How about this little beauty for NE-style homes?

[DKS]

On this building, the foundation blocks are approx. 14" high by 26" wide. The bricks are over a foot wide.



Then there's that "shelf" over the foundation... And I question whether such a small, nondescript brick structure would have such a foundation in the first place.

This is more like it:

...more disturbing in that DKS photo is the lintels above the windows and how they are represented.

This. The lintels are a complete joke. This is what they were shooting for--and completely missed:



BTW, this building has what I think is supposed to be a wood shake roof, but looks more like thatching...

In the same way some modelers fret over how many louvers are on a GP7 hood, I get picky about building details.

[jimmo]

Well,
How big are they really?  Can you measure them?   My old house in PA had really big cut stone rectangular blocks in the foundation,
and I'd say they were about 12" high by 18" wide.  There were some other buildings in town with large blocks like that.
If yours are bigger than that, my instinct would say they are too large.

All of the blocks are about 12" tall, most of the blocks are around 18" long, some are as long as 30".

I think it should be noted that unlike the WS model and others, Willmodels foundations are optional and require no plastic (resin) surgery to remove them.

The reason I include foundations is because the way I install structures on my layout is I like to "plant" the foundation and keep the structure removable for maintenance of any interior components and ease the task of working around the structures. If I buy a kit that has no foundation, I usually make one. If it does (like the Atlas houses), I make it able to separate. I like my structures serviceable.

[OldEastRR]

On this building, the foundation blocks are approx. 14" high by 26" wide. The bricks are over a foot wide.



Then there's that "shelf" over the foundation... And I question whether such a small, nondescript brick structure would have such a foundation in the first place.

This is more like it:



This. The lintels are a complete joke. This is what they were shooting for--and completely missed:



BTW, this building has what I think is supposed to be a wood shake roof, but looks more like thatching...

In the same way some modelers fret over how many louvers are on a GP7 hood, I get picky about building details.

OK! So it's what they call in real estate a "fixer-upper"! Seriously, I think for people who like a challenge these kits are interesting problems to "solve". If that's not your cup of tea, then definitely give these things a pass.
I agree about the ice house roof -- I just sanded mine flat. As for the blocks, I assume they made the floor of the freight house the height of the freight car doors by using dirt fill inside those block walls, then poured the concrete floor over that. I raised all my window sills, tho.
I've seen this building on a HO scale layout, but I don't know who makes or made it.

[DKS]

I assume they made the floor of the freight house the height of the freight car doors by using dirt fill inside those block walls, then poured the concrete floor over that.

Um... sure.



Whatever. If you can't resist banging your head against the wall trying to make gold out of lead, then have at it. I can think of better ways to spend my time. For the same money, you can get more kitbashing fodder of much higher quality, and with less effort wind up with something worthwhile and believable. Maybe they'd do as background fillers or placeholders, but if I'm going to spend time and money on kitbashing, this ain't worth it to me.

If someone wants 'em, I've got a whole bunch of them I'm glad to give away, just to make room for useful stuff. I'll never use these.

[Chris333]

It's a shame too because the tooling looks nice and crisp. It's just crisp poo.

[packers#1]

Yes. I have nearly all of these "kits," and I'd gladly fill roofwalk and headlight holes rather than the dozens of gaping craters in these (what are laughingly called) "brick" walls. If you've tried doing both, you'd understand; carbody holes are nearly always on smooth surfaces, and they're comparatively small in size and number. Filling larger holes surrounded by texture--which must be matched--is not a trivial task.
...

This was my first thought upon reading OldEast's post.

I do think some of the pre-builts could work for background buildings and not front and center, but as kits, I stand by what I and others have said.

For what you get, they're just too much work

[Ed Kapuscinski]

For what you get, they're just too much work

Let me fix that for you... "For what you buy, they're too much work.

It's one thing to buy something cheap as a fixer-upper, but these aren't cheap.

[jimmo]

It's one thing to buy something cheap as a fixer-upper, but these aren't cheap.

Good point Ed. $70 for a tiny house is a bit rich for my taste--even as a kit (I believe) these will retail in the neighborhood of about $50. It's still a pretty big chunk of change--especially if you're toying with the idea of bashing two kits.

Now before someone else chimes in to defend WS (like we are the bullies of the playground picking on the handicapped kid), let's bear in mind that our lament (at least as manufacturers) is that WS (as a fairly major model company) with resources we can only dream about, goes after the ready-to-use market and passes on the potential to make truly great models. It makes me wonder if there are any modelers still working there. Looking at Chris and David's close-up shots make me wonder.

Hey David, if you put that building on ebay I'll bet that some of these guys would kill for DKS bash. You might get some of your time and money back.

[packers#1]

Now before someone else chimes in to defend WS (like we are the bullies of the playground picking on the handicapped kid), let's bear in mind that our lament (at least as manufacturers) is that WS (as a fairly major model company) with resources we can only dream about, goes after the ready-to-use market and passes on the potential to make truly great models. It makes me wonder if there are any modelers still working there. Looking at Chris and David's close-up shots make me wonder.

I'm not a manufacturer but ditto; back home I actually have a letter from Woodland Scenics thanking me for my support of their products when I wrote a column about building a layout that used basically all WS materials (it was such a crappy layout but hey, I enjoyed it). I'm not hating on Woodland Scenics or saying they're a bad company, just that, when you look at what you actually get for your money, it really isn't anything worth writing home about. You can't really kit-bash them since it's basically just a shell with detail parts; it's more akin to what FVM has done with their locomotives (providing the grabs etc but you have to install them yourself), only you also have to paint the Woodland Scenics buildings and detail parts.

If you look at it that way, these kits aren't a half-bad idea. But think about how many more options a modeler would have if they were more like the DPM kits and didn't have holes for the detail parts, just a sheet showing where they would go on each wall. Heck, you could even have tabs and slots to help with gluing. Then I think the response to these kits would be a bit more favorable, since there would be more options. As they are right now, you get a building shell that, in order to manipulate and change around, has to be hacked apart. So in that sense, they aren't really kits at all, just prebuilts where the modeler does the finishing instead of a worker halfway around the world.

[peteski]

TRW members can (and will) beath a subject to death. I see that we all started going around in circles here. 

Everybody models to a different standard, has different skill sets, different budget, and different opinions of how much time and effort should be spent on bringing a model up to their quality standard.

Just as DKS has a right to diss these model "kits", others have a right to say that these are not so bad and worth the money (in either fully-assembled or undecorated versions).   I also assume that since the assembled versions sell well enough, there are plenty of modelers who are happy to spend fifty-plus bucks on a cutesy structure and simply plop it onto their layout.   There is nothing wrong with that, just as there is nothing wrong with DKS' quest for constructing very realistic scenes using realistic-looking buildings.

I happen to agree with DKS that these are poorly executed, and that with just a slightly more effort and attention to correct detailing WS could have made these models so much better. As they are, to me, they don't seem to be worth the trouble of trying to make them into realistic looking buidings. 

[Cajonpassfan]

Hmmm, and all this time I thought this thread was about the little Second Empire Victorian house. The oversized bricks, bad block foundations. Oh wait, there aren't any...My bad, its the flower pots, silly me...

[mmagliaro]

$70 ??? 
I had no idea.  Forget it.  My "ripoff" meter just pegged.  I thought these were more like $20.

[Chris333]

The pre-built building are more, but the kits are like $20-$30.

[peteski]

$70 ??? 
I had no idea.  Forget it.  My "ripoff" meter just pegged.  I thought these were more like $20.

Well, it might be the MSRP. Most of the previously-released buildings were between $40-50 finished, or $20 for unpainted and unfinished "kits".  At least that is the street price (at BLW).  I know, that is still a bit steep for a small structure.

[OldEastRR]

Well, you have to admit this was a pretty lively thread, one where we had almost even between likers and dislikers, haven't had one like this in a while --- the Bachmann 44 tonner was the last? I forget.
DKS, do you have all the WS kits? Or can you list your inventory? I'm willing to take the country cottage and the station, if you have those.
Now -- how about a new thread about Walthers Built-Ups?