Heres a couple of projects I did awhile back.
These were done in 1:48 scale for an O narrow Gauge layout
Woodland Cabin

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/Tileguy86/Diorama02.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/Tileguy86/Diorama4-1.jpg

ARMSTRONG COALING PLATFORM

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/Tileguy86/OScale3outdoors.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/Tileguy86/Ocoalplatfreightend.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/Tileguy86/baycoalplatformshay.jpg

Show Your Scratchbuilt Buildings..............I'd love to see them :thumbsup:

Heres a couple of projects I did awhile back.
These were done in 1:48 scale for an O narrow Gauge layout...
Neat! Great thread idea, too.

Heres a couple of projects I did awhile back.
These were done in 1:48 scale for an O narrow Gauge layout

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/Tileguy86/baycoalplatformshay.jpg

Show Your Scratchbuilt Buildings..............I'd love to see them :thumbsup:

Would that be about a 75-80 ton Lima Shay, perhaps? Nice looking loco, regardless.

Jim in Pittsburgh

Actually, Thats an 12 Ton T Boiler Shay (Made by Bachmann)..........A baby compared to a 70 tonner but a very smooth runner.
Bachmanns On30 mechanism's are excellent and while this is new out of the box look, they can be dressed up and distreed rather nicely........I have a Banta Wood cab i'll be adding to this one along with a precision scale Beartrap stack, some tool boxes, chains etc. I may even add a Backwoods miniatures Winch.....I'm not quite decided yet :)

Wow, awesome work! I have to start learning how to make them buildings and stuffs. :thumbsup:

A good place to start learning about scratchbuilding
www.freerails.com

holy crap you are awesome......i gotta try this

you should sell some of your work ....that would make you tons

I'm Glad you enjoyed these............Both were actually built for sale and were sold on Ebay last fall

I Recieved this from the buyer of The Coaling Platform

The package arrived yesterday in good order. The diorama is even better in person! I'm going to add working lights to it and figure out where it's going to go. For now I'll use it as a display for some of my critters.
Thanks again

Its Home is now somewhere in California ;)

you know if you have a small motor that had super low rpm and hooked a crankshaft through the bottom to a guys arm it will look like he is swinging and axe

how much did you get for one of those things (not to be rude)

The Coaling Platform (without locomotive) Sold for around 250.00 + Shipping(35.00)
I Had under 12.00 in Material in this Piece But ALOT of Time.
The Cabin itself was 2" W x 4"L (3" Wide with Porch) The Diorama was 10" x 10" Aproximately. This sold for around 100.00 Plus Shipping
I Had under 5.00 in Materials in this.....BUT again, alot of Time.
I do these for Enjoyment and make a little bit to support my hobbies.
To Put things in Perspective
Making these & selling them takes time.
Example......Coaling Platform
Build + List Item + PackageItem + Ship Item......34 hours
Cost to Build + List + Final Value .................... 29.00
250.00 - 29.00 = 221. divided by 34 hours = Final Labor rate per hour.
Total = 6.50 per hour labor
Tilework I net aprox 45.00 Per hour average.

Obviously, I do not do this for the money as much as for the pleasure.
Trying to make a living building custom models, even Very Good ones is not very likely.

If you want to make money you need to eliminate alot of Labor and design a model and then Sell Limited Edition KITS of that model.
Let the End User spend the majority of the TIME.

My Opinion..............Look at Tom Yorke Kits..........See what they look like and what they sell for...........This will give you an Idea what I Mean.

If you want to build Models to sell just to support your own hobby it workslike I do it, BUT............You need to KNOW how to package Diorama's for shipping and THIS is a Very WELL Protected Secret known only by a few.(and this i will not share so dont even ask!! )
Many have tried selling Diorama's and they ultimately arrive damaged. This is why i say Build One for you so you have nice pictures, and THEN, Sell a Kit....you will be better off doing it this way!!

That is nice. I am going to try to get skills to someday scratchbuild.

That is nice. I am going to try to get skills to someday scratchbuild.

Girls Like Guys with Skills Stretch :thumbsup:

Was putzing with some scenery today
Anybody Like Morning Glories??
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/Tileguy86/sceneryturn34.jpg

hmmm O is 1/48 scale? i see an Oscale in the future with some 1/48 scale WWII Armor on flat cars:p

Tamiya has a growing line of 1/48 scale military models.

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/category.php?sub-id=10500

O scale can be an expensive scale But there are a couple of reasonable companies
http://www.railking1gauge.com/catalog/catalogweb/index3.htm

Go 2 Rail instead of 3.
Bachmann makes some great old 1:48 equipment for logging, mines & Industrial railroading but its narrow gauge. Great for perhaps a Military Factory layout where material handling is done along with switching flats of finished product and setting out at a mainline transfer point.
Here you could show narrow gauge flats being unloaded and Standard gauge flats being loaded (perhaps using an Overhead crane)
For idea's take a look at Chryslers Detroit Plant.........during the war years they were geared up for supplying the war effort. A very large complex with a lot of activity could be modeled.

While tanks are being loaded in one section, Perhaps Jeeps & Trucks could be being loaded onto a Second 1st class Railroad. (hmmmm Pennsy and CB&Q? Pennsy and New York Central? New York Central and the B&O??)

Like I said, ALOT of RR could be built around 1 industry.......In O scale this could fill an entire basement if one were so inclined!!

http://www.allpar.com/history/military/preparing.html

Quoting the above site:

"Chrysler was given an order for machinery to produce 40-millimeter anti-aircraft guns for the Navy. Firing one hundred and twenty rounds a minute, the gun was one of the best weapons for fighting dive bombers. Parts of the gun were to be manufactured at Chrysler plants in New Castle, Indiana and Dayton, Ohio with the remaining work and final assembly to be done at the Detroit Chrysler Plant. The production schedule called for three hundred guns a month.Out of a plant five city blocks long and two blocks wide, big enough to produce a thousand passenger cars a day and standing where there stood only the heavy gumbo of a cornfield last September, tanks are rolling in Detroit. Four months ago the pilot model of the M-3 twenty-five-ton medium tank which the Chrysler Corporation will build for the government was only a bundle of blueprints. It now rolls off the assmbly line fully armed and ready for combat

While Chrysler's biggest defense jobs were the M-3 tank, Martin B-26 bomber, and anti-aircraft gun, the corporation was also involved in the production of field kitchens, refrigerators, bomb fuses, shells, landing gear for airplanes, cartridge fuses, bearings, marine tractors and tugs and assorted military vehicles such as command cars, ambulances, trucks, and weapons carriers."

Based on the History above, this could be an Awesome layout using inexpensive Bachmann On30 locomotives and Rolling stock with Perhaps 1 ( or 2 like I said earlier)standard gauge Line Picking up loaded Flats & Boxcars at a transfer yard. The Big Standard Gauge 1:48 engine would dwarf the little industrial narrow gauge switcher and you would be able to then run both O and On30 and show off Tanks ,Ant Aircraft guns, Military Jeeps & Trucks by the dozens along with other items like ambulances field kitchens and Large Military crates of Aircraft parts or even Partial assemblies/Crated Engines etc for the aircraft division.

Sounds like a Lifetime project to me LOL

Does anyone know of a good site other than ebay to buy supplies and miniatures

Should have mentioned Im looking for G scale
Thanx

Walthers Trains.

There's a bunch of hobby stores that have branched into the web. I have done a bunch of business with Atomic Hobbies out of Ft. Wayne, IN. They're on the web at https://www.myatomic.com/catalog/ Decent prices, and free shipping on orders over 25.00.

Well done. I did my gauge "O" from the scratch with the following sizes. The gauge for "O" is 1 ¼ inches; the scale is 1:48. That same 50-foot-locomotive, in this model scale, is about 12 ½ inches long.

Hope to see more "O" trains here...

Carmel