Poll- have you scratchbuilt anything?

  • Thread starter Thread starter nachoman
  • Start date Start date

Have you scratchbuilt anything?

  • yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • no

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
N

nachoman

After visiting the LHS today and observing what people were buying and asking for, and later reading on another forum about how there are few "builders" left out there...

How many of ou have scratchbuilt anything for model railroading? The item could be as simple as a lampost or as complex as a locomotive.

kevin
 
Cannonball said:
Does repainting old boxcars count?
Click to expand...

Not quite. SCRATCHBUILDING IS BUILDING FROM SCRATCH.

A simple equation for scratchbuilding would be:

Time+Raw material (wood/metal/cardboard/sheet plastic)+ expertise (or lack thereof :D ) = Scratchbuilt Item. Usually Scratchbuilt Items are from plans found anywhere, or measured and drawn by yourself, and the purest scratchbuilt Models have a very short list of "commercial" parts, if any at all. :eek: I've heard of some people casting their own brass detail parts, winding their own motor armatures, OF THEIR OWN DESIGN, and building a wooden cab with hand made minirature nails. :eek:

If there's a more than 50% commercial part count in your creation, and is based mainly upon an existing model(s) (Or parts there of) you have lying around, This is called KITBASHING. Once they're comfortable with KITBASHINGThis is where most people think they're ready to try SCRATCHBUILDING, and they're usually right.

There is, however a gray area.

Scratchbuilt structures are ones based off the types of plans mentioned earlier, and may include commercial doors, windows, vents, ect. BUT they still are of a unique (non-mass produced) quality. Laser woodkits, and craftsman style kits are about as close to scratchbuilding as one can get while still following instructions.

An example of excellence in scratchbuilding would be Robin M.'s much beloved buildings constructed out of old Cereal Boxes, and the new term "Cereal Board" comes from. these can be found in the GEMS section of the forum. :thumb:
 
i think the line between kitbashing and scratchbuilding is that scratchbuilding you buy only raw materials, and kitbashing you start with something else and modify it to what you want.

kevin
 
I scratchbuilt the house that my layout is in, although I did use commercially available doors and windows, and an awful lot of stripwood. No scribed siding, though. ;)

Wayne
 
Due to near terminal poverty ,all the buildings on my empire are scratch built using whatever I can scrounge. Matboard, sombody gave me a batch that used to be photo backing, popsicle sticks for lumber and ties,soaking plywood till the layers come apart.
Ground foam used to be the back seat of my Olds 88 and all the trees came from the garden. I used to feel bad about not buying fancy kits but now,looking at the 1/4 of the empire that is sorta finished I'm pretty proud of it.
 
Relic said:
Due to near terminal poverty ,all the buildings on my empire are scratch built using whatever I can scrounge. Matboard, sombody gave me a batch that used to be photo backing, popsicle sticks for lumber and ties,soaking plywood till the layers come apart.
Ground foam used to be the back seat of my Olds 88 and all the trees came from the garden. I used to feel bad about not buying fancy kits but now,looking at the 1/4 of the empire that is sorta finished I'm pretty proud of it.
Click to expand...

Now there is a TRUE scratchbuilder :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
 
some scratches

These photos were taken a while ago ,now about 1/4 of the empire is "landscaped".Even though I have to" make do" it don't look too bad ,wha'?
 

Attachments

  • garage.JPG
    garage.JPG
    36.9 KB · Views: 121
  • houses5.JPG
    houses5.JPG
    47.5 KB · Views: 143
I've built a few structures, and a couple of narrow-gauge freight cars.

TruckLover... it's tough to get great results the first time. The key is practice! Build more, and you'll get better! :)
 
I voted No but then suddenly realized that I did make some station platforms out of strips of wood and cork. I painted them and hope they will pass for platforms. Does this count? Otherwise, I haven't scratch-built anything but wold like to someday. Rob
 
Just finished this logging caboose this past week. It's built from cardboard and stripwood, with a sandpaper roof and a nail for a smokejack. Bits of hand formed wire make the railings and step brackets. The only commercial parts are the truck (an MDC/ Roundhouse castoff), windows, door and brake wheel from my junk box.

paper1.jpg
 
MilesWestern said:
Not quite. SCRATCHBUILDING IS BUILDING FROM SCRATCH. (duh. :rolleyes: )

A simple equation for scratchbuilding would be:

Time+Raw material (wood/metal/cardboard/sheet plastic)+ expertise (or lack thereof :D ) = Scratchbuilt Item. Usually Scratchbuilt Items are from plans found anywhere, or measured and drawn by yourself, and the purest scratchbuilt Models have a very short list of "commercial" parts, if any at all. :eek: I've heard of some people casting their own brass detail parts, winding their own motor armatures, OF THEIR OWN DESIGN, and building a wooden cab with hand made minirature nails. :eek:

If there's a more than 50% commercial part count in your creation, and is based mainly upon an existing model(s) (Or parts there of) you have lying around, This is called KITBASHING. Once they're comfortable with KITBASHINGThis is where most people think they're ready to try SCRATCHBUILDING, and they're usually right.

There is, however a gray area.

Scratchbuilt structures are ones based off the types of plans mentioned earlier, and may include commercial doors, windows, vents, ect. BUT they still are of a unique (non-mass produced) quality. Laser woodkits, and craftsman style kits are about as close to scratchbuilding as one can get while still following instructions.

An example of excellence in scratchbuilding would be Robin M.'s much beloved buildings constructed out of old Cereal Boxes, and the new term "Cereal Board" comes from. these can be found in the GEMS section of the forum. :thumb:
Click to expand...
A simple "no" would have sufficed.
And the "duh" was really unnecessary. :rolleyes:
I don't know about the rest of your post. I quit reading at that point.
 
While I enjoy building kits, I particularly like to kit-bash, and especially like scratch-building in N scale. My present life-style of full-time RV-ing around the country has slowed my building down quite a bit, but up to the recent past it seemed I always had something in the works, whether it was a freight car or building I had seen. I like working with card stock and wood but, have developed a strong liking for styrene. Here are a few of my projects:

http://www.railimages.com/albums/dickgorman/aac.jpg
http://www.railimages.com/albums/dickgorman/aad.jpg
http://www.railimages.com/albums/dickgorman/acq.jpg
http://www.railimages.com/albums/dickgorman/afj.jpg

Dick
 
Yes, even My dad and I have scratchbuilt something

100_0609.jpg

100_0610.jpg

The stick and the sign are the scratchbuilt items:D The sign is a replica of one of my favorite place's signs. Sadly, it's been bought out because the owners were bad, and my dad handpainted (yes HAND PAINTED) the replica sign, painting the blue part where red should have gone!sign1
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom