New Structure Kits

[Alaska Railroader]

New thread to start out right. I have already laser cut a sample of this building. The main framework is made of acrylic and I think it looks pretty sharp. Wanted to ask about footprint size. Using the door as my guide I drew the building out and up. The footprint is roughly 9-1/2" by 5-3/4". Does this sound about right for this type of building in N scale? When I put a Preiser guy next to it I wonder how it would fit a whole school full of kids in desks but I dare not go bigger. It looks great for a small industry. The back is basically plain and has a larger double door on one side and a single door on the other. I could go up a floor or two however.

OK, its open season on the laser person....

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O8nFgXdoRpE/UQdEHWfU58I/AAAAAAAAAuw/kbGFcCF3Uk8/s912/0%2520%2520%2520railwire%2520school.jpg

[Hyperion]

Maybe consider how the design could work in a modular fashion?

That way a person could use/buy expansion blocks to make each side longer or shorter or build a second floor ('up' is much harder to do convincingly).  This type of architecture, that is symmetrical and repetitive lends itself particularly well to this, as long as your manufacturing tolerances allow you to slice a wall right down the middle and seamlessly abut other wall sections to it.

[Specter3]

I think that looks sharp! I have seen many buildings like this. All the company offices on the front with a view and the plain brick sides and rear where the work actually gets done. Sometimes the office section is taller than the rear warehouse section. Sometimes it's a three floor office section, sometimes it is two tall stories but in my mind they are always taller than the back section. You could do it as two separate sections and people could put them together, or use them as independent buildings. Lots of possibilities.

[Chris333]

The link:

[peteski]

That almost looks like the Elementary School I attended ... in Poland!

[rogergperkins]

Very nice looking structure.
Foot print seems large if this is not used as an industry with at least a single siding track serving it.
I think you have a 125 n-scale feet x 76 n-scale feet foot print.

[sirenwerks]

I agree with Hyperion, think modular.  Me likey the design but am wondering what more there is.  Blank wall with loading doors on level 1?  Windows on 2 and loading doors on 1?  Are loading doors for train or truck?  Are doors flush or require docks; are there loading awnings/dock roof or can I add easily?  Can I curve the structure for tight industrial trackwork or do I need open space?  Are their pedestrian egress doors?  I'm not thinking so much what will the kit look like on my layout but what can I do with it on my layout.

There was a guy years ago that briefly had a modular N scale system out.  There was an article in one of the N scale mags using it to create a beautiful and unique structure.  His line included blank wall; flat and arched windows of several sizes in one, two and three across panels; panel industrial windows of several layouts; and ped and loading dock door options.  And it was all cast in clear plastic, which I didn't like necessarily because the windows were thick and the clear didn't provide for creating depth in the window areas, but it made customization of brick and masonry colors easy.  Plus, it was based on the concrete platform construction style so height was as tall as you could by styrene to trim it.  It had so much potential but his mother died and he stopped production almost as soon as it hit the market.  I still have a bag of samples.  Something like it, perhaps with some design tweaks (like separate doors and windows), would be a boon to N scale industrial modelers.

The DPM modules are well done (though IMO the windows are too thick and the brick a bit too large) but there's little variety.  Plus, the constant repetition of braced wall construction gets old for more contemporary modelers.  The Walthers option was a disaster, given how poorly engineered they were on how the wall panel seams stood out in the N version.  Plus it was, again, braced wall design.  Any manufacturer that could introduce a modular system that allowed for large seamless brick curtain wall construction would get a lot of my dollars.

[nscalemike]

These look nice but I have two suggestions, coming strictly off memory and no prototype photos so I may be wrong.  In regards to the school, I would think it would be more common to see two windows next to each other without the center post.  In other words it would go from left to right, post, window, window, post, window, window, post, door, etc.  It seems these types of schools always have the outside wall solid windows.  Also, it would give a rough 28' classroom based on Rogers 125' building length.  One could assume there would be 16 classrooms in this building then and that would not be a bad school size.  My second thought is again with the school, the second floor windows should match the first floor with the brick filler at the bottom of the window and not above.  Otherwise the window would be sitting on the floor and I'm not sure that would pass safety requirements for a school.  This may give just a bit of difference to the two buildings to not make them look identical. 

Just my thoughts and thanks for providing this type of product, will be looking to order some stuff soon.

[Alaska Railroader]

My second thought is again with the school, the second floor windows should match the first floor with the brick filler at the bottom of the window and not above.  Otherwise the window would be sitting on the floor and I'm not sure that would pass safety requirements for a school.  This may give just a bit of difference to the two buildings to not make them look identical. 

Just my thoughts and thanks for providing this type of product, will be looking to order some stuff soon.

This change I implemented right away. Makes total sense and was a "duh" moment for me. It looks better too. As for classroom size, I had already made the interior walls from cardstock and have 2 sets of windows per classroom. It follows very close to your 28' wide measurement.

As for brick requests you are talking about a kit that needs to be plastic injection or resin cast as the cost would be prohibitive to laser all those bricks for each building kit. This was why the TBS series was born in Z. The outside "bracing" is actually thicker than the rest of the layers. It is cut from architectural taskboard which has a bit of a texture and when I painted it brick red it looked like brick without all of the etching time making them.

As for modular, this I also believe needs to be plastic injection or resin cast to make the kit affordable. I hear from the Z guys for the same idea. I can do it but no one would like to pay the price. I can make a simple structure as an add on for the back no problem. But know this, it takes up quite a lot of acrylic to make just one of these.

Thanks for the suggestions. Pictures of the completed industry will come soon.

[DKS]

I can do it but no one would like to pay the price.

This has been the single biggest issue with structure kits. Karin and I receive no end of requests/suggestions/begging/pleading for all manner of structure kits. But when it comes down to it, we're in business to make money, even if it's just a little. In hindsight, the TBS kits were at best a break-even for us, and at worst a loss, given the labor involved in producing them. Lesson learned! Assuming we pursue something along these lines in the future--for any scale--the kits will be much simpler and/or more expensive. That's just the way of things.

[peteski]

Couldn't the brick insert pieces be laser cut from styrene brick sheet?  Those are readily available and since the bricks are embossed, there is no need to painstakingly laser engrave them.

[Alaska Railroader]

Couldn't the brick insert pieces be laser cut from styrene brick sheet?  Those are readily available and since the bricks are embossed, there is no need to painstakingly laser engrave them.

On this building nothing is an "insert" except the acetate for the windows (from inside). Rather, it is layered to give it that real life 3D look and feel. The dark red in the illustration is the main wall of the building which is .060 thick acrylic sheet. The gray is high quality laserboard at .015 thick. It is glued over the gray wall. Then the beige color is 1/32 taskboard giving it a thicker look there. Styrene does not like to be lasered and melts leaving a bit of a raised bead on the edge. Also, the brick styrene sheeting is too bumpy and thick to put in as a layer. its great for kit bashing and lends itself better to a hobby knife than a laser beam.

I'm building the industry right now and have cut out and assembled the main walls and roof, and painted it gull gray. I painted the window mullions, and rectangle open areas below them (again, all one sheet per side), intermediate blue. The taskboard will be painted brick red because I picture this as being basically framed by brick. I've also cut and painted the office interior walls for upstairs and have left the main floor open except for the center elevator/operations room. The chimney is done, sandpaper will cover the roof, and the roof edging is painted gull gray also.

Its been super easy to put together and no tabs show in the end product.

[peteski]

Thanks for the explanation Karin. It is nice to be able to learn directly from someone who actually designs and produces these kits.

But I have couple more comments. First of all, you say that styrene brick sheet is too thick. I have few that are white and about 0.030 or 0.020" thick. That is much thinner than the 0.060" acrylic you use in that building.  N-Scale Architect laser cuts that brick sheet to make parts for some of their structures. Yes, they do have slightly raised edge but IMO, it is minimal.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

This will work well for St Tarcisius school in Framingham. It sits directly accross the street from the North Yard wye. I don't think I got anything done from 4th to 6th grades.

[Alaska Railroader]

I gave it the afternoon. There are more photos in my picasa album. You'll see an interior corner shot. This is why I used .060 thick acrylic, and because its one heck of a sturdy structure. The door is lasered in 3D.