Lunde Studio building kits

[Chris333]

So did Lunde change what the kits are made of?

[peteski]

So did Lunde change what the kits are made of?

No, I have the very first building they offered.  It is all cast urethane resin. MEK will have no effect on it.  MEK is a solvent cement for polystyrene and ABS. It welds the pieces by melting the plastic.

Urethane resin is unaffected by MEK. It will not melt.  None of the hobby solvent cements will melt urethane resin.

Maybe the advice was given because somebody else (liek Chris) thought that Lunde Studios buildings were similar to the DPM building kits (which are polystyrene).

To put this to rest, here is an excerpt from their website:
http://www.lundestudios.com/FAQs.htm

What kind of glue is best for resin?
Gap-filling ACC (Superglues) works wonderfully well and gives a bit more time for adjustments than non-gap-filling superglues. If you wish, for items such as recessed doors, you can use a clear silicone-type glue that remains flexible to ease fitting the part. We've been told by several modelers that they use Beacon 527, which can be found at
Wal Mart and most craft-hobby stores such as Hobby Lobby.

[glakedylan]

My apologies to everyone. .. especially those who posted and read this thread. .. I found that I was confused by several purchases around the same time ...it was a CRM kit that came w/ suggested adhesive to use... and that adhesive was TENAX not MEK... mea culpa.   Sorry
Sincerely
Gary

( posted w/ cell phone and got HTML code showing .... modified to delete the code )

[OldEastRR]

I think TENAX is the solvent used for Plastruct ABS stuff too. Reg plastic glue don't work too well.

[peteski]

I think TENAX is the solvent used for Plastruct ABS stuff too. Reg plastic glue don't work too well.

Tenax is methylene chloride.   Any strong solvent (MEK, acetone, Methylene Chloride, etc.) will dissolve and weld Polystyrene and Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastics.  Plastruct sells several solvent cements designed to bond their plastics (with some specially tailored to ABS). 

[Roger Holmes]

I have built a number of them and have been happy with the results.  The newer kits have the walls beveled which eases construction.  I use gap filling ACC and a kicker for construction.

Because these are large resin castings even in N, there have been times when the window sheet doesn't match exactly with the window openings.  This is easily solved by cutting the window casting sheet into smaller units.  Discard the glazing sheet.  It is some kind of weird, thick flexible clear sheet.  Easy to replace with your own clear styrene.  I have used a variety of rattle cans for painting but I do thoroughly wash all components with dish soap and a stiff brush before assembly or paint.  Highly recommended kits.

The corner building in the foreground and the one 2 doors to the right are Lunde.  The Mail truck is by DKS!

[DKS]

Tenax is methylene chloride.   Any strong solvent (MEK, acetone, Methylene Chloride, etc.) will dissolve and weld Polystyrene and Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastics.  Plastruct sells several solvent cements designed to bond their plastics (with some specially tailored to ABS).

I've found that methylene chloride is about the only thing that works on Plexiglas, so I keep some on hand for those occasions I need to bond Plex. MEK is my go-to solvent for styrene, ABS and other common model plastics. Thankfully the local ban on MEK was short-lived.

The Mail truck is by DKS!

Thanks for the shout-out! I think that's the first one of those I've seen "in the wild."

[OldEastRR]

These guys are great, I love that they are making BIG city buidings in N scale. Otherwise  other mfrs' structures are designed for and common in small towns. (This excludes industrial buildings).
Tho there are mid-size modern buildings (KATO and TOMYTEC), I'm talking about structures built before 1950 to as far back as the 1890's, all-brick structures. For that era, there doesn't seem to be much for the mid-sized or small city -- bigger than the 2-story buildings we have and smaller than the sky-high buildings of CMR and Lunde. Commercial and retail stuff of 3,4, at most 5 stories. No residential areas on the upper floors. These would be dedicated buildings for one business or type of business, like a small office building w/o first floor stores (which could double as a corporate headquarters near a factory), or a big department store like Sears or Pennys, or a federal offices building. Even a large PO, one of several a small city might have.  The TOMYTEC bank is a great fit for a mid-size city: taller than a DPM building, and totally dedicated to one purpose. And the general look fits that of a bank anywhere from 1900 to 1970.
Looking over the Lunde kits I could see only one that could be plausibly cut down to 4 or 5 stories and not look strange: Juno Watt. How hard is this material to cut?

[thomasjmdavis]

Old East- I think you are being kind of tough on Lunde and CMR.  Both produce some smaller buildings- I have a Lunde "Midas Trust" which is the bottom 5 stories of the building in Roger's photo.  They do that with another of their "tower" buildings as well.  Another useful item out there are the "extra stories" that CMR markets for their buildings- essentially just 4 or 5 stories to add to make the building taller- but good kitbash fodder- all you would need to do would be to add a foundation and enlarge some first floor windows to add doors- and you have a 4 or 5 story building.
Here's an example (they make one for most of their tall buildings) http://www.custommodelrailroads.com/thesaintpaulbuilding-2-1.aspx

On the question of cutting, the Lunde buildings can certainly be cut with a razor saw and straightedge, or a larger mitre box.  The material seems to me to be more brittle than polystyrene, so I would be cautious about trying to score and snap it, or using power tools. 

[DKS]

I really like the Lunde buildings--I have a few for some future imaginary layout--and they are superbly made. For assembly, thick CA is the adhesive of choice. For cutting, I've found a mini-table saw to be about the best way to make clean, true cuts. A razor saw might be a good second; scoring and snapping is not recommended at all.

The only thing I'd fault Lunde for (and I understand why he does what he does) is that the production runs are very limited, and kits go OOP quickly and often--I've missed getting a number of great buildings because I didn't visit his site regularly. One thing that really irked me, though, is that he absolutely refuses to sell off spare parts or seconds. Given the high quality of his castings, I know he must have plenty of rejects--and he would not sell them under any circumstances, even after I begged, pleaded, and offered to sign a legal document agreeing to never pester him about imperfections. Just a bit extreme, methinks...

[peteski]

One thing that really irked me, though, is that he absolutely refuses to sell off spare parts or seconds. Given the high quality of his castings, I know he must have plenty of rejects--and he would not sell them under any circumstances, even after I begged, pleaded, and offered to sign a legal document agreeing to never pester him about imperfections. Just a bit extreme, methinks...

I had just the opposite experience. On one of the buildings where the 2 of the walls are almost windowless I asked him to substitute them with walls with windows (since they were exact fit replacements), Bob gladly did that for me.  But I guess that is not the same as asking for reject castings.  I'm also surprised that Bob refused to work with you. I met him in-person and along with his wife Lyn, they are really nice and very friendly couple.

[OldEastRR]

I'm not knocking either CMR or Lunde. I think they do great jobs for the kinds of models they produce -- which are obviously designed for big city dense urban areas. Fine. Hope they keep doing so. I was only saying there doesn't seem to be anybody out there doing mid-sized city-type structures of the pre-50's. Not expecting for these companies to change their business model for me.
Their smaller buildings and add-ons are great for kitbashing, I'm going to get into that soon. I am intrigued by Peteski's comment that Lunde will change a wall design if asked. However, he didn't say how much extra that service is.
In my case, I'd like for a wall to have few or NO windows, or ground level shop fronts. One small complaint about the selection for both companies is most of the buildings are obviously designed for a corner.
"Midas Trust" is really about 6 and a half stories tall, somewhat overwhelming for my downtown.

[160pennsy]

I'm talking about structures built before 1950 to as far back as the 1890's, all-brick structures. For that era, there doesn't seem to be much for the mid-sized or small city -- bigger than the 2-story buildings we have and smaller than the sky-high buildings of CMR and Lunde. Commercial and retail stuff of 3,4, at most 5 stories. No residential areas on the upper floors. These would be dedicated buildings for one business or type of business, like a small office building w/o first floor stores (which could double as a corporate headquarters near a factory), or a big department store like Sears or Pennys, or a federal offices building.

Slight thread drift...When I need a specific brick structure and the kit-bashing materials/walls found inside kits such as DPM, Lunde, Walthers, Heljan, Pola, etc, do not meet the specific space requirements, then it's time to break out the Evergreen styrene & N-Scale Architect brick material and build it your self. Here's some examples from my "DPM knock-off" structure build. I can provide additional details on the styrene thickness or elaborate on the construction steps BUT the photos are self explanatory:

[Chris333]

The N scale Arch bricks could be a little smaller, but what else is there...


You should be able to click these links, then click on the photo and be able to scroll to zoom in:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oJ1pHzDmC0XfaEG23
https://photos.app.goo.gl/lQPTYY5eEnUM5gCS2

[thomasjmdavis]

The N scale Arch bricks could be a little smaller, but what else is there...

Maybe it's just because so many kits have brick that is too big, and that is what I am used to looking at, but the N scale Arch brick I have almost looks too small to me.  I was thinking it might be 1/200 instead of 1/160 (turns out I was wrong).  But given what you said, I measured it with my trusty caliper and got a width of .065 which scales up to 10.4 inches-25% wider than a "standard" brick.  I also looked at a bit of old H&R brick that I have in the scrap box (not much left) and it measured out at .087 (over 13 inches), although there appeared to be more variation from brick to brick.

The N scale Architect brick I have is "American bond" (closest pattern available to my next project)- so perhaps that is different in terms of size from other sheets, but it looks pretty good in terms of proportion, even if a bit large as noted above (and the bond lines help alot to give an appropriate look to older buildings.  It also looks "flatter" than the brick shown in the photos in the posts above this one.

According to the Belden Brick Co. http://www.beldenbrick.com/brick-dimensions-guide.asp , a "standard" brick is 3 5/8 D x 2 1/4 H x 8 W.  However, there are many non-standard bricks available, up to almost 16" wide, and varying in other dimensions as well.  You certainly see these variations in older construction, especially on the street side of buildings.