Let us see your Scratch Built, Homemade or Kitbashed Layout Buildings or Accessories you have Built

This was a sound car crate cover for an H²O mini bluetooth speaker I made of popsicle sticks so"anything" could have a whistle.

Im really not too into sounds and was recalling all the small shack pastie shops I used to see in the UP of Michigan and other northern places as a kid.

I upgraded to tounge depressor craft sticks for making signs 

Then I started a small coach or màybe drover car... but this formed instead

The realization I really didn't have room for large items promted a small sales stand like I used to see from North to South at roadsides and homes alike.

In February I couldn't get "Dusk till Dawn" imagery out of head. And loosly recreated the building, but not before researching the the story premise more and finding out it is based on Myan religion and their "bible stories".

  Turns out it is related to a level of their underworld where (one of many named) "Hunapu", a hero of sorts, looses his head to bat demons.  What was freaky is I couldn't shake the image until covid hit hard... and it seems bats are the origin of that... Psychic or psychotic or coincidence, it's spooky imo.😱

It fits in an 0-27 curve, and is just foam from packages.   

Racing the sunset to seal it off before the vampire virus can spread.

                                                                                   Wagon train ↑↑↑↑↑ 😁

@Will posted:

I won'r repost the photos but those are all terrific!!

Thanks, Will. Much appreciated. 

A few garages to go along with my villas and bungalows . Cut from 4x4 untreated pine then covered with paper .

Some homemade accessories for my station and freight shed .

My standard gauge News Stand  with battery operated LED lights .

This is my home made passenger station I built from Erector set parts and pieces of glass from old porch windows .  The benches are 1/2 inch angle iron that was salvaged from the trash . 

@Lionelski posted:

Love this Steve, looks like a fun project.

I gotta see what is in my large Plasticville part stash and see what I can create. The last time I did this I created a two story urban street building - ground floor stores and apartments above. I posted pics of this several months ago

Nice Job

 This is my version of a popular O scale kit.  One of my favorites, completely scratch built'. And at a fraction of the cost of the kit'...

All of these are scratch built'. Balsa, plastic brick, paper, cork board and spackle for stuco.. effects.

 So far on my layout I have  kitbashed a few Lionel Rico stations and scratch built a 180 ton coaling tower built to CPR design.

    I certainly enjoy scratch building but other projects have taken priority thus far.
 Great thread! 
Al

I have a mountain that has two track in and three out.  When I had a full background on one end of the layout I added a fourth track out of the mountain to a hidden track.  The other end came out of a hole in the background that needed disguising. 

The hole in the background is hidden by an industrial building.  This building was made from 1/8 inch Masonite with brick paper covering the sides. The main outside loop track goes through this building too.   Arch top windows were added and made from plastic sheeting and panes from 1/16 inch auto pin stripping.  Vent stacks were added to the roof.  A fake roll up door was added to the open ends of the building from wood dowels.  A section of flat building was made as the building and installed against the background to give the appearance of a larger building.

Three sections of the hidden track, located at each end and in the middle of hidden track, have isolated outside rails to trigger a track occupation signal to indicate if a train is present on the track since the track cannot be seen.  The signal power is controlled by the round house light switch.  The signal is mounted on the left end of the industrial building, in full view of the engineer.  12 volt mini Radio Shack bulbs of red, yellow and green are used for the signal.  Each bulb represents a section of hidden track that is occupied, and all three “on” mean the track has a long train hidden.  The lights also indicate the progress of a train moving on the hidden track.

Picture of Industrial building behind the round house.

Charlie

@JohnnieWalker The glass depot is a spectical of home engine-u-ity. "Tight"  

After the little glass dome noddle shack, I'm itching to build with more glass for structure vs window/door/ice/water/etc.. Inspiring 😁

The AF talking city station w/ station stop and record player still alive inside but with more blue collars than previous eras and the tiny switch tower are favs.

HVAC is a Tyco whistle billboard. the rest is pipes, pinstripe, floral wire, inner tube, matchsticks, and a retro style box of Cracker Jack. Home made tell tales w/cotter pin fingers.

The worst bridge ever, sw. tower leg is on the left, Pure spur of the moment rookie expementation with foam. I thought about concrete footing, but went another direction on a whim. It has a emery cloth roadbed draped over a few kabob sized dowls and jammed into foam. Still not bad enough to bother to pull off mine. This cross view is seldom seen.

Ball is a lightweight wood knob, base brass, tack vent- drilled, staple/pin bead handles and pinstripe lid seam trim. Glued now but was actually pretty stable. The house for this yard is an over scale cardboard craft store item, just brown paper look... not here... next time. 

The roof, box lid, are wood. I of course added the Flag, flag light sconce(laser pointer lens cap, inverted) It's wired from roof to pole, then back down at a Guywire angle into a hole in the ground to go under the rails vs over them. It's also in the far corner obscured by a pulp paper 0-31 tunnel and El. line. Dusting is a huge job. Hard to get there and leave it all standing and clearanced ok.

#$&! kids playing at the tracks... They knocked my shrubbery over again.

Ni 😁

A small one, made with coffee stir sticks and sides from an old Lionel exploding boxcar.

And a larger one, bass wood and Ameri-Towne fronts.

@Adriatic posted:

@JohnnieWalker The glass depot is a spectical of home engine-u-ity. "Tight"  

After the little glass dome noddle shack, I'm itching to build with more glass for structure vs window/door/ice/water/etc.. Inspiring 😁

This is a great place to get ideas from .  Here is yet another glass ( kitchen island light ) standard gauge station I built  a few years ago .  I sold it to a good buddy of mine after I realized it was way too BIG for anything I could use .  My standard gauge layouts are all floor layouts that are set up once or twice a year for now . 

Very transparent you're a pane at home, and lamps, bought as such, glazes a gilders frame with opaque rouge....  Crystallin clear; gonna be structure.

...Sill or coned...

See?   

I'm of green tints.  

🙃

Here’s a few more scratch/kit bashed structures I’ve done. Mom’s diner (motto: “get it yourself”), is kitbashed from a plastruct diner kit, cut in half to shorten and add various details, the Green Dragon Chinese restaurant is from a Foscale HO design and Per-Don Tobacco and the Front Street Mission are scratch built, roughly from building designs on George Sellios’ F&SM HO scale layout.  

d

jerrman, very nice work, always loved George's structures and layout

@sidehack posted:

jerrman, very nice work, always loved George's structures and layout

Thanks, Ray. Have always used George’s modeling as my guide as I love the rundown other side of the tracks aesthetic. I’ve watched videos of the F&SM, studied the blogs which feature F&SM pix and have seen the layout in person. I never tire of it. 

@Jerrman posted:

Thanks, Ray. Have always used George’s modeling as my guide as I love the rundown other side of the tracks aesthetic. I’ve watched videos of the F&SM, studied the blogs which feature F&SM pix and have seen the layout in person. I never tire of it. 

 That is excellent work Jerman'.. I love all of it and one can see an influence of  George's master pieces.  I would love to see more of your very nice modeling'....😀👍

Thank you, Ted. The comment is much appreciated. Any (likely undeserved) comparison to George’s work makes my day. I don’t want to hijack this great thread (since except for one, these are kits, not scratch or kitbashed) but, in answer to your request about more of my modeling based on George’s inspiration, here are a few favorites. The garage is Foscale, the barn is Laser-Art (I literally set it on fire to get the effect), I think the machine shop is Sierrawest, the scrap yard is part of scratch built scene, the water scene structure is Foscale, the skiff is ModelTechStudios.

Can anyone tell me the name of some good suppliers for O scale doors in various styles? I have been pulling my hair our trying to remember where I saw this large selection. Looking for more contemporary doors. 

The old Grandt Line of windows, doors, etc. was bought by San Juan Models and is now San Juan Details.  Here is their door page:

https://sanjuandetails.com/arc...oors/building-doors/

Tichy Train Group also sells O-scale windows, doors, etc.  Here's their door page:

https://www.tichytraingroup.co...o_doors/Default.aspx

@Bob posted:

The old Grandt Line of windows, doors, etc. was bought by San Juan Models and is now San Juan Details.  Here is their door page:

https://sanjuandetails.com/arc...oors/building-doors/

Tichy Train Group also sells O-scale windows, doors, etc.  Here's their door page:

https://www.tichytraingroup.co...o_doors/Default.aspx

 

 

Thanks, Bob. Grandt Line and Tichy  are terrific, especially for older structures, but I am thinking of a site that had more contemporary doors. Maybe I just imagined it and am losing my marbles?

What a collection of great buildings and great talent! It's why it's so fun to continue to post in the OGRR Forum. Here's the scratch-built structures on my railroad. Most are in the Victorian end of the spectrum. 

1. Woodbourne Gallery; From my drawings, laser cut and 3D Printed parts, plus lots of other stuff. Based closely on an extant building, the Bronx Documentary Center in Bronx, NYC. Reduced height by one floor and length by about 15 scale feet so it would fit my village.

2. Nighthawks Cafe: Basic building from plans in 1957 Model Railroader Magazine, and then modified to contain Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" masterpiece in the interior. All scratch-built with Plastruct brick paper. Turret turned on lathe. 

3. I.W. Berheim Bourbon Distillery: Laser cut from my drawings, plus lots of scratch-building. Based on a single photograph of this Victorian-age factory that resides on the wall of the waiting room of the modern Bernheim facility in Louisville, KY owned by Heaven Hill Brands. The real building was built in 1870 and razed during Prohibition.

4. Woodbourne Substation: scratch-built multi-media project including styrene, soldered brass, turned aluminum plus auto-body fasteners (as insulator sheds). Only kit was the Brennan chain link fence. Transformer is freelanced based on MTH transformer load (didn't use MTH, scratch-build new box). Remainder was from ABB high voltage equipment plans.

5. Woodbourne Station: HO plans appeared in Kalmbach Buildings and Structures book. Constructed from my drawings entirely from styrene. Prototypes still exist on New York, Ontario & Western RR, although not used as train stations any longer.

6. Sinclair Refinery: Plastruct Petro-chemical plant kit with added scratch-built (although the entire kit is actually scratch building) Marley Cooling Tower, Flare Tower with knock out drum, and Ops building. Entire site had to be redesigned from Plastruct layout to fit side. Load out stations were detailed up too.

7. Pennsylvania & Pacific RR Engine House: Freelance design drawn by me with laser cut walls, 3D printed accessories and multi-media overhead gantry crane. Building is 3 track spaced to Ross #4 ladder switches and is 40" L X 15" W X 15"H.

8. P&P RR Machine Shop: Attached to the engine house is a machine shop with a passel of 3D 1:48 machine tools. Some are downloaded drawings from SketchUp Warehouse, others are hand drawn by me (Niles Wheel Lathe, Sterling Radial Drill and Bullard Turret Lathe), but all required substantial editing to make printable.

Hard to follow Trainman with anything!!  His stuff is over the top, 3D printed, greatness.

This was my first serious build, over 30 years ago, for a huge attic layout.  It now resides on my current table layout.

This is my last build.  The 6 game machines are 3D printed in gray plastic by a guy in Winsted, CT.  The details are photos and paint.  Sizing  and cutting all the cabinet art took some time.

This Nathans was made out of the tunnel insert from the brewery behind it.

Figuring out the proper angle of that hip roof was a doozy.

The Lionel model of the Irvington factory, was much too large.  This modified version has the Miller Engineering roof and window signs, but the window sign is on the left, out of sight of the camera.

The mall, like many others, was inspired by OGR posts.  The shops are lit from above, and also from cutouts of the foam behind them.

The theater covers a large speaker box that opens into the rec room.  You can see the large wires going to it.

This little scene models my basement rec room, with the large bar, pool table, stools, and game machines.  Those are actual mini-arcade games, fully licensed, completely playable, with original sounds and graphics.  They're out of scale of course, but the marquees light up and they look great.

Years ago, I needed a station to support the trolley line above.  Given the dimensions, all I could do was cobble together scrap materials, including a large bathroom tile for the floor.  Although completely crude, it has grown on me.  Haha.

There are many more, but these are some of my favorites.

Jerry

Lots of great work on this thread!

I've posted many of these photos before, but I thought some here haven't seen them, both were scratch built with styrene and wood, both have completed detailed interiors and lighting as well:

Both my water tanks, the log cabin in the back corner, the largest of my three depots, the farmhouse and the two-story wood barrel component factory were scratchbuilt as well, thought none have interior details like the recent structures do...

OK,   Here is what I have.

Kitbashed  97 Coal Elevator

Train Station and Switch Tower

Section House

Steve

JerryG, Trainman2001, jerryman, and others

What great work by all.  I am just awed.  Makes me hesitant about post my 50s style efforts.

  Yes ,I would say kits are welcomed as the skill and results are ever bit as good as many kitbashed or scratch buildings, better than any of mine for sure!

Keep sharing.  I am holding a couple of my small 50s style efforts for when the topic runs out of steam and needs to get back in circulation.

Charlie

2 buildings scratch built and one painted ready made with porch added. Not my work. I bought off Ebay years ago.

I'm not done either  

@Jerrman posted:

Thank you, Ted. The comment is much appreciated. Any (likely undeserved) comparison to George’s work makes my day. I don’t want to hijack this great thread (since except for one, these are kits, not scratch or kitbashed) but, in answer to your request about more of my modeling based on George’s inspiration, here are a few favorites. The garage is Foscale, the barn is Laser-Art (I literally set it on fire to get the effect), I think the machine shop is Sierrawest, the scrap yard is part of scratch built scene, the water scene structure is Foscale, the skiff is ModelTechStudios.

 Jerman', A kit is only as good as what the modeler can do with it.  Everyone of your examples is a perfect blending of excellent modeling craftsmanship'.. An absolutely fabulous job. Impressions of George or not, these models have your touch and are quite distinguishable from any other modeler'...

Thanks for posting these beautiful models'....

I have only 3 or 4 kits on my layout. At least 50 + scratch built structures.  I really enjoy scratch building and is a very big part of the hobby for me.  I'm posting the ones I think you, as viewers will  enjoy seeing.... I must congratulate the many excellent builders and bashers that are posting.  Your work is excellent, and wonderful to see O scale structures at their finest'...👍🏻😀⭐

Steve24944, the coal elevator is such a clever idea. I just installed a 97 Coal elevator. Your model is an inspiration. Quarter Gauger 48 has encouraged me to build and this is a great subject. Hope you don’t mind I copy your concept.  

@ToledoEd posted:

Steve24944, the coal elevator is such a clever idea. I just installed a 97 Coal elevator. Your model is an inspiration. Quarter Gauger 48 has encouraged me to build and this is a great subject. Hope you don’t mind I copy your concept.  

Go for it,  I got my idea for the 97 from some post I had found when I did a search on the internet some years ago.   Post some pictures when you do your project.

Steve

In the top one, I wanted to get some real height to my city area. Except for the REA building on the left, the other ones are all about an inch thick.  The two apartment buildings are attached to the rear of the green building and are just carved out of pine boards.  The windows are Lionel.  They are from accessories and were very cheap to buy, even in large volume ( a necessity ).  The line of laundry just seemed like the thing to do.

In the one on the right , below, I wanted to do some stone structures. I made a mold  (really just a box) , poured plaster in it and added real stones.  Some grey paint mixed in with the plaster.  The other 3 walls are just thin plywood. (the sign says  "Buddy's Place.  Jazz nightly."  after the famous drummer Buddy Rich )

The Lionel Trains sign on top of the Madison Hardware came from Miller Engineering and flashes.  I love lights so the Miller Engineering products are a favorite - I have about 8 or them.

The left most, derelict building is carved from pine board.  The Wet Paint sign was thinned out and worked into the crevices in the Sellios manner.

Like alot of people, I was fascinated by the 1949 Lionel Showroom layout as the photos appeared in the Lionel paperback books Model Railroading published by Bantam in the 50s and 60s.

One of my favorites was the Swifty Meat Packing Co on a sweeping curve in the corner of the layout. I believe it was based on a building by Frank Ellison on the Delta Lines.  The book conveniently provided all the dimensions, so building my own copy was a pretty reasonable task (page 214 of the 6th edition, for example).   Except for the windows, it is all scratch built.

John

Jerrman, about 5 seconds after I started looking at your pictures, my mind went  "George Sellios is smiling in Peabody".

Superb!  and inspiring . . . and humorous.  "Get It Yourself". 

John

@JohnnieWalker posted:

This is my home made passenger station I built from Erector set parts and pieces of glass from old porch windows .  The benches are 1/2 inch angle iron that was salvaged from the trash . 

As beautiful as it is creative JohnieWalker

I've started a new build, really don't know how I'm going to do it so just feeling my way along.

The pic with cardboard is for a mock-up, give me an idea of overall footprint.  Other pics of the little progress I've made so far.  Building is a mix of foamboard, leftover Ameri-Town fascades, joint compound and bass wood.

More to come, can't promise anything good.

@CPF3 posted:

Jerrman, about 5 seconds after I started looking at your pictures, my mind went  "George Sellios is smiling in Peabody".

Superb!  and inspiring . . . and humorous.  "Get It Yourself". 

John

If only, John. 😁. Thanks for the compliments, though.