Resin buildings - wonky windows?

[JeffPreston]

Hi All!

Apologies if this has been asked before - but... is it just me, or do an awful lot of resin buildings such as those from Hornby and Farish (I think they are resin?) have decidedly questionable fittings which are often neither vertical nor horizontal when they should be? 

Many of them look marvellous at first glance but on closer inspection look almost like something which has been (as it were) made of plasticine and then had rigid windows, doors, stairs and drainpipes pushed into it. Window frames are often the worst offenders and are frequently not even flush with the walls. 

Thoughts? 

Which brings me to this - what is the best looking (in your opinion) choice for buildings, short of scratch building the lot? I've been a military modeller for decades and could manage kit building - but would be happy to buy ready painted models if they looked really good.

I love the concept of the card buildings which are very inexpensive  and fast to make      - but somehow they always look like they are made of card...  :'(  (Though I've read that there are certainly ways to improve this...)

Tips?

Thanks for any advice!

[Karhedron]

You are right, resin is prone to warping during the setting process, and that assumes the moulds are straight in the first place. Personally, I prefer plastic kits. One of the reasons is that even if the kits are from different manufacturers, I paint them myself using the same range paints. This helps unify them tonally which is harder with pre-coloured kits.

My current layout is a GWR BLT and features buildings from Peco, Ratio and Walthers. A lot of it depends on what you are looking for. Sometimes kits are not available for the prototype you seek.

[JeffPreston]

Hi Karhedron:

Great advice - many thanks and thanks for the layout pictures - great looking stuff.

I was a little puzzled for a moment, as I assumed a 'GWR BLT' was, quoting Oddball from Kelly's Heroes, "Some kind of weird sandwich".

I believe Ratio does a GWR style signal box. My layout is BR WR (Newport area) around 1964. Sound like a good product for the job? Any comments on the kit?

[Karhedron]

The Ratio signal box kit is nice and goes together well. The only bit I am not fond of is the thick moulded plastic base it sits on. You cannot really do without it as it keeps the bottom of the structure square. I trimmed mine down and did my best to bury it under the landscape. You can see how it looks before burying here.



You also have the option of the Farish painted model.


The Peco kit is GWR-ish with the 3-over-2 windows


Osborns offer a nice laser-etched wood kit of a brick-built GWR signal box.
http://www.osbornsmodels.com/archn0010-arch-laser--gwr-brick-built-standard-signal-box-kit-31166-p.asp


Various options to choose from, hopefully one of those will suit your needs.

[JeffPreston]

Hi Karhedron:

Whoa - thanks for the lavishly illustrated reply - great information and much appreciated!

[drgnfly]

Could not agree more with the OP if I tried! In fact, this wonkiness is the very thing putting me off investing in the Grafar Deco Station Building



The signal box is ever-so-slightly better, but not by much.


It's very frustrating, because I want to create something evocative of my time in Surrey/suburban London and these things look like they've been left in a kiln.

[mr bachmann]

what do you guys expect - after most all manufactures give you wobbly wheels 
it seems products don't have to move to be wonky 


alan