Great fiind!

Good link!

Yes, great site and I think it has been added to since the last time I visited.  I first discovered this site from a link posted a few years back on another forum and had forgotten all about it.  Thanks for the reminder!

Aweome!

These are just perfect for the small town I am building in the mountains.

Will have to play with page scaling to resize them for N scale.

Thanks for the great post!

Bit of advice take them to your local discount printer and have them print these with a color laser printer on good card stock. You can even have them printed two to an 11x17 sheet (which is a standard paper size in the printing industry) and save money.

Worth the cost and still cheaper than plastic kits.

indy

These are Great for back

These are Great for back ground and for Kit bashing DPM plastic Models. also Great Wood shingles on the log Buildings. With a little bit of X-acto work they will make a great shingled roof.

Thanks for the link I'll definitely find a use for it.

Dan

cardstock buildings

these are good looking buildings there is also a book printer called DOVER BOOKS that prints books of all

kinds of buildings and houses all in HO scale you can find them or order them a BORDERS BOOKS or at

BARNS AND NOBLES they sell for around 5to8 dollars i have bought a couple of them and with a little

work in weathering they look great for background or building flats

ron netti

Would it work to use regular paper, and then glue it to card

stock or foam core?  I'm not sure my printer will handle something as heavy as card stock, and I would rather have it built with something a bit heavier like foam core board for strength.

Two ways (at least)

One way is to print on thin (regular) paper of good quality (smooth) then laminate this to heavier cardstock.  This is suggested by scalescenes.com, I think.  It's been a little while since assembled the cardstock freebie freight house from their site.  But that's basically what I did.  Just be sure to use a good adhesive so that it won't delaminate over time.

The other would be to use as heavy a cardstock as possible in your printer.  Find a local scrapbooking store and talk to the folks there about how they print things on heavy paper and you may get some good ideas.

I've even heard of printing on thin or flimsy styrene but I'd stick with paper and laminate it to styrene, card, foamcore, etc.

Galen

Scaling

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency has done a great job preserving these examples of a variety of architecture styles,  

I printed out Jensen Drug Store at noon today, and discovered that it is a bit oversize for HO scale.  I first suspected that all the buildings are to the same scale, but that is not the case. 

I was working with the back doors, which scale to 7'-10"; but that is a bit too tall.  I would expect the back doors to be between 6'-8" and 7'-0".  But the width scales to 2'-11",which is just about right. So, no good basis for guessing!

If we have some good basis dimensions, we can determine scaling factors for all the popular scales.  So, if anyone lives near any of these buildings and can get some measurements, ....  Front or back wall door and window widths from face of masonry to face of masonry would be good.  Some or all of these buildings are in current operation, so consideration of the owners, and maybe an introduction and explanation of what you're doing, may be in order.

Here's some of the buildings on the website:

Jensen Drug store, 113 E Washington St, Momence

First National Bank, Dwight

Will Hall Bldg, Aledo

E.Stein Bldg, Blue Island

Tinsley Bldg, 6th & Adams, Springfield

78 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake

Thanks for the help.

Be an advertiser

Huan,

I'm looking at some of the buildings on the Illinois site as (1) place-holders for later structures to be built, (2) ideas for scratch-built or kit-bashed town buildings, or (3) background models with mostly just the fronts mounted on foam-core for a slight relief against backdrops.

And, as are many in this hobby, my purchases correspond to a shoe-string budget. 

I was not aware of your company, and a cursory glance through your website looks very promising.  This Important note, though.  I am very rigorous in limiting my purchases to advertisers with MRH magazine, because I value so much what MRH provides, free, to us the subscribers; all paid for by the advertisers.  So, if you're an advertiser, I will bet that I'm a customer. 

How to Print the Card stock Models.

First buy yourself some 8.5 X 11 Letter Size 110 lb Index Card Stock white. it is basically the same thickness as Photo paper without the glossy side.

When you bring up your printer settings select Properties and then select Ink jet Papers and pick Heavyweight paper or Matt Greeting Cards. This paper is thin enough to go through any printer made !!!

When you paste the card stock to anything use Pliobond contact cement or any contact cement other than a water base glue or paste to attach it to a heavy poster board or gator board. The water base glue will cause any paper you use it on to warp and distort your buildings ,so remember to apply a thin coat of Pliobond or what ever type of contact cement you choose to both pieces of paper and allow to dry for at least 5 minutes before you attach 1 to the other. Then smoth it out as carefully as you can. Pliobond will last for Years and years without any pealing.

Dan

Volatile Organic Solvents

Apparently there are some high tack, non solvent based adhesives out there that can glue paper to paper, or paper to wood, or wood to wood without the problem of wrinkles or warpage.  I have some plastic buildings that I airbrushed with Floquil paints at least a decade ago.   When I chopped one apart a couple of weeks ago, I could smell the solvents released by the process.  I'm not that concerned about it because there is a window open in my train room 24/7 but I do try to avoid the VOC's when I can.

BTW, Huan, Tin sheds, wooden shed, brick walls, freight doors, loading docks.  Cardstock buildings are mostly a stand in until detailed models can be built.  Hard to see much of an economic prospect  here.  But if you were really together and could come up with a website where a body could design their own structures using your preformatted templates and you'd print them out (well actually I mean laser cut them in micro plywood) and mail them to the purchaser.  Probably could sell about a hundred a month at  an average of sixty dollars apiece.

great link

Very interesting for back ground buildings.  I would sugest using the high quality bond type paper and mounting on a foam core backing as it will keep shape better than card which tends to warp over time.

My contribution to the subject ...

Check out my separate blog entry "One of my first structures ..."

+ +

Check this traveling demo Clever built.  Clever Diorama

Marc Fournier, Quebec

Nice model Bill

Very intrigued by the laser etched roof shingles. What is the best thing for HO?

Surely you jest ...

@Aran - I was joking about the laser etching (or did you know that?).

For HO, the download page from the link gives you a choice - HO is one of the four choices.

"Laser etched detail, including the shingles, clapboard and red brick foundation (not)."

Cardstock buildings

Also you can add just a bit of trim (cornices, etc) for a 3D illusion.

I gotta admit

Bill, I gotta admit that I took you at face value.  It took me years to realize that at least half the people I was talking to also took my dry dead pan at face value.

Roof shingles are just one of those things.  The first  model railroad structure that built was an Atlas train station which IMHO was the high point for injection molded plastic roofing.   I'd be mighty pleased if the same roof detail was available in 6"x12" sheets.  The shake detail on structures like the Rico Station is tolerable and in fact I buy Arlee Station kits just for their roofs which I use on sheds and warehouses.

Of course the old stand by is Campbells and I am planning to use them on a couple of structures.  It's just that a lotta people put them on badly - crooked, uneven lines, impractical flashing details, etc.

I am still looking for a laser etched version that looks real and goes on straight and easy.

Clever Models

I've been buying some of the Clever Models pdf downloads. I needed one of the textures and noticed that they didn't have it in S. So I sent them an email and they quickly responded and said that it was an oversight. They appologized and thanked me for the heads-up by offering me a free download. It's people like that that make this the world's greatest hobby.

Reply to bindlestiff

@Aran - Rio Grande Dan gave me some good suggestions, as did other members. Check out my separate blog on my model for some tips on adding faux 3D effects.

model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/3402

Thanks much for sharing your other thoughts - the name Campbell rings a bell, but I can't place it. Had not heard of Arlee Station. I'll check these out.

In Hawaii

In Hawaii - contacting bindlestiff

Welcome to the forum!  To contact a member here are the steps:  You can click on the person's name to the right of their post where it says" Author"/  

This will bring up information about the person.  Click on the "Contact" tab

This will open a window were you can send email to that person.

I hope that this helps!

Rick