Scratch building buildings n-scale

I would like to build from scratch some n-scale buildings. The bulding I am thinking of would be a run down shack, half under repair. Can someone give me basic size directions: Height, depth, width for a 2 or 3 story building n-scale. Material would be wood,

Reply to
Harry
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Harry wrote in news:1177004839.813269.78050 @b58g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

Your first purchase, BEFORE you buy anything else is a quality scale rule. Spend the extra money for a metal one, nice and heavy. Mine was about $5 around the turn of the century, and is still in excellent condition today.

Now, you can find pictures of something similar to what you want to build and start pulling dimensions off of them. Figure the average man is about 5'6", average woman about 5'1" - 5'3" and the average door is about

6' - 6'6" tall.

Your model will probably be around 1-2" square. (This is just a quick and rough estimate.)

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Harry:

One thing I would tell you, first, is to go slowly. Another is this: Expect your first and perhaps first few buildings to be not-quite- what-you-expected. Don't get discouraged, try again. It takes a while for the hands to catch up with the ideas. Keep your first few buildings, though, so you can look at them later and see how far you've come.

Now, a question. What sort of 2-story structure are you considering? It sounds like a rather large shack. Half under repair, meaning being sided or built or what? I would advise not to do a house being framed for your first attempt, because it's a lot of tedious work with little sticks.

In fact, I'd advise that your first building be very small and simple, not even two stories. Here is a little house I designed and built an HO cardboard model of:

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It is a quite simple first project; two identical doors and two identical windows; no porch. I have actually seen a few real-life houses this small, and on a model railroad it would be very useful. In N-scale, I'm guessing it would be about an inch by 1 1/2 inches - no huge real-estate loss there. After a few simple projects like this, you should have an easy time with more complicated stuff.

Dimensions are in full-size feet and inches. You can use a scale rule, or just convert to inches and divide by 160, then use a plain old inch ruler, as I do. (N scale is 1:160).

Even if you don't choose this project, it should help you somewhat with sizes of building elements. The best thing to do about these is to take a tape measure and a notebook, and do some research.

Above all, though, don't hurry, and don't get discouraged. Your job is first to learn, and if your first few projects fail as finished articles, they can still be quite successful as education, if you don't give up.

Cordially yours: Gerard P. President, a box of track and some grids.

Reply to
pawlowsk002

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