I bought some kits at a show a couple of weeks ago that were produced by several companies. For a total of $6 I bought one "Railroad Hotel" 3 "Star Journal" and 4 "Fire Department". I was wondering if any of you have ever kitbashed these things. After opening all the boxes I noticed that ALL the buildings are the same, except the details. Thanks Polski
This structure has quite a genealogy. It is based on the Ramsey Journal Building, a print shop in Ramsey, New jersey where Carsten's Model Railroad Craftsman got started. I believe E. L. Moore built a scratchbuilt model of what was just the front office section of a building that extended father back than the model. And he wrote an article, with plans and drawings. The article was special for including how to model a freight elevator inside the structure. Most of his models were built of sheet nd stick wood and cardstock. Later in RMC, there was a reproduction of an oil painting of the building with a train going by. (Tracks went right past the real life buuilding). A European-made HO plastic model came out-- based on the cut-down building from the RMC article, not the full-size building. One version combined with a one-story workshop. One was the Gruesome Casket Factory. I used an HO kit as a ice-making plant next to a refrigerator car icing platform. Back in 1970s. Don't think I have any pix. I used another copy of the HO kit to approximate an actual building in Corpus Christi for a historical display. There was a 2 story brick building used for a produce market. The front was wide open with tables of fruit and vegetables-- fun detail modeling. BBs painted as pumpkins and seed beads as apples and oranges and bits of ground foam as lettuce. The open front of the Journal kit without the show window/ entry insert made the open-front market easy. I believe I used parts of an N scale Journal building to make the town hall for the farm town I built on a 2x4 foot layout I built for girlfriend's kids. I still have an unbuilt Star Journal kit, I think branded as Model Power. There are two possible "neighborhoods" where it might fit on the Island Seaport layout I am building. One is the amusement district where the causeway bridge to the Island Seaport reaches the island at a beach, and there are all sorts of tourist oriented businesses-- shell shops-- carnival rides-- night clubs. There used to be a ship motel in real life and I can't fit it in! The other place it might fit is the downtown, a preserved Victorian downtown. I have so many high-priority items in these scenes I am holding the Journal building kit in reserve in case I need something to fill in. And then I will build it to fit the space and the "feeling" of the space.
The molds for these kits have been recycled from one 'brand' to another for about 4 decades. I think these kits are also part of the Walthers State Street stores. Unlike some of the Pola kits... these are not as easy to kitbash because the 1st and 2nd floors are one solid piece. The facade could be customized somewhat and perhaps could be widened by cutting-off one of the side brick pilasters and another front facade piece can be glued together... you'd have to do the same for the back parts. You could get creative and make a corner facade... but... it may be difficult the make the back parts. I have several unbuilt kits with vast possibilities for kitbashing. You got a fantastic deal... congrats!!!
that's Galveston!...the Strand, with the Railroad Dept/museum in the background...or am I imagining it? I remember first dabbling in model railroading as a kid and building multiples of this building for an HO layout that never really saw the light of day. Bruce
Yes, that's Galveston. The station and the Strand-- or my version of it called "Exchange Street" is planned for stage 3 of layout. But stage 1 is stopped while I finish my history thesis.
