Do You Use Plasticville On Your Layout?

AMCDave posted:

I have a lot of it on hand.....I use it as kitbash fodder.  I am building a 'scale' layout so I will not use it right out of the box......but great for parts. I have two sets of the mobile homes that will get painted and detailed. 

Terrific 

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I forgot about the Plasticville barn on my layout:

And you forgot that switch tower, in the background.

Richard Cuozzo posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I forgot about the Plasticville barn on my layout:

And you forgot that switch tower, in the background.

If that switch tower is Plasticville, I didn't know it. I got it for very little money at a LHS, and I thought it was HO. It's beat up with broken windows, but that makes it so realistic:

Something else I forgot is this diner (which I believe is Plasticville) on my layout:

I plan to kitbash a couple of PV coaling towers into a larger one, but not as large as most of the O scale kit ones, as appropriate for my short line.  I bashed a number of PV stations into two story, Y, right angle, etc., but have decided to use kit-built stations.

memories: Plasticville boxes on shelves at Woolworth's 5&10 define much of my 1950's /60's  shopping trips with my mom. They were even sold at drugstores in my neighborhood, and various mom and pop toy stores. Today I even like the empty boxes on shelves at home once the structures are fit together. It's a real time machine entry in my head. I remember price tags of 69 cents for many items. Still so much joy packed  in a little box. When the slot car table top racers era became the in thing in the 60's  there were Plasticville Train items price reductions to even 39 cents!  I remember two for 98 cents reductions. The switch tower and hospital and suburban station were my favorites, then and now. I also remember all the plasticville Racing set items always being sold out. Many of my friends had them on their racing  tracks, mostly in HO. I had the larger aurora O scale racers slotcars and could never find the size compatible O scale plasticville race track structures anywhere in my neighborhood. I was told that Polks hobby store (NYC) had them. So they did, but much to my dismay On a trip there they were sold out too! So the fire station and hospital and small service station were up proudly during slot car races in my home.  But really,   I preferred trains.

I have a Plasticville coal tower and police station.  Matt

Here's a (wretched) pic of my modified Coaling Tower.

Please ignore the clutter underneath the yard, the glare, and the dust ;-)

When you use Plasticville on a layout, do you paint the inside black to block out light shining  through the plastic?  Do you also paint the outside for a more realistic look?  I have LOTS of Plasticville from a former life.  Considering using it in the future.  Great pics, guys.

hello

itit is what I mostly use . I have a toy train lay out not scale

kevin

jay jay posted:

My "thing" is recreating the 1950's layout I had as a kid (in the photo), but much larger than 4 x 8, so I have about 70 PVille buildings. I love the stuff, unmodified.

 

 

 

i'm just getting started on a 1950ish Marx layout like I wanted when I was a kid. It, too, was a 4' x 8' and came apart into two 4' x 4' sections for storage.

I'm collecting and bashing a lot of Plasticville structures.  They are the base for all sorts of modifications, some large, some small, some simply stock with new paint and scenery.

FrankfordJunction posted:

When you use Plasticville on a layout, do you paint the inside black to block out light shining  through the plastic?  Do you also paint the outside for a more realistic look?  I have LOTS of Plasticville from a former life.  Considering using it in the future.  Great pics, guys.

Yes and yes.  If they aren't painted inside they "bleed" a lot of light (don't forget to caulk the seams) and if they aren't painted outside they look too toy-like.  I usually add something to camouflage  the insides, like blinds and curtains, "frosted" glazing, or something else.  I've experimented with printed or photo interiors and some real interiors (a lot of trouble for the results and only on close-up buildings).

Farmer's Market:

Parts from the signal bridge:

I grew up with Plasticville, it will always be part of me. The new buildings being offered are really nice and I like them but I have a toy train layout and Plasticville is a part of it.

Jim

The pool is COOL!

I have multiples of a number of buildings. For instance, I like emergency equipment, so I have three fire stations for my "holiday equipment display". Two have lettering above the doors, and one does not.

From the 1993-2003 layout.....

Plasticville worked into kit-bashed background buildings. Got the idea from the Greenberg Show layout from the 80s-90s.

Peter

I have the water tower (Minus spout as I bought it used.) and the rural station.  Both will be included on my layout.  I just glued them together and placed them.  I haven't painted the inside of the station black, but will probably have to do something if I light it up.  Most everything else will be MTH buildings, plus the Lionel log loader and Atlas ice house.

When i built my current playout, I pretty much purged most of it in favor of MTH, Ameri-Towne, & Atlas, but a few pieces remain, albeit disguised by repainting, or incorporating into scenes. 

FrankfordJunction posted:

When you use Plasticville on a layout, do you paint the inside black to block out light shining  through the plastic?  Do you also paint the outside for a more realistic look?  I have LOTS of Plasticville from a former life.  Considering using it in the future.  Great pics, guys.

  I painted a few Plasticville interiors with a metal flake silver base coat, followed by a flat black topcoat, on good forum advice. The metal chips do block most of the light, but runs easily, even if you’re careful.  

 I did however find the tedium of masking, and sealing joints took a lot of time.  On further forum advice, I found metalized tape to be extremely easy.  For the amount of masking required to paint, taping the inside blocks the walls and joints from all bleeding light, and it only requires the same amount of time you’d spend prepping for paint. An added benefit is the structure becomes sturdy without having to glue it together, which is nice for the “rare boxed collector” items you may own.  I simply taped tracing paper over all the windows, and moved on to the next building. 

 I had a few rolls of 3M tape that’s used when stripping & painting large commercial aircraft.  It’s probably expensive, but sticks tenaciously, and leaves no residue. I’ve read that the local LowesDepot type of stores sell metal tape for HVAC use that’s cheap, and cons in various widths.  

Hope this helps

Tom

taken a year before i even showed up, some of the Plasticville i still have is older than me!