| The Early Days | | | | like today's youth would rather be playing games on |
| In the early days model railroaders built their houses | | | | their computers and TVs than spending hours building |
| and other buildings from scratch, there were no | | | | houses. Those that are left and still enjoy this age old |
| premade ready to go houses and buildings. At this | | | | hobby are becoming more demanding, plastic kits just |
| stage there were not even any kits you could run | | | | do not give enough options for detail and customizing, |
| down to the local hobby store and buy. You had to | | | | so they turned to a new version of the old ways. |
| come up with an idea and figure out how to recreate it | | | | Laser cut wooden kits are now becoming very |
| using whatever materials you had at hand or could | | | | popular with many modelers. These high tech, high |
| pick up at your local store. | | | | quality kits are cut out of thin sheets of materials like |
| To build a house or any other building from scratch | | | | basswood and with work can be modified well enough |
| takes many hours of painstaking work. Working with a | | | | to suit almost anybody. They do however come at a |
| scale ruler you would first draw your building plans so | | | | price; the cost of these kits can run as high as $200 or |
| that you had a starting point. Once you knew what | | | | more and because of their complexity can end up |
| you were building, you could start gathering the | | | | sitting in the box untouched by a daunted buyer. Once |
| materials you needed to build it. Many of the older | | | | you open the box you are faced with what can be |
| scratch built models were built much the same way a | | | | several hundred individual parts that must be |
| real house was built, one piece at a time. That meant | | | | assembled and this can take many hours to |
| you had to find the right sized materials and cut each | | | | accomplish. Some of them can take over 100 hours |
| individual board out by hand. Or as another option you | | | | from start to completion and being ready to put in |
| could take a thin piece of sheet stock and using a ruler | | | | place on your model railroad layout. |
| and sharp knife gently carve each board into it. | | | | The end result of these laser cut wooden kits can be |
| Similarly each piece of window frame and door frame | | | | very realistic if you have the time and patience to |
| had to be cut from lengths of wood, if you were | | | | complete them, something that eludes many modelers. |
| building a house, this could take several hours to | | | | While they want the best quality models for their |
| complete. Assembling your new house meant hours | | | | railroads their lives are busy and the time needed is not |
| assembling small sections only to have to wait for | | | | always available leading them to look for other |
| them to dry before you could move on until the final | | | | methods to achieve the results they want in less time. |
| product was assembled and ready to be painted. | | | | Model Builder a New Look for an Old Technique |
| There were very few shortcuts and to create a | | | | As more modelers turn to using the high quality laser |
| model building that looked realistic was a task of many | | | | cut models they find that they are spending far more |
| patient hours from conception to completion. | | | | of their time working on their buildings than they are |
| The Plastic Revolution | | | | enjoying their model railroad layouts and the fun of |
| In the early 1950s the very first mass produced plastic | | | | operating them. Model builder has combined the best |
| model kits arrived in the stores, made by Aurora they | | | | of the old scratch building days with new technology to |
| quickly gained popularity. The model railroad industry | | | | make it much easier to achieve that custom built |
| soon joined in with easy to assemble houses and | | | | building look without having to spend countless hours |
| buildings. These kits featured preformed parts that | | | | gluing individual pieces together. |
| made assembling buildings so much easier. By using | | | | By using the hundreds of wall textures, doors, |
| injection molding manufacturers were able to add | | | | windows and roofing materials in Model Builder you |
| realistic details to every surface of the building. Walls | | | | can create buildings from scratch using nothing more |
| could now be made that had each individual board or | | | | than a computer, a decent quality printer and card |
| brick carefully outlined and given extra marking that | | | | stock. You can use the pre-installed building plans or |
| could show wear and tear. | | | | import your own and then use the various images to |
| Details such as doors and windows no longer had to | | | | create custom buildings that will enhance your model |
| be built one piece at a time; many of them were | | | | railroad layout with more detail than ever before. |
| molded in place while the higher quality kits came with | | | | If you still prefer to build your buildings using the new |
| individual doors and windows that could be glued in | | | | laser cut kits then you can use the wall and roof |
| place. For the beginner many of these kits were | | | | texture images to improve your buildings. You can use |
| molded in colors that could be used in a pinch that did | | | | the brick prints to give your buildings the type of finish |
| not need painting, although the results were somewhat | | | | you could only apply with hours of painstaking painting |
| inferior to taking the time to paint each detail carefully. | | | | or use the wood images to give your siding a natural |
| The quality of these kits improved over the years as | | | | look. The possibilities are endless. Model Builder |
| they became more popular and better manufacturing | | | | features over 500 images including several different |
| processes were used. With the advent of the | | | | brick and block wall patterns, tin and steel siding and |
| computer age hobbies like this have become less | | | | roofing, dozens of doors and windows and plenty of |
| popular and the number of plastic model | | | | accessories to help make your buildings. Whether you |
| manufacturers has declined, along with this the | | | | choose to make scratch built houses and buildings |
| availability of plastic models has gone down. | | | | using Model Builder's images and card stock for a |
| Of Wood and Lasers | | | | simple yet excellent building or you choose to use the |
| Modern technology catches up with everything | | | | printed images to help enhance your laser cut buildings |
| eventually and model railroading is no different. With | | | | you will be very surprised and satisfied with the |
| the advent of the computer age less people take the | | | | outcome. |
| time to enjoy the hobby of model railroading, seems | | | | |