# QUESTIONS



## irondan (Jan 7, 2008)

How many buildings do you have in your layout?  

Is there a building that you always wanted and for some reason you have never built it? /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/unsure.gif 

What is your favorite building in your layout and why?/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By irondan on 09/18/2008 10:24 AM
How many buildings do you have in your layout? " border=0> 
Is there a building that you always wanted and for some reason you have never built it? /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/unsure.gif" border=0> 
What is your favorite building in your layout and why?/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif" border=0>




1: I have zero buildings on my layout because it is an elevated line 6-inches wide with no room for anything other than a facade of a building tacked to the side, but I never made anything. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blink.gif 

2: A 3/4 circle Roundhouse, 32 to 48 stalls. I have plotted, planned, schemed and dreamed of this, but it would be 15 to 17-feet in diameter (depending on which design and number of stalls) and that is HUGE!... thus it would also be difficult for a 1.5:1 human to attend to vehicles on the radial tracks and turntable. It is still a dream, and I still have plans, and I have been collecting "Stuff" to make it from. Whether I will ever get it built is in question. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif 

3: Since I don't have buildings I can't have a favourite /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crying.gif... but if I ever get the Roundhouse built, I think it would be my favourite!  

I presently have removed all the tracks from my layout and am working on rebuilding the elevated structure (it didn't survive last winter too well... water got into joints and split the wood when it froze, something that did not happen in any of the previous 6 winters). I am working on a design for a 17-ft diameter "deck" (to replace the Loopback at one end) at the height of my elevated layout so I can put the Roundhouse in the middle of it... well, all over it! I want to put trap doors in the floor for me to enter from below (most of the stalls will be dummy areas with no tracks (or floor) and a lift off roof) so I can get to the radial tracks and working stalls. The turntable pit will also be openable from below for the same reason (it needs a floor of some sort to catch anything that might fall in).


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

1. 8 buildings 
2. A depot that can withstand the weather. 
3. No favorite.


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

I've got several dozen buildings from a small tool shed to a farm house. I've got kits, scratch builts, assembled, bird houses, bird feeders, even an old mail box. I even made a Brown Derby Restaurant from a green derby that I painted brown! 

I want to build the Casa Grande SP station. It IS unique, in the dictionary definition. It's done in puebla style. Right now it looks like it's ready to collapse, but it was fine in the day. Despite it's size, it would look good on my layout. 

Right now, my favorite is Friedman's Tortilla factory. It was a flat, but I built a building behind it, and put a track into it for loading/unloading flour.


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## dawinter (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By irondan on 09/18/2008 10:24 AM
How many buildings do you have in your layout? " border=0> 

Is there a building that you always wanted and for some reason you have never built it? /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/unsure.gif" border=0> 

What is your favorite building in your layout and why?/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif" border=0>




About 30. Indoors. All favourates  

But on my little RR that runs outside there are only four and I'm really missing a typical sand tower that will withstand the weather. It's all those ladders and pipes that take a beating. 

Dave


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## tom h (Jan 2, 2008)

1. 5 commercial buildings / 4 houses 
2. The Big Springs Inn, I want an old hotel with a big porch all the way around, with a bar/restuarant attached to it. 
3. The Ice Cream Factory , because my 6 year old son and I built it together, and had a great time! 

tom h


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By irondan on 09/18/2008 10:24 AM
How many buildings do you have in your layout? " border=0> 
Is there a building that you always wanted and for some reason you have never built it? /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/unsure.gif" border=0> 
What is your favorite building in your layout and why?/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif" border=0>


Counting shacks and towers, about 5 dozen. 

No, but I still could use a sand tower. 

My favorite buildings, and those of many of our guests are not buildings at all per se. Our volcanos, dinosaur excavation site, and mineral springs are among our visitors favorites and these actually have very little structure (and are cheap to do). (The "baudy house" is also very popular.)


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

No buildings. A small local depot, freight sheds, engine facilities would be on my want list. 

Regards, Greg


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2008)

Dan i received my order from you a couple of weeks ago and all i can say is wow, the 48 inch turntable is fantastic, the 8 factorys you built me are HUGE and look great but what i need that nobdy else makes is a big huge honkin train station!!! more modern than whats on the market now. that could service 2, 3, 4 or more tracks. you could make it in a way that it would come to customers in smaller sections but when put together it would be huge and more modern. it would also keep shipping cost down so thats what im lookin for.. 
Thanks 
Nick


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## Gary Woolard (Jan 2, 2008)

Dan, 
Although my layout is yet to be built, my plans and desires for it are quite detailed! " border=0> 
I've already bought as many Piko/Pola kits that I've found that are appropriate for my Turn-of-Century layout. There are all kinds of retail bldgs available, but I've found very few _residences_ that fit. There's maybe one plastic mansion (got it) and everything else looks like a log cabin or a 'shotgun' style tiny house. 
So I've been looking at your new houses with interest. While a few are adaptable to my purpose, what I'd _really_ go ape (*) for would be a few 2-3 story Victorians, maybe even "Queen Anne"s, with the high porches and turrets that are typical of T-O-C 'Painted Ladies.' 
. 
(*) No denigration of, or dis-respect for, Apes is intended in this message


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2008)

How many buildings do you have in your layout?

i could not count, because i did not find all. (we are still suffering from post-moving sindrome...) 
but about one and a half time these here plus some i am going to build will be in the upcoming layout. 









from front to back: 
a fifty year old toy-fort, background station buildings, a sample of my style of temporal buildings, still unpainted, a playmobil dollhouse to be kitbashed to make a city-station building. 









front left a front for the background. some 25 year old cardboard houses to be cut up for background buildings. in the back some unfinished kitbashes. 









toy-houses age 35 to 50, to be coloured, kitbashed, or canibalized for windows and doors. 









the buildings range from 1:32 to 1:22.5 
on former layouts i had satisfactory results, by cautiously putting the smallest buildings nearest the background. 
anyhow, regarding rule #8 they are just fine.


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## irondan (Jan 7, 2008)

Hi Nick, 

We were wondering how you were doing? Did you start painting or detailing any of the buildings yet? Do you have any pictures or drawings of the station that you want? I'm sure we can make it in sections it all depends on how it is configured. Looking forward to seeing what you want.


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## irondan (Jan 7, 2008)

Thank you all for sharing your pictures and projects. What a wide range of ideas, it is very interesting. These are the plans of one of our favorite buildings that we created for one of our customers. Can you guess what it is?







" 










Ok, I won't make you guess, here we have a picture of the main observatory building, which is one of our all favorites and I don't think a lot of people have anything like this; ofcourse I might be wrong.














This picture shows the main building; unfortunately we don't have a pciture of the second samller building. They were made to be set up one next to the other and would be connected by a catwalk.


After another person saw this building he asked for this variation:














Next we'll try get pictures of the buildings set up on their layouts.


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## irondan (Jan 7, 2008)

Here are some pictures for the observatory detailed and set up.


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## Dave F (Jan 2, 2008)

Currently I have 3/4 of a building. It was a whole building, but our dog decided it would make a good chewtoy one afternoon... Fortunately it was just a farmhouse -like cheap bird feeder that I picked up at the grocery so I'm not too upset. 

I have two buildings under construction at the moment. They should be ready for spring. I hope to have one or both ready to debut at a local 'big" train show in Feb-March. 

Nothing to show at the moment, but as I compleat them this winter I'll have plenty of pics for everyone.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By irondan on 09/18/2008 10:24 AM
How many buildings do you have in your layout? 

Is there a building that you always wanted and for some reason you have never built it?

What is your favorite building in your layout and why?



3 - water tower, coaling tipple, passenger depot - I believe any steam loco needs at least these, the first 2 for running, and the last for revenue 

My next building will be a saw mill - haven't had the time to start it yet 

My fav' would be the coaling tipple - currently its a modified plastic piko but someday I'll build a wood one from scratch. I like it the best because it's such a unique structure.


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## DennisB (Jan 2, 2008)

But on my little RR that runs outside there are only four and I'm really missing a typical sand tower that will withstand the weather. It's all those ladders and pipes that take a beating. 

I have buildings done by this hobbyist in London, Ont. www.gscalestructures.com. He uses cedar and metal for durability. Has pictures on his web site and you can call or email him for a quote. Regards, Dennis.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I have many building. My favorite for now is the just completed Passenger depot with full lenght station platform and additional terminal track. Wish I had room to put a round house and turntable. Later RJD


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## jmetzger (Oct 15, 2008)

http://www.mylargescale.com/1stclass/jmetzger/IMG_4990.JPG


The question is what is you favorite building, well this round house above is one of many I have made for clients. It is made of 1/2 inch thick cast resin walls, the only wood used is under the roof to support the roofing and the support post and beams between each stall. This one is showing a metal roof over plastic as per the client request. The water towers in the background are the D&RGW 50,000 gal tank with tapered sides. At this time all my buildings are scale in 1:20.3, the sides measure 41 1/4 on the inside with the doors closed


http://www.mylargescale.com/1stclass/jmetzger/IMG_5006.JPG

http://www.mylargescale.com/1stclass/jmetzger/IMG_5004.JPG
(Images exceed max 640 pixel width & file size is to large changed to links, SteveC mod.)[/i]

Above is my favorite building to make because is show what happened to round houses as rail roads lost revenue and were on the decline they would sell off engines and the need for round houses became less and less so they would dismantle the round house remove the turn table and adapt what was left to they're needs. This is my staggered stall engine house. It is 41 1/4 long on the long side with the doors closed and 29 1/4 with the doors closed. To see more you can visit my site at www.mcwwerks.com. I'm working on a new site look but I have more pictures of a few other buildings. Joe



[/i]


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

Currently I have six buildings on my layout. They are all scratch built with different materials and methods. They are each progressively more daring and detailed than the last as follows:

A western jail, a western saloon, a log cabin birdhouse conversion, a station roughly fashioned after the Durango station, my family's historic farmhouse that I grew up in and the newest addition, my castle. I am in the process of my seventh if you count an indian teepee that will be fairly simple.

I've always wanted to build the Disneyland Main Street Station and still may. Just need to figure out how long I can make it and where I'll put it.

My favorite structure has to be the house I grew up in and still is in the family.

Here is a photo of the actual house....










and this is the model on my layout....


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Wow, lots of cool buildings here. I especially like the two observatories, those are really unique and interesting! 

"How many buildings do you have in your layout?" 

So far, only two: A hoist house at the Cliffside Mine, and an abandoned stone cabin at the site of a defunct mine. I also have a few other structures: A water tower which is a scale model of the one at Dos Cabesas in the Anza-Borrego desert; a headframe and ore bin at the Cliffside Mine; a small headframe near the stone cabin; and a large double-chute ore bin which will eventually be part of a large mining complex at the upper east end of the layout. 

Many more buildings are planned. All will be scratch-built and custom-fitted to their locations. 

"Is there a building that you always wanted and for some reason you have never built it?" 

Most of the buildings I want haven't been built yet but will be eventually. However, there are a few things I just can't fit into the layout which I really wish I could have. Chief of these would be a large stamp mill. I would also love to do a scale model of the Desert View Tower located near Interstate 8 in the southeastern corner of San Diego County, but I doubt I could fit it in, either. 

"What is your favorite building in your layout and why" 

It's too soon for me to have a favorite. The entire Cliffside Mine is fun because there are multiple levels of wooden walkways, and the way the various elements (hoist house, headframe, ore bin, tram, crane) all work together to make an interesting and complex scene. 

On the other hand, the stone cabin is really beautiful, with real stone walls, rusty scrap metal "shingles", hip roof, and heavily weathered wood trim; and it realistically captures the look of authentic ghost town structures I've seen in Nevada.


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