My Model Structures, Your Model Structures ~ Show & Tell
Similar to the popular thread on Locomotives and Rolling Stock please feel free to post your best or favorite scale model structure builds.
It doesn’t have to be something scratch built, maybe just something a bit out of the ordinary or something you happen to simply be proud of for the accomplishment!
Feel free to post with reckless abandon!`
I will start off with some recent builds:
Duffy’s Tavern; a Road House - in HO Scale
Doesn’t every self respecting model train layout need at least one . . .
. . . perhaps not so respectable Road House?
New (but weathered) green paint for the side walls. Heavy rust and assorted stains added to the roof and porch. Some available and appropriate advertising signage and finally a custom printed sign to advertise this Road House to its’ customers. ~ Duffy’s Tavern!
The Little Red Barn in HO Scale
That horse sure looks content in his stall.
This one is a combination of three plastic kits all from the local hobbyshop’s junk bin.
Read here; “Bought for Pennies on the Dollar!”
Of course I started off with the basic nice little red barn. Then the stripping shed is a repurposed crossing gate shanty from another RR kit and finally that big roof top ventilator is off some German factory kit with the rest of that structure being long lost to history. The brick chimney is again from the shop’s parts bin. I cut the top off the chimney (this went to another kit rebuild that was missing its’ chimney) and instead, added that metal (plastic actually) smoke jack extension to perhaps improve the draw on the little pot bellied stove inside. Added a few other simple details plus that horse sticking his head out of the stall and there you have it.
I did also cut a rectangular hole into the top of the barn roof so you can both see through that big ventilator and also see down into the barn, as it should be.
The Bachmann Coaling Tower in HO:
Lots of weathering went into this one plus some added detailing.
First a black wash over most all the structure. Then both sepia and rust washes for the iron roofs.
I always thought something was missing on this model as none of the many cat-walks and stair cases were braced nor supported in any way ~ as they would be in real life!
So all the many stairs and walkways got underpinnings added.
Often these towers would have some sort of roof protecting the coaling chute and its’ mechanisms so again a piece of corrugated roofing from the shop’s junk box. Finally I painted the tower’s foundation a lite gray/buff to represent concrete.
A Wholesale/Retail small oil facility in HO:
This one was totally out of the scrap bin - Two old and broken oil tanks already up on stilts and some ladders, cat-walks and staircases from an old broken down Tyco coaling tower. Plus a small Atlas “shanty” for the phone/office.
I joined the two sets of stilts together to form one solid unit and also reworked the ground bases so they could be joined as well.
Some custom paint and lettering plus extra detailing (assorted junk) and . . . . Voila!
Here is the artwork for that Magnolia Oil signage - in case anyone would want to make use of it.
One mistake I made was printing out the sign on regular typing paper rather than photographic paper.
I wish now that I had because the photo quality paper replicates almost perfectly the old style shinny enameled signs.
Live and Learn!
Hey guys/gals let’s see those model structures!
I’m not trying to dominate this thread but just getting the ball rolling.
Outstanding builds here Michael, real eye candy, and again, going back to your post about the crossover of rail and armour, something that lends itself to both disciplines, as well as others, 
.
Unfortunately I’ve not got a complete building to show off but below is a couple of images of a 1/72nd scratch-build façade I’ve cobbled together.
Thanks for sharing your great work, .
G, 
No requirement for “complete” structures. Dios and building flats totally welcome!
I remember seeing your work in posts elsewhere. Amazing!
A beautiful combo of structures, harbor and rail ~ perfection!
Hey ALL!
Please consider taking a quick (10 second) Armorama survey. We are trying to find out just how many viewers are interested in both Armor AND Railroad Modeling.
Gothic Church from Kibri ~ N Scale:
Again I am making use of the Citadel line of products here. “Nuln Oil” (Black Wash/Shader) for the roofs and “Sephrium Sepia” (Red/Brown Wash/Shader) for the stonework.
.Water based Shaders for easy clean-up. Permanent when dry.
Brush on. Want it darker - add more coats.
The entire upper portion of the steeple was cast in the same gray/green plastic as the base. The very dark clock tower section was achieved using multiple coats of both the Black and the Sepia washes. Then the upper dome and spire was given two coats of the Sepia. Hopefully this takes on some similarity to a very faded and tarnished Copper tone.
Michael, a super subject keep started here. I’ll dig out a few of mine. I hope I see other people showing their goodies too.
G-man ~ I seem to recall you may be intending on putting some railcars on that wharf and perhaps a boat in the harbor???
Chama Sandhouse by Tyco, AHM & Bachmann ~ I think:
The hobbyshop where I volunteer, already had two very broken versions of this kit in their “junk” bin. I was able to create one good one out of the remains. And of course I gave it the usual treatment of new paints, washes and weathering.
The plastic structure kits today offer a far better starting place than did any of the off-the-shelf kits from my younger days.
The sandhouse in Chama, NM actually has a pale green roof much like the one seen here.
_________________
From the left over broken parts of the second sand house I was still able to salvage a very workable RR storage or hand-car shed.
Sorry but not too many “Craftsman” style kits have ever visited my railroad. I am a “kit-basher” at heart, through and through!
Though I have built a few of them. (The dance hall seen in the very first post being one of them.)
Not EXACTLY a structure:
Derelict flatcar used as railroad end loading ramp. (I have seen this done in the US so I am guessing the Europeans thought of it first.)
To take an aging flatcar that is otherwise to be considered scrap. Remove the truck at one end and bury that end into the ground. Thus forming both an end-of-track bumper as well as an end-on loading ramp. Add some hinged “bridging ramps” * and you have it!
*Of course the AFV’s don’t need the bridging ramps but the soft skins do. (or at least a couple of wide planks to “mind the gap”.
On both car and ramp I replaced the model provided plastic, one piece, “wood” decking with individually distressed and stained Evergreen “boards”. I then used either Black or Sepia stain on each individual board - on some boards I used both stains while varying the intensity of the stains. When the boards were dry I mixed them all up in a big box and started “decking” the cars with a random selection of whatever color stained board came out of the box next.
Your memory serves you well Michael, . That is still the intention, I have two planked rail wagons, a vehicle, a crane to add, and a small boat (if I ever find one suitable and cheap enough, 
), also some figures to give it a breath of life.
G,
Some recent structure “face-lifts”. (Not 'builds" but more like “rejuvenations.”)
Mostly using washes, shaders and pigments added to the base kit.
Sorry I don’t have any “before” photos to show.
Loew’s Movie House ~ March, 1952 *
On this one I did heavy shaders all around on the brick work. Added a silver base to that large rooftop pediment plus rust and other shaders to make it appear more rich and detailed. I also reworked that Loew’s vertical marque to make it larger and more embellished adding a touch of deco to it. Of course there is also the added billboard.
*And before anyone says anything: The African Queen was shown in a limited Hollywood viewing in December, 1951 simply to qualify for that year’s film awards. The movie’s official grand opening was in New York, February of '52 with general distribution coming in the months following.
Those last two sets of photographs are amazing Michael, I especially like the cinema, .
You’ve got the makings of a small town there, do you work exclusively in 00 (4mm) scale?
Have you got any photographs of buildings combined to make a larger scene?
My quayside scene is only my second attempt at structures in 00, the only other one was a partial Normandy farmhouse for a small (again A4 size) base of a WW2 bocage hedgerow.
Again, it’s just foamboard, card and scribed DAS.
G,
No, unfortunately no dios or finished scenes from layouts. And certainly nothing of the accomplishment level of your work seen here.
You could literally say I work in all scales.
I have a somewhat unusual arrangement in that I volunteer at a local “Mom & Pop” Hobbyshop. (All Trains) The fellow likes to have some built-up, ready to run structures in the shop and people just seem to sell / give him boxes and boxes of assorted broken model buildings. So I repair, repaint & restore some of them for resale.
So get to test out differing modeling styles and modeling techniques as well.
That Gothic Church I did was in N Scale, the Rustic Cabin is O Scale. I get to jump all over the map! (Retired and living in an apartment so no room for a layout!
I will do the occasional “picture frame” vignette with my armor models:
OFF TOPIC, OFF TOPIC, OFF TOPIC, . . . . . .
Occasionally I will also do what I have lately taken to calling my “brown towel dios.”
Which sometimes becomes a “WHITE Towel Dio”
Really need to do a snow base “picture frame dio” with this one and add some heavily ladened pine threes.
