Kitbashing AmeriTowne Buildings

Hi Greg, take a look at this video.

Might try a search here for 'Ameri-towne'. There have been many threads here on these kits. I only have 3 so far and haven't kit bashed any yet, but these kits might just be one of the best deals going today in O gauge. Very nice stuff.

I have many bashed Ameritown buildings.  Building them was A LOT of fun.As said above, a serach will uncover many threads and many photos, quite a few mine. 

I'm making an ice cream shop/diner out of one now. They are inexpensive, and when you build them to your liking, it just seems more enjoyable. Anyone can buy pre-made great buildings...just throw some cash at the problem. I prefer the other option.

I took the #443 Homestead Furniture kit and bashed it into a building to go along the wall.

Here's the photos I took documenting the procedure from start to finish.

Thanks for all of the responses everybody! I will search the forum for related posts. I am beyond excited to start projects like this.

Thanks again,

Greg

www.youtube.com/trainbros89

Here are my Ameritowne.  I have abought eight buildings made prior to these that are not on the layout now, stored somewhere, I think under the layout.  Here are all on the layout now.  I love Ameri-towne.

I don't have an entirely stock kit on the layout.  This Harley Davidson dealership is the closest: stock except it has storefront windows on two sides . . . LED lighting added about two years after I put it on the layout.

Widening a building is easy with Ameritown panels although it requires good attention to detail, as here.  This is five rather than three windows wide, and required multiple cuts - much more complicated than just grafted together part of one panel to another.  This is usually the case when you need to BOTH maintain the even windows spacing in the upper floors and make the first floor spacing also even/symetrical/as you want it, as here. 

Here are some building fronts (there is no building depth here, with a 'Streets road running right behind them) along Detective avenue, all custom built to be winder or different to fit very specific spaces andf have the look I wanted. From Left to right in the photo are the Thin Man bar, 221B Baker street (from the Jeremy Brett series), Albert Campions townhouse, and the Bottle Street Police station.   Quite easy with Ameri-towne fronts, etc. 

Nero Wolfe's townhouse with its bay or bow window (I'm not going to get into an argument about what the difference between the two is - its cool whatever) is a bit more complex.  I botched a couple of panels before getting the hang of making these.  But it was worth it: nice, difference, real look.  At my best, when I cut these miter edges, there are small gaps between the edges.  Once the plastic cement is hardened, I fill them with yellow glue, which is a great gap filled.  Once painted, you can't see the gap . . . 

The building with the turret (PVC pipe) was one of the first bashing projects I did with Ameritowne, because i wanted to do a turret.

The six story high building was more complex to build than one might thing. A bit has to be trimmed off the top panels to keep the windows evenly spaced along the front, and the lower floors were assembled from pieces to provide the custom-spacing need for a revolving door in the middle of the front.  

After learning how to do that miter work on Wolfe's house I wanted to put it to work again, eventually.  The Imperial Hotel is under construction as you can see.  It has some sort of "bay window" complexity at each corner, and is really more of a triangular rather than square side: although it has four sides one is only two windows wide and one seven, etc. 

This single story train station didn't take that many panels and with this look looks like something other than Ameritowne, at least to me . . . custom made, stratch-build roof has the corner overhang cut off so trains have clearance as they pass close by.   

Lee:  This one is unique.  It takes a while to figure each part.  Excellent kit bash.  Thank you for posting.

Mike CT

Greg:

Built these at various times for different customers. They are pretty much all OGR walls except for some detailing and ancillary structures.

Joe

What kind of LED bulbs do you use for one & two story buildings?

Ken M

A key skill to develop if you are going to be seriously into bashing Amer-towne Panels is to be able to trim the panels a bit when you make buildings wider than one panel.  Note in Model Structure's top photo (first above), this has not been done: the panels have been glued together side by side and it is three windows, then a big gap, three more, then a gap, etc..  It does not look bad, and there are buildings out in the real world like this, but more common to have a real world look where all the windows are spaced evenly, as in Model Structure's second photo above.  This requires straight trimming a bit off the panels.  This can be done with care by handsaw, but a bandsaw really helps.  I use a fine-toothed blade, as for soft metals, to get a very fine cut.  A bandsaw is also nearly indispensable for the miter cuts necessary for bow windows and such like the Imperial Hotel I posted earlier.  But beyond the the use of a saw and techniques that cut straight and true, the real skill is in knowing where to cut and how to fashion the panels to fit together well.  Having done several heavily bashed buildings, I know what to look for: the second building above looks simple but it too a lot of thought and planning to make it so - someone really planned, measured, and cut and glued well.  

Lee - thanks for the comments. You are right, I did a lot of cutting (table saw) for the boiler house. To make the building square careful attention to panel widths is needed.

Ken - I buy LED strips from Ebay - Hkesupplier in Hong Kong though they sell in bulk 300/500 LEDS. I believe $4 gets you 300 LEDs and I was not charged shipping.

To all - I screwed up on the apartment building. It is not OGR. This was scratched built from styrene panels.

Joe

Ken, I use LED strip lighting in all my structures.  Depending on the structures size, I cut the strips in multiples of 3. Below are pics of two Homestead Furniture Factory buildings that I kitbashed into the "Ritz Carton and Box Company" on my layout.  I scratch built the overhang, and added LED strip lighting to it in order to illuminate the loading dock.

Not a great picture.....but it's all I have access to from my iPad at work.....look to the left and you can see parts of 3 AmeriTowne kit-bashed structures.

Peter

They do make nice raw materials, but it would be nice if there were any of these kits in something other than brick and stone buildings. 

Here's a better picture of the buildings.....from my desktop.....

Peter

Ken M,

I use the same supplier for LED's as Model Structures does. I have used them several times with good results. I use TrainAidsA for replacement bulbs, screw and bayonet type (18 volt LED's, AC/DC power). 

I have gotten some of these in the picture below (from I think Amazon?), but I can't find my purchase info? They could have come from ebay?

All the LED strip lights come in different color hues (cool white, warm white, bright white etc.). There is a huge assortment of these available at some really reasonable prices and may with free shipping, if you don't mind waiting a couple of weeks to get them. There are many threads here on the forum discussing the different ways to power them.

Hey all, sorry for the late reply! Between work, school and training I really haven't had the time to go on this. I really appreciate all of the help and I really admire everybodys work! I now have some great ideas and I can't help but to thank everyone of you.

Happy railroading

Greg

www.youtube.com/trainbros89

Modified entry, added interior and entry to second floor.

Used window and door parts from other kits.

I love 'em Kunde, and the whole layout.  

Nice - a leotard shop.

Ameritowne is pretty versatile stuff for kit bashing. I constructed an entire downtown area of fronts over a small shadowbox and I love them. They're economical, American made, easy to work with, realistic looking, (especially for steam era) and the thick walls don't allow the structures to glow when lighted like the thinner plastic models do.

I find it amazing at the number of custom structures that have been done with them.

Time for me to chime in.  Like those posting, kitbashing Ameritown buildings is a lot of fun. Like most have mentioned, it is really important to cut them carefully to make sure sections line up well.  My main frustration has been with the sections that sometimes come a bit warped.  A hair dryer, wood and claps usually cures that.

Here is my largest project, a five story hotel for the Chicago scene on my now dismantled layout.

Not Ameeritown, but MTH townhouses.  I wanted to have a raised first floor/entry, so traded an upper floor for the basement level and raised the sidewalk so you could see the basement windows under the first floor.

Peter,

That hotel is awesome looking! Do you have anymore pictures of it?

Thanks,

Greg

www.youtube.com/trainbros89

Nice.  I particularly like the townhouse front stoops and steps.  Its very well done here with all of them built out to the permitted lot line, etc.  I did something like that on my Nero Wolfe house.  It's the type of detail that makes for a real look.

Nice hotel, too.

Nice explanation of how to do it.  Good backdrop building.

Thanks Mario and Lee. 

As for Mario's question, I mask off the areas that do not need painting.  I use Krylon gray primer for the foundation, Rust-oleum flat brown for the loading docks and doors, Rust-oleum flat white for the cornice at the top of the building.  The windows were hand painted Testors beret green.  I then lightly spray the entire structure a flat black to dirty it up a bit.  If you are using spray paint, spray directly down lightly in multiple layers. If you don't, the paint may bleed into the mortar joints in the walls.

Thanks' Johnny, note made!