Old wooden houses.

[katoftw]

So in may videos of Japan rails you see a mixture of modern motar and old wooden houses along the streets.  But the later wooden houses are hard to come by.  The closest I have found are the farmhouses, use house, forget the other stuff:-

 

 

What have others used for the old (showa era?) wooden houses?

 

edit//  2 floor/story houses.

Edited January 27, 2016 by katoftw

[Densha]

I'm not sure if this is what you are exactly looking for, but Kato also has quite a selection of structures from several eras: http://www.katomodels.com/unitram/product_diotown.shtml

 

They tend to be fairly expensive though... compared to Tomytec at least that is.

[tossedman]

Don't forget the Sankei kits. They look pretty good too.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10198757a/20/1

[velotrain]

I'd say that Sankei house looks very good indeed - one thing I particularly like is that the window "glass" looks flat, very different from when kits use thin plastic that has a visible curve to the surface. 

 

It's actually hard to believe that is N scale - especially when compared to the relatively crude looking Tomytec farmhouse.

 

[tossedman]

Those are lasercut chipboard. The fine detail is quite remarkable for N scale. They're fun to build too.

 

Todd

[Martijn Meerts]

I actually have that Sankei kit that was linked to. I can only recommend their buildings, and I used to really not like papercraft all that much. Of course, the Sankei kits use high quality materials, and it's no a standard kind of paper/cardboard.

 

The only issue I have with Sankei is that their roofs are just printed on, so they do look very flat. It's not directly noticeable from a bit of a distance, but if does look a bit weird.

[kvp]

Actually Tomytec had a few modern wooden houses in their car series, the houses all had a garage and a car. Some of the recent suburban houses are also modern wood covered ones. And of course, there are the classic old small houses from Tomytec, which are almost all wooden.

[cteno4]

The sankei kits are great quality as Martijn noted, but the one thing they can't fo with the laser cutting is the tile roof, hence they usually print this and Martijn is spot on its one place where this falls a little flat as if you are close enough to see the superior details and crispness of the walls and window trims you notice the flatness of the roof. Get back a couple of feet and then the tomytec quality is fine compared to the sankei. The sankei can also look a tad too crisp as well and can use a spot of weathering to make them real.

 

Yes the tomytecs are a bit crude, but they are all decent at a foot or two and take no experience to build. Really is the best bang for the buck by far to get a building anyone can put together in 10 minutes that has a lot of detail bits and is pre painted and weathered. You can go at them and touch up the rough bits easily and make them look really nice. Sankei kits cost twice as much as similar tomytec so it comes at a cost.

 

The sankei kits are a little fiddly to put together. Not super hard,mthey just take some time to glue bits together carefully as the walls are all layered 2-4 layers deep (this stiffens them, adds nice 3D details at window and door frames and makes nice rabit joints at the wall corners for better assembly). You have to build up the walls first then start assembling them. So this bit of finer detail comes at a cost of doing some patient assembly. It's not like the wood kits where you just get a box of various wood strips and some plans, but it is work. Patience is the main thing with them to make sure you are aligning the bits of the walls up when layering so that it will then mate up with the other walls properly. So it's some prefitting to do and planning ahead, thus patience and some practice (hint get a cheaper small sankei structure for your first one to learn the system so if you screw up some no biggie)

 

Like most modeling there are always tradeoffs! No magic bullet, have to fiddle and adapt what works best for your situation and needs.

 

Jeff

[katoftw]

Thanks for the replies.  While I like the Sankai kits.  I have noted the flatness of the kits and they always look out of place next to plastic kits.  They also aren't what I'm entirely looking for like my exampled images.

 

Tomytec do alot of square based 2 story houses.  But they are all modern.  Looking for wooden options.  I don't think they exist.

 

 

Look for something like this but without the shop frontage attached to the front.

[Robert46]

Tomytec building is indeed interesting. but I have two old building kits and some parts ie. wall or roof had some bent surfaces which when finished the final result is not really nice... perhaps this is a minor issue of the models I got unlike any other tomytec buildings you guys have..

In my opinion, Sankei is really tempting to try as it has nice details as I haven't got one, and if the roof is the only issue then it would be nice if we can have alternative to replace or modify the roof. Hope I can have one someday..

[katoftw]

How old are those buildings?  The one on the left is row houses and still available in a set with a corner store.  But the one on the right I cannot locate in any catalog post 2005.

[railsquid]

The more recent versions seem to be much less susceptible to warping.

[katoftw]

windows and doors.

 

walls

roof

 

end result???

[Robert46]

How old are those buildings?  The one on the left is row houses and still available in a set with a corner store.  But the one on the right I cannot locate in any catalog post 2005.

 

I think the other one is a fruit stall.. I have no idea about catalog information, need to check the boxes and will take the picture..

 

Wow, Kobaru stuff looks cool although it's unpainted kits..

[cteno4]

Kobaru has been making the detail bits for structures, but I think the only structure they actually made was the beach house which was one of the first things from them.

 

Their textured sheets have been a nice addition to the greenmax ones and the few other options.

 

Jeff

[tossedman]

I wonder how those Koboru roof tiles would look on a Sankei kit. I might have to pick some up in my next order from Japan and give it a whirl.

 

Todd

[cteno4]

Todd,

 

that though has crossed my mind. I keep hoping sankei will add in etched metal, cast metal, or 3D printed bits to get around the lasercut limitations like this. or even laser cutting some of the plastic tile sheet.

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

I've been thinking of getting some basic shingles lasercut, but I need to experiment a bit first. Just regular flat shingles might not look very Japanese though, but it'd likely still be better than the printed ones that Sankei kits come with.

[Robert46]

How old are those buildings?  The one on the left is row houses and still available in a set with a corner store.  But the one on the right I cannot locate in any catalog post 2005.

 

Sorry for late reply.. here it is the pictures of tomytec boxes.. As informed in boxes, the row houses is in Machi 2 Collection and the other one, which I thought as fruit stall is in Machi 3 Collection..

[kvp]

There are plastic roof tile sheets but i've seen some flexible self adhesive ones that can be cut easily and then glued onto an existing flat roof. There is at least one japanese style, but i can't remember the product name...

[cteno4]

problem with roof tiles is that you need the cap row for the ridges. kobaru gives you these! wish it was sold separately.

 

jeff

[katoftw]

Sounds like a job for Toni.

[cteno4]

Yep, hey Toni!

 

Jeff

[ToniBabelony]

I'll see what I can do about the roof ridges. My pal at Nanyō Bussan also sells roof tile sheets and so on, and wants to market them abroad as well. Maybe he also has roof ridges to accompany the tiles, but maybe not. I'll have to arrange a meeting with him about that. The sheets he sells (he claims) are also cheaper than the regular Evergreen sheets and resemble West Japanese and Taiwanese-style tiles! It'll take a while to develop, if at all, but then it will come out a damn lot cheaper than 3D printing! ;)

 

The pages regarding the roofing: http://www.k4.dion.ne.jp/~toa-sato/kawarayane.html and the page regarding the walls (in fact building kits: http://www.k4.dion.ne.jp/~toa-sato/stracture.html)

Edited January 30, 2016 by Toni Babelony

[ToniBabelony]

I had a quick chat with Mr. Sato from Nanyō Bussan and he said the roof ridges are included at the ends of the plates.

Edited January 30, 2016 by Toni Babelony