Roundhouse specs

Suggestion:  Get a job at a fast food joint and work there long enough to buy a Korber or Brennan's roundhouse kit, then quit and assemble the Korber kit.  Unless you just want to build a roundhouse to be able to say "I did it," DIY will take more time than the job at the fast food joint and your results won't compare to a Korber or Brennan's kit.  I'm all for DIY; but, let's be real.

Other POV: Scratchbuild one.  Then it won't be the same Korber roundhouse that you can find on 100 other layouts. With care, your results can compare very favorably with any kit, IMO. And, the time you spend (which I admit will be significant) is not a cost, it is part of the benefit.

You can get Dennis Brennan's kit. The basic kit is 3 stalls. You can add stalls and extensions to make the stalls deeper, just depends on how much room you have. I really wouldn't suggest building one from scratch.

 

I edited my previous post to include LOS' reference to the Brennan's kit.  I built Korber's years ago, so that was my frame of reference.  The premise remains the same--unless you are prepared to spend a substantial amount of time chasing wall castings, windows, doors, etc. to DIY, a kit is a better alternative, IMVHO--you can "make it your own" by adding figures, weathering, lighting, etc. so it won't be "one of a hundred."

i would try to scratch build one. the problem anymore is that if you can't just take it out of a box and put it on the layout its not worth the time doing it. what is the idea of a hobby take up your time and get a sense of accomplishment.try the scratch build and you will feel a sense of accomplishment. a case in point look at the models Dave from mercer hobbies builds. that blast furnace did not fall out of a kit box.

Roundhouse kits are a project.  Probably because they are so big, IMO.   Usually a floor has to be fabricated with the spider tracks.  I did a roof fabrication because I didn't like the section/piece together look of the kit.   There is a lot of other detail that adds to the project. I believe the Korber house(s), there were two, are built on an 11 degree angle, per section, and works best with a 30" to 32" turntable spaced back off the turntable edge about 12"  

Both the 304 Korber house instruction, and the 304 floor template are available on this page.   There is a wealth of information on this page including Mill House Studio Turntable planning guide and an older Bowser Turntable planning guide.

A Quick Search Korber 304 yields a couple of pages of threads with lots of information here on the forum.   Click on the underline phrase to link.

Not everyone has that opinion. Actually if you take a look around this forum, and all the pictures of people's layouts... a whole lot of people don't model that way. Kit bashing, weathering, painting, etc etc makes the model your own, even with RTR stuff. 

As mike notes we have some good info available to help you plan your placement, which comes from many places including mikes extensive detailed work on his. We believe we have a great kit but others make some as well. The key with any is the details you add, such as weathering, lights or clutter for example, and is to Dougs point. This is true for a kit or or scratch building. We also sell the doors and windows separator as we upgraded them when we reissued the kit, if you want to scratch build, these would give you a leg up on the project.

laidofsick i have no problem with someone taking it of the box and putting it on the layout.  you stated you wouldn't scratch build one in your post. since your build of Brennens roundhouse is used in his ad i understand why you stated that. i have been a model builder since i was 12 and i'm 65 now so what i stated as in many of the posts on this forum you can't get paint decals etc because so many people aren't building anything, and now here's a guy that wants to scratch build something and you tell him not to. you can look at my posts i scratch built the bowling alley the shell and gulf gas stations as well as kit bashed a PRR E2B locomotive out of a lionel ep5 shell.   i will be offering those and many more as kits and have just purchased a 36x63 inch laser to accomplish this so i want people to buy my kits but again if someone wants to build his own why tell them not to. and i have several atlas o scale cars as well so i have no problem with ready to run. just trying to tell someone to roll your own and enjoy.

Also note that as part of the Scenery and Structures forum is a Source List .  A lot of information available for any project.

I didn't tell him not to, I said I would not SUGGEST doing that. After reading his OP, I don't think has been building kits since he was 12, or scratch building for that matter. I could be wrong. That being the case, scratch building a RH is NOT something you just jump into. Even a RH kit from Korber, Brennan, or Altoona is not an easy kit, and all the parts are provided for you. You better be a pretty experienced modeler to tackle a scratch built RH.

 

And for the record, I have nothing against the Korber RH at all. It happened to be a matter of timing when Dennis announced his kit, and we were shopping for one. I wanted something different, that's all.

The Roundhouse may be a Korber 304 kit, but the turntable was scratch built.  Click on the underlined phrase for a slideshow.

ceastonoh@roadrunner.com

Contact Charlie Easton, he is a great scratch builder, and a member here, and several other forums. He can give you some good pointers on building a roundhouse.

don

I would like to thank everyone for their input. This was quite interesting to hear all the pros and cons. I will take all the information in and see which way I will proceed. I may not be a top notch experienced scratch builder but I do have some very talented and creative friends and family who I am sure will be willing to help. I did figure this wouldn't be a quick or easy task which is why I first thought of trying it. Worst case scenario is I fail and buy a kit, no biggie. Thank you all again.

You do realize that a turntable and roundhouse take up a a lot of real estate. Do you have the space? I'm not sure that your 8 x 15' will give you enough room. You should do a new track plan with a turntable to see if you can live with the inevitable compromise to your layout.

I actually do have the space needed to add them on the one end. I needed to clear some space and rearrange some things but made it happen.

 

Mark

 

 

 

The Fort Pitt modular layout is done 12' X 6'.   House and TT end is 4 ft X 8 ft.

My layout TT/RH was done  7ft X 5 ft.

 

 

Can you fit  big boy in there? Looks like yes on the modular layout but not on your home layout. That's another big decision, because that eats up even more space. I built ours so all 7 stalls will fit a big boy. We are right at 7' from the front edge of the pit, to the back of the RH. Then you still need an inbound/outbound track leading to the pit.

Modular layout does have the Bigboy extend-er which can be ordered with the Korber 304 houses.

 

The home turntable is an older Diamond Scale, OT105 that is smaller.  A little over 26" bridge. It will fit a fairly large locomotive but definitely not a Big boy.  A lot of TT/RH customers move-up to the largest available TT, but IMO you can do a lot with small TT's. 

Diamond Scale Turntable in operation.  Click on the triangle for a video.