Scratch building..

[Thomas]

If i wanted to scratch build structures such as bridges and buildings, Trees, etc what kind of size and dimensions do we work to ?

Apologies if this has been asked before...

Thanks for any information..

Tom..

[Irish Padre]

Try near the back of the N Gauge Society handbook for some key dimensions. Otherwise I downscale from real size using a rough scale of 2mm to the foot.

[Thomas]

Ok thanks for that i will take a look..

I think i may have posted this in the wrong section apologies for that..

[Jerry Howlett]

October Railway Modeller (2011) has a brilliant article on making N gauge trees. Written by Geoff Green.  Using twisted wire some string and some woodland scenics foilage. I have made a couple and they turned out great , just need to finish off an area to place them.
Who knows he may be hiding in the forum somewhere.

[Chris]

I usually find mk1 eyeball the best tool when scratchbuilding. When making my buildings I measured a door and window on our house, scaled down by 1/148 to get an N gauge window and door, then just drew out the front of the building on plasticard until it looked right. Once happy with it I took some measurements of height, length etc. so I could draw out the other sides & roof before cutting out.

As I'm modelling modern era I found Google streetview an invaluable tool for reference photos such as buildings, bridges, signs etc.

[nosomosnada]

I think that books and magazines are always the best start point for me... because as I live in Spain, it's hard to take a handheld meter and go to measure the buildings in place.

So I've recently adquired several books very interesting (and very cheap, because they are second-hand) full of buildings blueprints:

Downesplans Country Buildings (3 books), Downes, Allan, Peco Publications.
Ericplans GWR and LMS buildings and structures, Illet,  Eric, Peco Publications
Peco Book of Model Buildings, Gill, J.M., Peco Publications.
GWR Country Stations (1 y 2), Chris Leigh, Ian Allan
Southern Country Stations 1, Robert Antell, Ian Allan
Southern Country Stations 2, Minnis John, Ian Allan

And my favourite, Modelling historic architecture, Bidwell, Derek, published by Historical Model Railway Society, that describes how to measure buildings from photo references, including some railway buildings blueprints.

With this references, and measuring several british buildings kits (ratio, metcalfe, scalescenes... I have some Farish Scenecraft buildings... but I think that they are very small) , I use google maps street view too, to search interesting buildings, take ideas and draw my own buildings to scale, from bricks, windows or doors  dimensions, taking special care of N gauge tolerances in case of tunnels, bridges, etc...

[EtchedPixels]

Downesplans Country Buildings (3 books), Downes, Allan, Peco Publications.
Ericplans GWR and LMS buildings and structures, Illet,  Eric, Peco Publications

Very good find.

For measuring buildings in place (not in Spain) there are some very nice apps for Android phones for the job that use the camera and some trigenometry.

[Pete Mc]

Hi EP,I have an android phone and have tried to search for an app to do this as I plan on scratchbuilding Doncaster Railway Station building for my layout as it has the look that I require.My question is:

What search keywords should I use to be able to look at these apps on the android app store search engine?

Cheers.

Pete

[EtchedPixels]

What search keywords should I use to be able to look at these apps on the android app store search engine?

"Smart DIstance"

[Pete Mc]

Marvellous,cheers EP,I'll give it a try on android market later.

Cheers

Pete

[polo2k]

theres smart distance and smart measure. very cleaver kit!
thanks for the heads up!

[barneyadi]

theres smart distance and smart measure. very cleaver kit!
thanks for the heads up!

Does anyone know of any iphone apps that do the same thing?

Dave