Kitbashing Fundamentals

[Blazeman]

Just about all who post on this wonderful site work with wood kits. I've not advanced to that point as yet, still working with plastic.

I've always been intrigued with the kit-bash aspect for structures be it making one standard structure larger by using two or three kits, or "expanding" one structure by making an addition using another different  kit.

The magazines and books talk about "looking at the parts as ingredients for a unique structure." I can do some of that.  But right now, I'm more comfortable with the above paragraph aspect of the discipline.

But what I need to know from the members here who I feel have been down that path, is some in's and out's for blending the parts.  Things like window height when laying out walls, wall heights themselves and the accompanying mating of the sections so they match up nicely. Roof lines would be another challenge I can use some insight on.

The articles from Art Curren over the years feature a lot of trimming, filling, and grafting blank sheet cuts. No wonder people have developed scratch building skills. Not much more effort it seems. Anyway, if you've been down this road, any thoughts you can share about this designing process are welcome.

In particular, I'm pondering taking several of the "Superior Bakery" kits to make a larger edition of that design and then show an add-on using Walthers Paragon Plumbing which is one of their modular offerings. The wall sections are different heights which may not be a giant problem being this will be an add-on rather than a blend.

Another kit source I've been intrigued with also goes back in time: the Life Like Belvedere Hotel. It's easy to make it higher, but not wider. Suggestions to that end would be helpful.

And just so you know, I'm working in N.

[deemery]

Art Curren wrote a book on kitbashing for Kalmbach, I think.  It's out-of-print, but you could search eBay or used book stores for a copy.  Amazon has one for $25:  https://www.amazon.com/Kitbashing-Ho-Model-Railroad-Structures/dp/0890242453


dave

[rpdylan]

A simple thing to do is make a small shed-like structure out of wood and add it to a brick structure..... hey, its a start!
    Looking at the Belvedere Kit--- I think you could cut one of the side walls back to the first window set, then using that smaller piece as a "step-back" to another long front wall..... rather than butting one front wall up against another. 
    get some cheap white foam board, trace the kit walls onto it and cut them out, then rearrange , ect to see how things might look good.

here is what I did with the Bar Mill's Kit Stanley Stove.  I borrowed heavily from the FSM Franklin Watchworks and added scratchbuilt structures to the original kit.

[Mark Dalrymple]

#1 - get yourself a Tamiya plastic scriber.  Very useful - but don't scribe on your cutting mat!  Those cuts don't heal!
#2 - get yourself that Art Curren book (unless you have all the articles in magazines).  Some great little (and not so little) projects in there.  The problem is that the kits in the book are now very old and there are much better ones available with a far greater level of accuracy and detail.  Kibri, Walthers Cornerstone (Kibri again I think?), DPM etc.  But the book is still well worth starting with (and continuing with) as it holds your hand and shows you where to make all the cuts.
#3 - after you have destroyed a few kits - it gets easier!  Making that first cut through a perfectly good kit wall that you payed good money for is tough.  But after your first kitbash comes out OK its much easier the second time!
#4 - DPM kits are great for kitbashing and the plastic is nice and soft and easy to work with.  Laube's Linen mill is everybodys favourite.  Some of the others like Kibri are hard and brittle - but still quite workable.
#5 - file your corners to 45 degrees - as neat as you can, glue together nice and square, run painters tape up the walls as close to the seam as you can get, fill with putty, trim with a knife, sand with 400 grit sandpaper, prime, paint and they should be invisible.
#6 The taller your building, the more crucial it is to get everything square and parallel.  Slight wares in the molds are amplified with every wall you add to the stack - both horizontally and vertically.
#7 - If you can make you cuts next to a column or frieze - the seams are far easier to hide.
#8 - internal room heights generally are between 8 and 12'.  Old villas are typically 12' stud, modern is more likely to be 8' - more expensive modern is likely to be higher (9'+). Remember to allow room for joists between floors (about 1'), a slab/ timber floor above the ground and support for the trusses/ rafters above the top story openings.  Commercial/ industrial is generally bigger.  Use your kit as a guide, but most importantly it has to 'look' in proportion.  Once, after mocking up a large timber structure next to some masonry structures, I enlarged the plans by 25%.  The end result 'looked' much better - even if the plans were originally taken from a prototype.
#9 - Don't be frightened to use multiple mediums in a kitbash (or sratchbuild using kit parts).  Resin, plastic, plaster, metal - after priming and painting can blend seamlessly.
#10 -Don't forget to have fun!  I find this part of the hobby the MOST enjoyable.

Cheers, Mark.