korber, Quincy Mine and Machining.

Korber 304 Engine House.

OGR Ameritown buildings.

Forum Member MWB kit.   Post office/general supply.

Very nice work guys.Since I'm just going to start building the 2 kits I have I'm sure I will have questions. Just waiting till I receive the parts I just put in and they say I should get them by the 5th of June.

My first try at kit bashing.  I have a long way to go compared to the artistry seen here.  Some of the work here is so incredible.  I cannot tell you how much I have learned from the folks on this forum!

Enjoy building kits, especially laser cut wood kits.

Forgive me while I lead us down a bit different path for a minute….

In the process of building and refining an A. C. Gilbert Flyer postwar layout intended to be closely authentic in content and 'feel' to the postwar period, I some time ago became pretty tired of Plasticville. Using Gilbert structures and accessories and Mini-Craft structures, I then came upon un-built vintage Skyline kits from the late 1940’s and early 50’s. The kits were fabricated from heavy lithographed cardboard. Skyline was one of several model railroading suppliers located in Philadelphia and their buildings are to be found (built box-stock) in photographs of the Lionel Showroom (late 1940’s) and the Gilbert Hall of Science (very early 1950’s) layouts. Shortly after the Korean War, Plasticville soon swept Skyline from dealer shelves. One can build these in a detailed mode, but this would not be ‘in period’ consistent with my purpose.

Some of you will recall Skyline structures and have some recognition of them. The door and floor-to-floor heights are closer to O scale, but the footprints are closer to S scale. The examples shown are a No. 410 kit assortment, a built No. 601, and a built No. 605.

Simplicity has its charms.

Bob

Kits have their place in the hobby, as do pre-built structures, but I prefer to scratch build my structures for a few reasons. I can design and build structures unique to my layout. I don't have to worry about seeing the exact same structure on dozens of other layouts. I don't have to worry if it's ever been offered as a kit, or how available it is or what it costs. Scratch building costs me a fraction of what a kit does, but gives me infinitely more satisfaction because it's an original creation from start to finish. And scratch building increases and sharpens skills that kit building just does not.

I enjoy building kits, here is an old one. Also have many Ceder Hill and Stoney Creek kits yet to build and many more such as Evergreen, Chooch,etc.

Gary  

Bob, nice job. As you mentioned Skyline buildings were on the New York Lionel Showroom layout. It was the first time I ever saw Skyline but didn't know anything about them. Didn't they make paper and wood kits? Don

I love kit building and kit bashing.

Peter

I have two structures under construction right now...one scratch built and another kitbashed.  I kitbash almost every kit as I want it to be unique.  I have shown several

of them, structures and rolling stock, on here over the last several months.  I also build passenger car kits, caboose kits (scratchbuild and kitbash those, too), and freight car kits, all on three rail trucks, and motive power such as a steam dummy on a Marx chassis (have more of those planned, and have bashed an American Standard Car Co. gas electric kit to three rail.  There are several gas electrics and steam coaches I'd like to build

This all to get something unique and what I want, that nobody makes.

As the poster, I search for old kits, that are different.

I built this shopping strip from Ameritowne kits for my club layout.

Dave, WOW. 

Don

Hi Don, Great thread with a lot of beautiful structures, I still enjoy building kits. Can't post photos right now I'm having a problem with my computer

Thanks, Alex

Thanks Alex. Bob, I forgot about the tin buildings. I had a kit that was some sort of mine. The one I had was not assembled. I think I still have part of it. It not only fell apart but the tin started rusting and developed holes. Don

I was a cold night when I shot this shot on my last layout. Don

Great work everyone, fabulous stuff! I made these kits with my laser cutter.

This video shows how the kit in the 1st picture was made,

Cesar 

Just amazing buildings & photos. As said before; we have some very talented people on this forum.

Cesar

Thank you for posting the video, very informative.

I might have to borrow that laser cutter in the near future for a couple of months.

Thanks Charlie! Let me know what you have in mind!

Here is a nicely done video by my friend and forum member Bobot. He's really handy with media and video.

Cesar 

I have not built any kits for my O empire yet as it is still in early stages of construction, however I built countless for the HO layout.

Here is a gas station and barbecue stand I built several years back.

It's a part of the hobby I miss and will enjoy getting back into.  I would build some now but really don't have a place to put them while waiting for the layout to be ready.  Probably the first I will tackle is a scratch built passenger station imitating the look of Union Station in Houston which is now part of Minute Maid Park where the Astros play.

A Thomas A. Yorke kit that I'm working on.

My lionel diner kit.

I don't know that fewer are being made; might be true that fewer are actually being built.

Given the sustained success of Bar Mills, BTS, and others in the Source List, I'd wager that there is a substantial market for sales (building is another thing, ).

While usually scratchbuilding structures, I have managed to build a few kits recently.

Chooch Kit

Atlas Ice House & Platform

Korber Flag Co kitbashed flat, DPM modular kitbash, Pecos River Brass kit, Dennis Brennan's Wood loading dock kit

Dennis Brennan's Roundhouse kit

Atlas bridge with a Ross bridge at each end: 

Pecos River Brass modular kitbash

I like working with plastics. I don’t like built ups because I paint them for a more realistic appearance and sometime kitbash them. One exception is MTH, their buildings come apart with a screwdriver and the windows snap out. I also scratched many buildings, my preferred material is Evergreen styrene.

Railroad YMCA. MTH Country House with added dormers and a porch from a previous project

A kitbashed  Ameritown Factory

A scratch built model of my childhood home from styrene..

Richard, looks like you could move back home. Don

This is my first attempt at Kit building. Atlas Suburban train station and Platform Kits

Platform shelters kit bashed are 15 in ( kit has two 10in roofs)

Station 64in L  17in W

Lamppost a combination of Model Power HO scale (Platform) and O scale (perimeter of station Building)

Led lighting in the station interior.

Like I said first attempt.

This is the kit I'm getting ready to start.  It is the second portion of a two-building gas station/garage that I'm building.  I've already built the main Esso gas station building and pumps.  That kit was by Twin Whistle.  This kit is by Full Steam Ahead.  It is just the garage portion.  I will build it with the front garage doors open.  It will have a lube rack and workbench inside.  The whole business is called Boin's Garage.  The kit even came with a personalized sign.  Matt