Downtown Deco site updated. New HO kits!

I finally got the time to forward the new photos & news to our webmaster (Thanks Geren!) so you can check out what's new. If you like funky, run down structures I think you'll like the new kits. I especially like the "ghost" building seen on the side of DD1032. The new kits are DD1032/36. Check them out at;
http://www.downtowndeco.com/hoscale.htm
Randy Pepprock Downtown Deco 406-273-0942

snipped-for-privacy@montana.com wrote:
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Some very nice looking buildings there Randy, and in kits too !.
Alan

Hmm... On DD1032, the apartment with the 'Ghost building', shouldn't the replacement structure (a Liquor store, I think - you may want to have a button on the individual product page to give an even larger enlargement of the building image so you can see the detail/construction/layout even better - open in a full page new broswer window/tab), anyway, shouldn't the replacement structure be of at least a full decade or later (usually much later - 3 or more decades) in architectural styles - at least that's what I find in real life (in areas like Manhattan, Brooklyn, North Jersey,etc.)? The structures look to be from nearly the same era, and the modelled erosion/wear on the side of the apartment building indicate several decades of separation between the two.
And since it's not a new release, you may have already been ragged on for DD1035 Kitty Korner. I'm gonna rag on it, not for any moral reasons (I'm perfectly OK with strip clubs, I simply stay away because they're money vaccums for your wallet) - but because of the several dozen clubs I know of in the NY area (and LA), none had supergraphics of the featured dance on the side wall ('Miss Deco's' look and fashion, BTW, date to no earlier than the 1980s, and probably much later - dang her face looks familar), and so makes the structure look hokey. Also (and this I do remember) - you need to add 1 or 2 burley male figures with shaved/bald heads outside the front door - you don't usually see dancers outside the front, but you always see the bouncers...

Sir Ray spake thus:
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I agree. Lose the "dancers", you *never* see them outside. The colors are good, by the way. And if there are any picture of the dancers visible outside, they're usually under glass in a display case by the entrance. A cheesy marquee with lots of lights would be good as well.

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That might be a function of where you live and how well the zoning is enforced. It does not look unusual to me out here in Western NY.
CTucker NY

Christian wrote:
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Interesting, by Western NY do you mean Binghamton and west? Nowadays, railfanning you run across a good number of strip clubs near the railroads in New York and Jersey (most likely a product of the zoning as you suggested), with the obvious exception of Manhattan (which has no freight railroading) - (remember I haven't been in a club for a long time, due to the money factor). Some clubs are gaudy (Uncle Charles in Linden, near the Leigh line), some subdued (Gentlemans Quarters in Baldwin NY, right under the LIRR), some totally blending with the neighborhood (Alice's Pioneer Pub, on Frelinghuysen Ave in Newark - right across from the Huge CNJ warehouse/current lumber transload - I passed that place dozens of times [it has an image of Jackie Gleason quoting How Sweet It is, and a half finished paint job] and never knew it was a strip joint, just thought it was a regular bar), some just funny - Lookers in Elizabeth (with a big pair of gaudy eyeglasses as a sign) shares a building and parking lot with a very busy diner - I just crack up when I pass by and see cop cars parked right in front (I'm assuming for the diner, since their lights are off and no cop is standing around...), and the one I may model - After Dark Go-Go, which in Northern Newark off McCarter highway, right next to Washington Terminal (where NS spots tank-cars every so often - I warned you about the railroad<->stripclub connection), and was painted black with some day-glo cartoon legs and other some suggestive imagery. This may be closest to the Kitty Korner model, although the building design is quite different. Well anyway, a quick search on the web finds 178 strip clubs in New Jersey alone, and while I can't vouch for them all, so far I haven't see supergraphics like that on the club - billboards along the road are a totally different story - and I was trying to point out, Ms Deco's imagery ties you to the 1980s or later era...it seems to me that Downtown Deco seemed geared to the 1930s-1950s era.

Sir Ray wrote:
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Thanks for the input. The structure is contemporary, not vintage.. If the kit is not to your liking I suppose you could get one of the other stripcubs that has been released by another manufacturer. Cheers!
Randy DD

On 29 Oct 2006 16:52:43 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote:
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The point about the supergraphics (too costly for a small sleazy nudie bar), and the hookers outside rather than bouncers, have nothing to do with the era.
Not that I personally care a whole lot about the accuracy or lack thereof of a model of a contemporary slease bar, but you didn't answer his points.

On 29 Oct 2006 16:52:43 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote: > Thanks for the input. The structure is contemporary, not vintage. Well, cool. OK, lets put the sex biz aside; you mentioned contemporary - what I am wondering if you plan to release or rerelease some of your earlier offerins as modernized - meaning for the 1960s/1970s corrugated aluminium store fronts, security grates; for the 1990s/today brown aluminium, modern signage, etc. - yes, that could be scratchbuilt/kitbashed, but it's always easier if released as a single kit (and gives an excuse to reuse the molds).
Also, DD1023 was 'Urban Housing' - a little hard to tell from the image, but those don't look much like 1950s era projects (6+ story), and certainly not like 1980s style projects (which usually look like 2 story garden apartment buildings) - any plans in those directions?
Finally, don't know if you know, but the text for the Ace Auto Parts D1012 page seems wrong (refers to some other 3-building release)

Sir Ray wrote:
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One, no we, don't re-release limited edition kits.
Two, not at this time.
Three. Sorry about that. The kit has been out of production for at least five years. This was the first I've heard the instructions were wrong.
Randy DD

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There is a prototype for almost any conceivable structure. If you don't like the way this strip club looks, that's cool, like I said, pick up one of the other ones available. I'll leave it at that.
As for the bouncers/girls.. the girls are often seen hanging around out front, smoking a cig or whatever. The figures aren't included anyway so I don't even know why it matters.
Randy DD