High Rise / Skyscraper building kits ??

[domino]

Hey

 

Does anyone know where to buy kits for High Rise or Sky scrabers building N scale ?

I have been surfing the internet but no result.

 

domino

[CaptOblivious]

Didn't Atlas used to make a few of these in N-scale? Specifically, the really big ones on Doug's layout, here:

http://japanese-trains.com/setagaya/newrhs4.jpg

and in the background here:

http://japanese-trains.com/2sides/PA066513m.JPG

[domino]

Didn't Atlas used to make a few of these in N-scale? Specifically, the really big ones on Doug's layout, here:

http://japanese-trains.com/setagaya/newrhs4.jpg

and in the background here:

http://japanese-trains.com/2sides/PA066513m.JPG

 

Yes they did, and i have one of them, but can`t find the rest or other manufactors who make high rise building kits.

I have also tryed to find some scratch build buildings, but they are not great made, so i passed on tem.

 

domino

[cteno4]

Not much joy here with larger buildings, just the old atlas buildings. they are now horribly expensive when the do pop up on ebay.

 

there is the heljan/kibri hospital/apartment high rise that is listed as HO, but if it is each floor is about 5.5' tall! maybe for little people, so works well with N scale to get good sized walls. the first floor is more HO scale with the doors.

 

I have seen a couple of chaps on ebay with various scratch built large sky scrapers but few really great quality.

 

there is the chap of flickr with a lot of high rises he has kitbashed. a great resource for ideas from various kits. warning if you go this direction you get into some big bucks fast with the number of kits you will need to buy to start tricking out buildings! dpm, tomix, kato, and greenmax can all be kitbashed larger

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55063726@N00/collections/72157612768739708/

 

finally you might think of scratch building your own. the cool thing about many modern skyscrapers is they have little in the way of external details. if you start with clear or tinted acetate for the walls then apply small strips of styrene and/or scoring with a matte knife vertically or horizontally you can create the main external details you need. the atlas kits only external detail is small scores in the plastic. this approach is a lot cheaper than trying to kitbash kits! if you use this technique in the back and then some kitbashed in the foreground it will help mask less detail maybe in a scratch built behind.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Bernard]

Domino - Take a look at this thread we had earlier on skyscrapers:

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,83.0.html

 

I have one of the Atlas buildings that I got a while ago but I don't know what they are selling for now. My personal opinion is that they are too large and take up a lot of space on a layout. They also have a metallic gloss finish and if is very hard to add more details with paint.

If you find any interesting skyscrapers in you search please post them.

[cteno4]

Yes im not a fan of the atlas bldgs either. i grabbed a square and extension a long time back and a hexagonal and i have a rectangular built that i got in a misc box of bldgs at a show for $5. not built well but figured i could maybe add external strips of gray painted styrene at each floor to cover up some of the defects. they are really only good for a background space filling building. they go for $50-150 now on ebay every few months. they come up very infrequently now. they use to go for like $20 and i kicked myself for not grabbing a couple more just to use as parts. atlas stopped making them quite a while ago in N scale.

 

the tomix high rise is super easy to extend higher and pull apart to paint. also you can do some cleaver things by putting groups of them together. the tomix layout room vol 2 book has some really good ideas for making more unique buildings out of them. bill reviewed the book here

 

http://jtrains.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/kilopost-layout-room-volume-2/

 

if you ever get your hands on the tomix diorama book there are even more cleaver uses of the tomix high rise. one was putting it on its side to use as a large station/walkway over a bunch of tracks. very cool.

 

the kato multistory apt bldg also comes apart easily to make higher versions and looks good tall and its prototypical (i have a shot of one that is i think the prototype ofr it at like 12 stories). they also come apart easily if you want to repaint them. i took few units of the two shades of brown and made one 9 story alternating color building and a couple 3 story units.

 

the kato prebuilt high rises can also be pulled apart to make them taller as the chap i mentioned did. unfortunately i think you only can pull out 3 or 4 stories to pop into another one and requires a little hacking and whacking as it does not come apart like the tomix high rise does. some of the greenmax kits give pretty good walls to cut up and extend taller and/or wider. the new greenmax is built to do this, but gives little flexibility in design in reality unless you buy a lot of extra kits. the older kits require you to cut them up and frankenstien them yourself.

 

DPM kits are also another option to kitbash, but most are brick (not really used a whole lot in taller structures in japan) and the window styles are not quite the right shape or style. you can clip out some of the window detail to make something interesting and i have thought of the idea of trying to fill in the brick texture with plaster (maybe with some white glue mixed in). these kits are cheap and have lots of detail parts and give you separate window frames (great if you want them a different color, have fun painting in different colored window frame on greenmax kits where they are moulded into the walls!).

 

over the years i have done some searches on high rise pictures (mainly japanese) and also keep my eye out when looking at pictures of japan to build up a catalog of photos for reference and ideas. another good place for ideas is to look at the paper models out there in small scale. i have grabbed a bunch of these for use eventually in ttrak, but the simplicity of lines and details gives you a good idea of what the key features to go for are if you decide to scratch build anything.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Bernard]

Jeff - Years ago I saw a layout at an Electronics store set up with video cameras around it to test them out. This is where I first saw the 3 Atlas skyscrapers. I went out and bought the Hexagonal building for $20.00. Since then I've been trying to incorporate that building and it just takes up too much area. I found if you use the Atlas skyscrapers you have to design around them.

[cteno4]

Bernard,

 

yep ive come to the same conclusion. glad i go the two of them for like $20 also, but would not spend a hundred on one now! the concept is simple enough that they should easily scale down if i want to slice them up some. the hexagonal even though interesting seems to be the hardest to fit into a scene well. figures i could always redo it into a square or rectangular or a two tower job since it has a lot of plastic in them. it is going to take space to fit them in! they also need some distance as up close they lack detail.

 

so planning is right! hey if they never fit i can always sell the kits and make enough to buy a bunch of kato, tomix and greenmax and do some more kitbashing!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[domino]

thanks guy`s.

 

I was wondering  if i should start build my self,but having trouble finding dealer that sells scratch buildnig stuff,do you know any ??

 

domino

[cteno4]

Domino

 

dont know of any that sell stuff for more modern high rises, just windows and doors for older buildings. most of the scratch building detail parts out there are all for older buildings.

 

i would look at kitbashing first from the greenmax kits [old and new] and ones like the heljan hospital. they have a lot of potential and would probably be quicker than starting from scratch.

 

other option is starting with tinted acrylic/acetate and apply some simple horizontal details with thin strips of styrene or colored construction paper. vertical lines in the glass could be done by vertical scores or even a silver pen marker first, then apply the horixontal detail stuff over that.

 

i was just at the museum of science and industry in chicago today and they have a huge HO train layout that models both seattle and chicago downtowns. many of the more modern buildings were actually printed walls w/o any relief at 3-4' away it was hard to tell they were done that way unless you looked very close. would be harder to in n scale and if you used them in the background with more detailed buildings in the foreground it would mask this more. there are a number of paper modeling kits out there [most free] that could be good starting points.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

i was just at the museum of science and industry in chicago today and they have a huge HO train layout that models both seattle and chicago downtowns. many of the more modern buildings were actually printed walls w/o any relief at 3-4' away it was hard to tell they were done that way unless you looked very close. would be harder to in n scale and if you used them in the background with more detailed buildings in the foreground it would mask this more. there are a number of paper modeling kits out there [most free] that could be good starting points.

 

I love that museum, and that layout. Did you tour the Zephyr on display?

 

Domino: Buildings done in the international style should be really easy to scratchbuild, as they are always boxes, and always have minimal detail. Plus, they're totally prototypical…

[cteno4]

No i walked all around it though. i made the mistake of waiting till i left to go inside (thinking it was not a tour) and when i got out and had to get going the next tour was over a half hour wait... pity as i would love to have seen it as i have the n scale model.

 

layout was great, wish there were a few more trains going, think a lot of it was built before computer automation to really make it more alive. the size is really impressive as i dont think i have seen a layout bigger than that, helps that its in a huge hall so you can see the whole thing and also see it from the floors above.

 

interesting to visit the grand daddy of science museums. museum exhibits are my profession so i have always wanted to see it, dwarfs every other place in the country and probably world. was able to learn a lot watching the visitor reactions and interaction with the exhibits. always helpful.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[domino]

Thanks guy`s

 

Will try to make something my self , just to see if i can 

 

Brian

[cteno4]

interesting idea is up for sale on ebay. its an atlas hexagonal building that has been kitbashed in to a triangular sears tower design! very cleaver!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110421258353&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123#ht_3507wt_1108

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Bernard]

interesting idea is up for sale on ebay. its an atlas hexagonal building that has been kitbashed in to a triangular sears tower design! very cleaver!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110421258353&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123#ht_3507wt_1108

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

Extremely clever and to me the first shots give an optical illusion of oneside being flat. It makes for an interesting building.

[bc6]

Thats an awesome looking building!!!!

[to2leo]

Thats an awesome looking building!!!!

 

with an awesome price 

[bc6]

Thats an awesome looking building!!!!

 

with an awesome price 

 

I know, someone really likes it enough to bid on it. 

[cteno4]

Well when you figure the amount of time it would take to build this and the fact these atlas highrise kits now go at a real premium, it isnt so bad.

 

could make the same wall material on the atlas buildings from smoked acrylic sheets and just score the lines. if you want the mirror effect you can back the acrylic with reflective tinting film.

 

it is a really nice design to give straight front face for the street. would be great on a diagonal street corner! maybe a 5 way intersection!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[domino]

Hey Guy`s.

 

Well, call me crazy, but i got it, yes i bought this fine looking building, i could not get it out of my head, i would look great on my layout, just to bad it wont get her for my very first exhibition on Friday.

Let me hear what you think i should pay for the building including shipping to Denmark from the US, keep in mind that it is a big building??

It will give an idea if i been fooled or not.

 

Thanks

domino

Brian

 

 

 

 

interesting idea is up for sale on ebay. its an atlas hexagonal building that has been kitbashed in to a triangular sears tower design! very cleaver!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110421258353&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123#ht_3507wt_1108

 

cheers

 

jeff

[to2leo]

Congrats Domino,

Please feel free to post pictures of your exhibition and the building when all is said and done!

[bc6]

Nice score on the building domino, its a fine looking building. As far as shipping goes I would say about $40 should cover it.

[domino]

Nice score on the building domino, its a fine looking building. As far as shipping goes I would say about $40 should cover it.

 

Yes i paid $ 40 for shipping , and the building ?????

 

Brian

[bc6]

Nice score on the building domino, its a fine looking building. As far as shipping goes I would say about $40 should cover it.

 

Yes i paid $ 40 for shipping , and the building ?????

 

Brian

 

If I had the money to bid on the building I would pay $200 for it.

[Bernard]

It is a unique building and an "eye-catcher" on any layout. Congratulations.