Peter's Model Railroading | Articles | Structures | Silverdale Sears Kit Home
Introduction

HDCustomDesign, based in Hickory, North Carolina, creates and sells 3D-printed kits in various scales. In late 2024 they started releasing some of their kits in S-scale. This "1920s Silverdale Sears Kit Home" is one of those. The nation-wide catalog store, Sears, sold complete kits of houses from 1908 through 1942. These were featured in their catalogs, and individuals could order them that way, or via their retail stores. The package was shipped via rail to the nearest location, and the future homeowner could then arrange for local transportation. They arrived very much like our model railroading structure kits arrive, that is with individual parts pre-cut and labeled and an instruction booklet included. The homeowners could then build the home themselves, or have a local contractor build it for them. The HDCustomDesign kit arrives fully 3D-printed as shown in this photo. There is a removable thin sheet at the bottom to act as the floor.

(external link: HDCustomDesign)

(external link: About Sears Kit Houses)

The kit models a portion of the basement, along with some basement windows.

(external link: A Real Silverdale)

The 3D-printed walls' siding is very well done, as are the roofs. As the photos show the four corners of the building, you can see how complex this model is. It would take a lot of effort to build such a model from scratch. 3D-printing is definitely the future of model railroading, regardless of scale.

The basement access area is part of the main 3D-print of the model.

When the model arrived, the extra parts are packaged, with bubble-wrap, inside the main building. The model has two porches, one short straight one, and one that wraps around the front door corner.

The roofs for these are separate. The blank, flat surfaces on the main building clearly indicate where the parts are to be glued. These parts are supplied separately because of how these models are printed, but it also makes it much easier to paint and prepare them separately before attaching them to each other. Due to my limited time available for the hobby, it may be some time before I start working on this. It is not a high-priority item as I have no immediate place to put this model, anyway.