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Structures - Homes Articles

The author builds a structure out of styrene and makes it look like wood, so that it can survive the outdoors for his garden railroad.

300 Main Street

This Victorian home was a side project for the author to build something not directly related to the railroad.

A Farm House for Goff Brook

The author discovers that there was a house near the tracks, so he shows how he built it.

A Railroad Car Out Outbuilding

Tony Dixon found an out building that consisted of two old railroad cars with a roof between them. The built a model of it and shares his construction story with plenty of photos.

Abraham's Log House

The author scratchbuilt this cabin and describes how to do it. Includes finished-model photos and plans, as well as a parts list.

An HO Scale Spanish Revival Bungalow in Cardstock

Step-by-step instructions on how to build this structure using card stock. Includes the scale printable pages needed for the structure.

An Operating Windmill

The author describes how he built a working windmill that provided water to railroads or farms. Includes a collection of very detailed drawings for the construction of this model.

Aunt Tillie's House

Half-S scale drawing of all four sides of this two-story home.

Board-for-board Construction

The author gives the history and describes how he built the model of Jim Law's house; he was the foreman for the Yosemite Valley RR and bought the Yosemite Lumber Company's superintendent's house for $1 when the logging company closed its doors. Includes scale drawings.

Build a Small Substation

The author describes how he built a small substation that provides electricity to a small town or large factory complex using an Atlas signal tower kit (significantly kitbashed, of course).

Build a Stumptown Shack

After building the Bar Mills Shack Pack structure, the author decides to place the model on a series of tree stumps since it would be sitting on uneven terrain.

Card Stock Models

Printing your own parts, the author show how he built a basic cabin using card stock. Several other projects are shown as well.

Cast an Abandoned House

The author describes how he modeled a collapsed house by casting the walls, then carving the individual bricks on them.

Dalton Gang Homestead

The home of the infamous Dalton brothers near Coffeyville, Kansas. The text of the article is mostly about the activities of the brothers, but it is accompanied by modern-day photos of the home, as well as scale drawings of the exterior.

Depots by John Garage/Trackside MOW Building

A product review of the construction of this kit. Includes a couple of photos.

Details, Details, Details

Suggestions for modeling a company-owned set of row houses at the back of the layout, which don't take up much layout real estate but can still be a haven many creative details.

Dino's House

The author describes the construction of a three-story single-family home. Includes drawings and photos.

Frame Houses for Your Town

Building multiple, stand-alone, tall-skinny homes commonly found in towns. Includes scaled drawings and model photos.

Hitting the Bricks with Stucco

The author shows and describes how she mimic's stucco on brick buildings.

Home Sweet Foam

The author introduces a company called "Mountain in Minutes" that uses a spray foam to create shapes, including, Victorian homes that the author believes are close to S-scale.

How I Built the "Christmas Story" House in S

The author visited the house that was featured in the 1983 "A Christmas Story", which is now a museum. He took many photos and used those to create scale drawings, from which he scratchbuilt a model of this house.

J.J. Bowdian House

Scaled drawings (only) of this building; all four sides.

Just the Cellar

The author describes how he models a cellar left over after the building has been removed.

Kitbashing a Derelict Building

Kitbashing Best Boats & Baits

The structure represents a normal two-story building, but with an additional story added below that sits almost at water level.

Kitbashing Row Houses

The author learned that row houses are an integral part of older northeastern towns, so he modeled them using Tony Wenzel's Smalltown kits, the two Appliance Mart kits (No. 6020). Construction photos and a prototype photo of Bethlehem, PA are included.

Kitbashing Two Family Brick Homes

The author describes how he modified a DPM townhouse kit into a two-family, three story residence.

Long-bell Lumber Company Skid Shack/Cabins

This article is a complete guide to building the structurs of the American Model Builders' kit #79.

Made-Rite Shoes

Using a Fine Scale Miniature's HO-scale model for inspiration, the author scratchbuilt an N-scale replica. Includes scale drawings and several model photos.

Make Templates For Easy Scratchbuilding

The author describes how he uses a computer program to create accurate templates, so that they can later be printed to be placed on the material for making the structure walls. It includes a step-by-step guide on how to create a template for a home.

Modeling Farm Building

The author used his in-laws' real farm in Minnesota as a go-by for building this model. There are many prototype photos and scale drawings accompanying the article. The large article also covers creating and installing crops of soybeans.

Modeling Tenements

Tenement housing provides opportunities for detailing. The article includes scale drawings, construction details, close-up photos, and a side-bar on how to make clothing.

Ol' Lonesome Adobe

How to build an adobe structure that has seen better days. Perfectly suited for desert scenes. Includes construction diagrams and one model photo.

Quick and Easy Interiors

Using magic markers, styrene, and other assorted materials to quickly give the illusion the interiors of stores and homes are populated.

Raising a Tent

The author describes how he models a tent.

Residential Ramblings

A collection of scaled drawings for common house architectures used in North America.

Scratchbuilding a Small Miner's Shack

Wanting to practice a new technique he learned from a book, the author built this model. Includes many photos.

Setting Structures on Hillsides

This article covers how to deal with modeling structures set into a steep hill. It shows the author modifying a portion of his layout to place a school church.

Short 'n' Easy

The author describes how David Pool scratchbuilt a coal box for a residential home. Includes a model photo and drawings.

Small Cape Cod House

The author describes how he found a couple of Plasticville Cape Code buildings, and set about making them more S-scale.

The Enduring Philadelphia Row House

After describing the prototype buildings and the research he did into them, the author describes how he casts the parts from RTV molds. Includes a parts list, and many construction photos, as well as some prototype photos.

The Hart One-room Schoolhouse

Prototype information, photos, and scale drawings for this schoolhouse found in Tuscola County, Michigan.

Vicki's Cabin Woodstock Kentucky

The author built two models of her neighbor's cabin. This is a brief how-to article, showing both the model and the real building.

Virginia's Prank

How to build an outhouse from scratch. Includes photos and diagrams.

What's on your workbench today?

Normally this column only shares one photo, but the author wrote a complete article of how he built a derelict horse stable at a goods yard at Kelvedon, Essex, UK.