| What you chose as your scenery, a small town, a coal | | | | No worries here. The odds work against that. But if |
| mine, a large town, a steel mill, a textile mill -- or | | | | you want to ensure that your kit building isn't going to |
| anything else you can imagine -- is totally up to you. | | | | look like anyone else's, add a few details unique to |
| The cool thing is no matter what you choose you can | | | | your feed mill. Or leave a detail or two off. This will be |
| find it in miniature. You can either find kits to build | | | | enough to give it that one-of-a-kind pop out look. |
| specific models. Or you can find ready-to-set on your | | | | Here's another trick I've used. I've combined parts. If I |
| layout pieces of these various scenes. | | | | think a building should have a different front, like the |
| Let me clue you in on a secret. Most of us, when it | | | | one I just bought with this kit, I put it on. After all, I am in |
| comes to scenery, opt to build our cities from kits. We | | | | charge of this city, now aren't I? |
| neither have the time, the patience nor the expertise to | | | | Some model railroaders even go so far as to cut their |
| build this type of scenery from scratch. (Did I just hear | | | | kits in pieces. They use these as the basis of a building |
| you breathe a sigh of relief?) | | | | of their own unique design. This habit is so popular it |
| Another reason many of us use kits is quite simple. | | | | even has a name: kitbashing. |
| The choices and styles and varieties are simply | | | | It's a shame the action has been given that |
| amazing. All you need to do is walk into a serious, | | | | violent-sounding name, because the finished products |
| dedicated hobby shop to see the overwhelming | | | | of these "kitbashers" are usually quite beautiful. |
| number of structures that come in kits. This is | | | | In addition to plastic kits, you can also find wood kits |
| especially true if you running HO scale and N. It will | | | | and even kits whose pieces are made from a hard |
| take your breath away. | | | | plaster, cast polyester resin and cardstock. |
| And if you look a little closer you'll notice the most | | | | You'll have your choice of scenery kits with metal |
| common material used for this purpose is plastic. | | | | panels that will need to be cemented with |
| There's no shame in that. Today, the quality of plastic | | | | cyanoacrylate cement -- or a few that even require |
| models is remarkable. | | | | soldering. |
| Worried that your town will look just like your friend's? | | | | |