Brick houses in N scale?

[OldEastRR]

I don't remember ever seeing an early-1900's American-style brick 2-story house produced in N scale anywhere. I thought that the old Barb's Bungalow was brick but no. Other than the European brick stuff, which are too small. Interesting that there's a lot of N scale houses but very few of them are brick. These are the kinds of houses you'd find in big-city residential areas.
Also, prefer a kit since I may have to alter it to fit the space.

I suppose I could just use a wood-frame house as a shell and glue brick facades to it. If I used a one-piece house I'd have to extract all the windows to mount them flush with the new exterior.

[ncbqguy]

What about the Pola mansion....it was brick.
Windows are generally recessed within masonry wall openings unlike frame construction where the trim wraps around and on top of the siding face.
Charlie Vlk

[davefoxx]

I’d buy some commercial N scale windows and doors, and I’d scratchbuild the house with brick from N Scale Architect laminated over styrene sheet.  This way, you can build exactly what you need without being stuck with the dimensions of some kit.  Might even be less expensive.

I just ordered some DPM parts to get the windows and doors I need to scratchbuild the brick SAL station in Aberdeen, North Carolina.

Oh, and I agree with Charlie Vlk.  Windows and doors are generally recessed in masonry structures.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[thomasjmdavis]

There is a designer on Shapeways who does 2 and 3 story row houses based on Philadelphia prototypes.  I may invest in one or two once I have some layout construction done.  They are close enough to some in Chicago to be useful for me.  For background, you might check out some of the companies that make paper models- these won't pass (well, IMHO) next to a DPM building on the layout edge, but maybe as fill in against a backdrop.

Here is another 3-D print version of Philly row houses, on eBay.  This is not an endorsement, I haven't seen these "close up and personal"- but another possibility-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/234053431654?hash=item367eabf166:g:614AAOSwnKtgyVOF

But I agree with OldEast's basic sentiment- that there are not nearly enough brick buildings- and especially houses.  I could use brick bungalows by the dozen (lived in one in my early years).  My number one ask would be the Chicago "3 flat" (3 story buildings with 3 or more apartments, mostly built in the early 20th century, but some dating back to before "the Fire".  I have several of the Walther's "tenement" kits, but have always been disappointed that they never produced a full building version, and did not even provide a full depth side wall. The back porch view does indeed work if you are trying to transition to a backdrop 6" past the tracks, but not much good for anything else without a lot of work to build the rest of the building. I did cut one of those down to a 3 story building (using the scribe lines Walthers provides in the molds for the walls), but the seam is fairly evident.

Hopefully, as time goes on, high quality 3D print designers will move in to fill demand for brick houses and apartment buildings and we will get more selection than we currently have.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Don't forget the Custom Model Railroads Hampden rows:
https://www.custommodelrailroads.com/hampden-end-N.aspx
https://www.custommodelrailroads.com/hampden-center-N.aspx

They're hotties.

[Mark5]

Yes, good point Ed.

There is also this tiny brick rancher: https://www.walthers.com/brick-ranch-house-kit

My grandparents lived in a two story brick house - my current plan is to kitbash using DPM modulars as the core components.

Mark

[thomasjmdavis]

Yes, good point Ed.

There is also this tiny brick rancher: https://www.walthers.com/brick-ranch-house-kit

My grandparents lived in a two story brick house - my current plan is to kitbash using DPM modulars as the core components.

Mark

I took a look at the Walthers page for the ranch house.  Noticed they had a link, titled "Cornerstone Housing for your N scale neighborhoods".  Apparently, their search function works as "well" for them as it does for me.  Came up with 6242 hits.  They had "n scale" in the search terms, did them no good.  of the first page of 20 items, 2 were N, 1 was O, 17 were HO.  None were cornerstone.  18 were industrial, not residential. The "housing" in the first page (also in the search terms they listed), consisted of 1 package or O scale windows and 1 package of N scale windows.  They constructed their search thus: 'search category products layout structures housing scale n scale show 120'  It ignored the "show 120" and instead showed 20.  I did not bother to go through the remaining 300+ pages.

Sorry for the digression, but as it is, Walthers could have 100 brick residential buildings, but they themselves would never be able to find them.  Rule 1, when you establish a link on a page, you should follow it yourself to see if it actually works and goes where you want it to go.

[conrail1973]

I've purchased the 3D brick houses off of eBay that @thomasjmdavis mentioned, and I'm impressed with the quality.  They have a few detail parts that I haven't attached as I'm finding time to paint them, but I'm impressed with the quality.  I especially like the corner tavern kit.

[peteski]

IHC also produced  a line of brick buildings. One series was Brownstone mansions.  But those aren't really standalone single-family buildings.

But looking at suburbia, there are not all that many single family brick houses in the Northeast US (where I live).  Great majority is standard wood frame and wood siding construction.

[thomasjmdavis]

I've purchased the 3D brick houses off of eBay that @thomasjmdavis mentioned, and I'm impressed with the quality.  They have a few detail parts that I haven't attached as I'm finding time to paint them, but I'm impressed with the quality.  I especially like the corner tavern kit.

That building reminds me of Zeintek's Hobby Shop on S Damen Ave in Chicago.  In the old days, they ran a tavern on the ground floor, and I can't remember whether the hobby shop was in the basement or on the 2nd floor.  In the current day, I think the hobby shop has taken over the ground floor.  I hope they are still in business.  I will have to take a drive down there next time I visit Chicago.

Edit: After taking a look at conrail1973's photos, I gave up trying to resist and ordered a corner tavern and a set of brick rowhouses.

[OldEastRR]

Those PA-style buildings are really nice. What I have in mind is a regular house set back from the street but with a small business addition in front of it. I see these in small and medium-sized cities all the time. The house is surrounded by business structures but old ones, and apparently long ago the neighborhood was mixed residential/business. Then the area got more commercialized and the house was modified to be a business, with possibly an apt on the upper floor. I've never been inside one of them so I don't know the layout. But what it looks like is a regular brick business front with large window and door stuck on the front of regular house -- sometimes the store is two stories high but you can still see the peaked roof of the house behind it. This model was be set between two DPM-derived buildings, and would be a different look to the usual modelled downtown.
I also have a small section of my downtown "old" section, where all the structures are made of wood and pre-date 1910. There are 3 businesses and two houses. One house is based on a street shot of a real house  in NH and I'll use either board and batten plastic sheet or build a styrene shell and cut and paste real wood embossed "siding" sheets to it.  I'll use that technique of cutting out rectangular pieces of the wood and assembling them to form window openings -- because trying to cut window holes in thin wood will drive one insane.

[thomasjmdavis]

That building reminds me of Zeintek's Hobby Shop on S Damen Ave in Chicago.  In the old days, they ran a tavern on the ground floor, and I can't remember whether the hobby shop was in the basement or on the 2nd floor.  In the current day, I think the hobby shop has taken over the ground floor.  I hope they are still in business.  I will have to take a drive down there next time I visit Chicago.

Edit: After taking a look at conrail1973's photos, I gave up trying to resist and ordered a corner tavern and a set of brick rowhouses.

My buildings have arrived (see @conrail1973 post above for what I ordered).  These may be the best 3D prints I've seen.  Fit and finish are very good, and there looks to be less clean up than a lot of injection molded kits. 

I took a look at an actual photo of Zeintek's Hobby- the "tavern" building is not really that close- but it will make for a very believable corner tavern or restaurant with some apartments above.

[thomasjmdavis]

I've purchased the 3D brick houses off of eBay that @thomasjmdavis mentioned, and I'm impressed with the quality.  They have a few detail parts that I haven't attached as I'm finding time to paint them, but I'm impressed with the quality.  I especially like the corner tavern kit.

The corner tavern I received is a mirror image of yours- so he apparently makes both versions, for those who need a particular configuration to fit their corner.

[ncbqguy]

I just got my left hand Corner Tavern and two Sears Houses in the mail. 
I can’t say enough about the quality or value of the product!
As an architect, I am sensitive to stuff, even if real, that doesn’t look “right”.   
This stuff is right on target and I look forward to more offerings!!!!
Charlie Vlk

[BuddyBorders]

Nice to hear positive reviews about these buildings. I am intrigued by them and figuring out if they'll fit and where on the dream layout.

-Buddy