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Structures - Towns/Cities Articles

The author describes how he used the peel method for heavily weathering the building.

3/16" Scale Buildings in a Hurry!

Using a copy machine to make copies of HO- and/or O-scale buildings to print out in S-scale, apply to a substrate, and then detail the models. Several examples are shown in this how-to article.

A Full Size Structure From a Toy Car Diorama

Using a Motormax toy diorama for parts, the author built a nice-looking model of a gas/service station.

A Gas and Service Station

The author describes how he modified a Walthers HO-scale kit to be usable on his S-scale layout.

A Model Water Tower

The author describes how to build one of these towers. The article includes scaled drawings, prototype photos, and some construction diagrams.

A Myth Exposed: The Unicorn Lives Near Four Corners

The author built a fictitious S-scale hobby store out of a Thomas A. Yorke Design Studio Bank/Storefront kit. Includes several photos.

A New Manufacturer Hits a Home Run

The author reviews the first kit, Greg's Grocery, by Grand River Models.

A Small Hotel

Scale drawings of a two-story hotel as might be found in a small town.

A turn-of-the-century bakery

Drawings and model photos show how the author built this common bakery store.

About Diners...

Model and real-world photos of diners, and ideas on how to model them.

Add Storefront Details

The author uses photos of real stores to make effective signs, awnings, and window displays.

Adventures in Urban Model Railroading

Modeling the Milwaukee Road's Kingsbury Branch which makes for lots of street-running trains. Includes lots of photos, and track plans.

Alvard's Landing

Scale drawings of a multi-purpose whistle stop.

An HO Scale Victorian Building McHugh and Bianchi

The author describes how he built this structure based on the building in downtown Santa Cruz, California.

Another Motormax Diorama Conversion

Mel's Diner by Motormax was supplemented by a pair of American Flyer New Haven coaches kitbashed into a dining facility.

Another Motormax Diorama Conversion

The author added walls and a roof to a flat front to kitbash a 3D building.

Art Deco Auto Dealership

The author describes how he scratchbuilt a car dealership that has lots of curved walls. Includes drawings and a materials list.

Atlas O Scale Lumber Yard for S Scale

The author describes how he converted the kit into an office building for a lumber yard. Includes model photos.

Berg's Farm Dairy

The author describes how he took two HO-scale building kits and kitbashed them into models representing buildings on his Berg's dairy farm scene. Includes detailed instructions on how to deal with the size difference, accompanied by several photos.

Bingo's Pool Hall

Making a distinctive structure from Design Preservation's Cricket Saloon.

Blueprints

Photos and drawings of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company House in Altoona, PA.

Blueprints

Photos and drawings of the Delaware Lackawanna & Western Switch Shanty at the Scranton Yards in Scranton, PA.

Build a Barber Shop

The drawing and photo is of the barber shop in Fountain, Michigan. The author then describes how he built his in S-scale. Has one model photo, one prototype photo, scaled drawings, and scale colored signs. More photos are available on page 33 of the online PDF version of this magazine.

Build a Modern Block of Stores

The author shows how he built a strip-center style of structure which houses several individual stores. Includes construction and final installation photos.

Build a Small Gas Station

This small gas station was very common before the era of freeways and can still be found even today. Includes a prototype photo, model photos, and a scale drawing.

Build Craftsman-quality Kit With These Simple Tips

The author provides some thoughts on using the Monster Model & Laserworks laser-cut kits.

Building a Dairy Queen

The author provides drawings and photos detailing how he scratchbuilt his version of a Dairy Queen.

Building a Fire Station

Prototype photos of various small-town fire stations accompany this article that describes the construction of this 40 x 26 foot, 27 foot tall building. A materials list is also included.

Building a One-Room Schoolhouse

An example build of the plans published in the March 2006 issue of the S Gaugian.

Building a Two-bay Garage

The author used two Monster Modelworks "Triple J Repair Shop" kits to build a two-bay Sohio gas station. Includes some construction photos.

Building An Amusement Park Band Shell

The author tried to duplicate the band shell he remembered from Hershey Park, PA some 50 years ago.

Building Cof f man Bicycles

The author describes how he took two B.T.S. kits and created a turn-of-the-century bicycle shop diorama. He models in O-scale, but used the S-scale models as a forced-perspective.

Building Copper's Donuts

The author describes his experience building the Pine Canyon Scale Models kit #640, Copper's Donut Drive-in.

Building Demolition

This article describes how to model a building that is in the process of being demolished. This shows the interior of the structure, as well as walls half broken down. Included is a description of how to model the rubble that forms around the area.

Building Fire Escapes from Windows Screening

Using window screening material, the author describes how to tease out the vertical wires, which are then used as the vertical railings of each fire escape platform. Creative designs are possible and he shows how to do that in the accompanying photos. Also includes several prototype photos of examples.

Building Kits with Dick Karnes

The author describes how he built the Reviresco Gas Station kits (a 1930s-era and a 1950s-era one). These are very inexpensive kits. Finally, the author also describes the AM Models structures, which, too, are very inexpensive kits of shed and a small passenger station.

Building the "Nighthawks" Scene

This model is based on Edward Hopper's 1943 painting "Nighthawks". O-scale modeler John Armstrong designed the scene and described it in the January 1989 issue of Model Railroader magazine. This S-scale kit is manufactured by Right On Track Models and sold by Wit and Wisdom Models. The kit contains hundreds of parts, so the author describes how he set about building the various structures that make up this scene.

Building the Bagby Hotel

The author decides to re-build one of his layout's structures that he built several decades earlier. He starts off with the research he did, used modern technology for the windows and other parts, made templates for the building's sides, and then shows how he constructed the building, with full interior. Also includes scaled drawings.

Building the Buildings That Aren't

The author describes how he modeled a space in between two building where a building once stood, showing debris and partial remains.

Building the Timberline Miner's Union Hotel

The author describes how he scratchbuilt the remote location's hotel next to his recently-completed mine. Includes lots of photos of the project.

Buildings

Modeling large buildings in S-scale using some HO-scale components that are suitable.

Buildings Over Tracks

This article covers the why and the how of buildings being built over top of railroad tracks. Includes many prototype photos of such buildings. No modeling information is included (see Art Current's article in this same issue).

Cast Your Own Urban Structures

The author describes his inexpensive technique for making molds to build repetitive large structures to model the urban tall buildings. Step-by-step photos show how to make the mold and then pour the castings from Hydrocal.

Computer Generated Windows

How to create delicate window pane structures for scratchbuilt buildings using transparency film.

Creating a 3D Effect for a City

Creating vertical levels to add depth to a city's look.

Crosby's Bandstand

A model of the bandstand, typically found in the center of a small town, was scratchbuilt by the author. He built four of them and described how he modified his construction techniques to improve the models. Includes model photos, scale drawings, parts list, and some construction photos.

E.L. Moore's Village Store

The author took a drawing off of the back of a magazine to build this structure. The article describes how he built it in great detail. Includes model photos and several scale drawings.

Easy Big Buildings

The author developed a method for easily making large building models with the use of foam core sheet panels assembled into a box frame. Several model photos are included showing the examples he has built.

Easy to Build Town and City Structures

The author describes constructing the CMR Park Hotel kit (acrylic) in N and HO scales. However, since the kit assembles into five sections, the modeler could arrange them to build other buildings from the sub-assemblies, with a bit of extra modeling effort, as the author describes.

Evans National Bank

A false-front structure that was built around 1900. Includes prototype photo, and scaled and detail drawings.

Fruit-stand Construction

Using the FinestKind Models #102 False-Front Store, the author describes how he built a roadside fruit stand. Includes drawings.

Geauga Motors Used Car Lot

The author took a River Dam Model Works Rural Post Office and kitbashed it into a used car dealer ship office. He added to that a Miller Engineering animated billboard sign. Includes a number of photos of the diorama scene he built.

General Store

The author describes how he scratchbuilt this small store. The interesting challenge was the two large windows right next to the front door, because that leaves a very weak wall.

Getting Real

The author installs a junkyard in a difficult corner of his layout. Includes many progress photos.

Harley-Davidson Comes to S Gauge

The author kitbashed the NASG Armco Building into a Harley-Davidson bike shop. Includes photos of the complete model, including with the interior lighting shown.

How I Did It

On the previous issue's cover, Bill Fraley's church drew attention, so he briefly describes how he built that model by enlarging it from a cut-out book.

How I Scratchbuilt an Art Deco Car Dealership

The author describes how he built this unique structure, starting with two 4'x8' sheets of styrene. Includes a number of photos.

Jones' Garage

Scale drawings and prototype photos accompany this article about a small gas station built in 1926 in Mountain City, Georgia.

Keveny Memorial Academy

The author describes how he built a compressed scale replica of this building found in Cohoes. Includes one finished model photo and two prototype photos.

Kitbash That Tombstone Courthouse

The author describes how he kitbashed the HO-scale Heljan/ConCor courthouse kit into an S-scale version. Includes photos of the completed model.

Kitbash the Offices of The Sun

The author describes how he built an accurate model of the structure found in Lowell, Mass. It is ten stories tall and has a wonderful external fire-escape staircase, which he modeled. Includes prototype, model, and construction photos.

Kitbashing a Bachmann HO Bus Station to S

Step-by-step instructions, a final-model photo, and drawings are included in this article about how to make the S-scale version.

Kitbashing a Newsstand

An unused, odd-shaped space on the author's N-scale layout was a perfect spot for a newsstand made from a B&O passenger shelter kit. Includes construction photos and how he made the magazine covers.

Kitbashing Chief Petroleum

This article has complete instructions on how to build this structure that has a history of several businesses, including one which required track service.

Kitbashing Doesn't Have to be a Big Deal

Changing an outside corner of a bank building kit to an inside corner made the model look completely different, yet it was such a small change.

Kitbashing for Beginners

This article covers the basics of taking an existing kit and transforming it to a one-of-a-kind structure.

Kitbashing Jim Baker's Service Station

Using a Bachmann Texaco gas station, the author created a convincing model of a gas station he passes on his way to work. Includes model and prototype photos and a parts list.

Litchfield Station is All Charm - Some Might Even Say It's 'Cute'

A product review of the kit released by Port Lines Hobby Supplies, which is a freelanced, small-town passenger station.

Mike's Market

The author shares how he scratchbuilt this small-town grocery store. Includes photos of the final model and some CAD drawings.

Model of the Month Award

A neat gas station and repair shop with an upstairs area.

Modeling a Masonry Structure with Hydrocal

The author describes how to model masonry buildings using a firehouse in Orbisonia, Pennsylvania as an example. The article covers how to cast with hydrocal, how to scribe the bricks, and how to put the structure together. Includes a scaled drawing of the building, and mold-making photos.

Modeling a Modern Service Station

The author describes how to model a modernday Conoco gas station. The reason why I found this article so interesting is that this is the very gas station where I get gas every week! I never met the author, so I don't know why he picked that particular station, which is located in the far west side of Houston, Texas. The model he built looks exactly like the station.

Modeling an Irving Gas Station

The author describes how he scratchbuilt this Canadian gas station that looks like any small-town one. Includes a prototype photo, construction photos, scaled drawings, and a materials list.

Modeling Back Stairs

In addition to several prototype photos, the article also includes model photos of how the author added exterior stairs to the buildings.

Musings from the Yukon

The author visits the Yukon and Alaska, and shares a photo of a building that could be modeled. He also describes his trip on the 3-foot narrow-gauge White Pass & Yukon Railroad.

My Scratchbuilt Sohio Service Station in S

Using a reference book of real-world 1950s gas stations, the author describes how he built his model. There is a sidebar on Standard Oil Ohio (SOHIO) in the article. Includes several final-model photos of the structure, as well as an engineering drawing.

Nordi's Garage

The articles shows how the author constructed an automobile garage based on the one in Troy, New York. Includes a prototype photo, model photos, scaled drawings, detail drawings, and color signs for the building (HO-scale).

Oddity

A single photo of all that is left of Kumler, Illinois, a ghosttown with no ghosts.

Old Trolley Bodies Need Not Die

The author converted an On30 Bachmann street car to model a converted roadside diner. He also used a trolley body to model a shed.

Old-time Gas Station

The author describes how he built a typical small-town gas station. Includes scaled drawings, including one that shows the overall layout of the various parts that go into a gas station. Several construction photos are shown as well.

One for Gasoline Alley

The author describes how he scratchbuilt a scale 20'x28' old-style, single-pump gas station. He provides some sage advice for building structures in this article, to make sure it lasts. Lots of construction photos included.

Parker's General Store

A scale drawing of a typical Maine country store.

Pine Canyon's Main Street Grows

A product review of the Pine Canyon Scale Models Professional Building kit.

Plasticville

The author recommends taking another look at the Bachmann Plasticville structures for your layout. He shows a photo of several of them.

Plasticville Church Puts On Sunday

The author found an intact model on eBay, updates its, and adds LED strip lighting to the interior.

Pomona General Store

The author describes how he built this general store. Includes drawings, prototype photo, and lots of model photos.

Product Reviews

The author reviews the Monster Modelworks "Single Story Starter Kit".

Prototype View

Accompanied by a few photos, this article asks readers how one might build a reasonable facsimile of a prototype trainshed.

Ray's Bar

This fieldstone-covered small structure is made from Strathmore, balsa wood, and commercial doors and window castings. A scale drawing and some construction photos are included.

Resurrection of an Old Mission Style Church for a New Layout

The author describes a Mission-style church he created when he was younger, and has now further detailed and added to his layout. Includes photos of the model, and one of the prototype.

Roller Coaster in N Scale

Through experimentation, the author figured out how to build a working N-scale roller coaster.

Scale Scene

How to model local coal dealers in S-scale.

Scale Scene

The author describes one of the kits by Imagine That! Laser Art.

Scale Scene

The author describes building the two Sidetrack Laser special-run kits, the "Certified Truck Scale" and the "Howard S Craftsman" house kits.

Schlep Boys Army-Navy Surplus Store

The author describes how he kit-bashed the Bar Mills Majestic Hardware (Kit #0943) to create the Schlep Boys Army-Navy Surplus Store. He used a lot of 1:72 military parts and kits.

Scratchbuild a '70s Gas Station

The author shows how he built this model.

Scratchbuild the Star Hotel

The author describes how he built this hotel. The article includes scaled drawings and model photos.

Scratchbuilding a Rural Gas Station

The author built one building modeled after two dilapidated ones he found while traveling through a small town in southwestern Virginia. Included are the scale drawings of the building he made, as well as the materials list.

Scratchbuilding Clark's Filling Station

The author describes how he built this Saxton, Pennsylvania cottage-style gas station suitable for the 1930s. He used drawings from the December 1996 issue of RMC, which are duplicated in this article.

Short And Easy

The author describes scratchbuilding a road-side produce stand. Includes drawings and a photo of the completed model.

Sinclair Gas Station, Elberta, Utah

This article consists of prototype photos and scale drawings.

Small Filling Station

Prototype photos and scaled drawings of the cottage-style gas station in Saxton, Pennsylvania.

Small Town Buildings Part 2

More prototype photos of downtown buildings.

St. Mathew School

Using a prototype photo print, the author drew up scale plans (adjusted to fit available Grandt Line windows and doors). Includes the photo and scale drawings.

Store Fronts

The author kitbashes a Smalltown USA "Tony's Gym" kit. Includes many construction photos and a parts list. Contains a sidebar on another way of doing chrome.

Sudimak's Service Station

Bill Hanslik, Jr. built a Shell gas station in honor of Jack Sudimak who ran a service station early in his life in Medina, Ohio.

Super Sculpey Stonework

The author describes how he used Super Sculpey, a clay-like material, which, when baked, turns into a hard, plastic-like material that can be sanded and carved. He used the material to scratchbuilt masonry walls for his structure.

Table Rock Bank

A scaled drawing of the National Bank building in Table Rock, Arizona.

Terminal Lunch

Scaled drawings of all four sides of a two-story building that has a small cafe/diner downstairs. A typical small-town building. No text or descriptions included.

The Bank on the Corner

Modeled after a real bank on a street corner, this unique structure is sure to draw attention with its patina roof dome.

The Cedar Falls Office, Barber Shop, and Cafe

The modeled small wood-frame building has served many purpose since it was built in the 1880s. Includes prototype photos of the Cedar Falls, N.C. structure, as well as scale drawings and finished model photos.

The Evans' General Store

The author scratchbuilts a model of a family-owned general store in small-town Pennsylvania. Includes prototype photos, scaled drawings, model photos, and a parts list.

The Ferrellgas Company

This article describes a propane gas distributor in Lane County, Oregon. It has many, then, modern-day photos, drawings of some of the piping, scale drawings of the building and the tanks, site plan, and modeling suggestions.

The Last Five Inches

The author packed and transported clinic materials for Dave Jasper's presentation at the 2010 NASG Convention, where he put all those parts together to build convincing scenery in just 30-scale feet of layout space (5 inches). He then describes how he used similar methods for his own layout.

The Light at Thatcher's Inlet

The lighthouse at Mystic Seaport, CT serves as the role-model for the structure built by the authors. Information about how it was built, along with scale drawings and a prototype photo, are included.

The On3 North Pacific Coast Railroad and Its Subsidiary, The Buckhorn Logging Co. Part 69

In this installment the author shows how he modeled the mill owner's office building. The structure is made out of slab board siding. There is a sidebar on how to model slab siding with a convincing look.

The Orbisonia, PA Firehouse

Two prototype photos, scaled drawings, and a brief description of this two-story, 17' x 29' building. Shows how to make the curved rafter ends.

The Roadside Diner

History and information about roadside diners, and how to model them in S-scale. Includes one prototype photo, two model photos, and a thorough listing of diners in the Worchester, MA area.

The Wasco Gas Station, Garage, and Grocery

This combination store was found in Wasco, Illinois. The article includes many scale drawings, including one for the gasoline pumps.

Ulster County Press - A Vintage Print Shop

The author walks us through the steps he took to scratchbuild a 20'x30' building used as a small-town print shop. It includes a detailed interior. Many close-up photos.

Unique Kit Allows Modeler to Create on a Blank Canvas

The author reviews and uses the Bar Mills' "The 1-Kit" to create a unique structure for his layout.

Up-scale S Modeling

Unable to convince the owners of FOS Limited to create an S-scale version of their HO-scale Hokum's House of Burlesque, the author bought the HO-scale version, and proceeded to up-convert it to S-scale, which was not a trivial process. Includes a couple of photos of the completed model.

Urban Renewal - Interchangeable Buildings for Your Layout

The authors describe how they change a section of the layout by changing out buildings. The idea is to show construction progress, for example, over time, mimicking the real world. The article includes a sidebar on how to make street lights and how to make dirt to fill in the gaps around removable dioramas.

Urban Scenery

Putting city buildings on a second level above the track can make the city look dense, yet still allow the trains to move on through. The author describes how he makes rounded backdrops, uses mock-ups, builds roads, and the buildings themselves (painting, weathering, roofs, signs, and lighting). Includes a sidebar on how to cut out windows when scratchbuilding a wall.

What's on Your Workbench Today?

Appel & Sons building in Coolidge, Arizona before the city was so named.

What's on Your Workbench Today?

Photos of two, three-story, buildings by Monster Modelworks under construction.

What's On Your Workbench Today?

A produce market kit receives many details to complete the scene. Includes two photos and lists the parts used.

Window Dressings and Seasoned Sidings

A collection of tips and ideas on how to make buildings be more unique, such as making stained-glass windows.

Wood Block Buildings Part I

The author introduces the method her husband uses to quickly build some buildings, where their core consists of a block of wood. This first installment covers the construction of outhouses, sheds, cabins, and tents. Includes construction photos and scaled drawings.

Wood Block Buildings Part II

In this installment the author describes how her husband built two, more complicated buildings using the block-of-wood method. The structures are a small-town hotel and church. The hotel structure shows how to deal with leaving the interior open. Both building consist of several blocks of wood mounted together.

Yesterday's Filling Station

One photo and scaled drawings of a gas station found in Windham, Pennsylvania. Includes scaled drawings for the pumps in N-, HO-, S-, and 0-scale.