Walthers Building fronts/flats

Patrick,   I seen them at York this past October for about the same price you mentioned. I believe the City Litho company was produced by a different manufacturer before this set was released. If I'm not mistaken Jim Policastro has it on his layout. They could look really good with some added details and weathering.

 

 

George

One of the projects on my list is making one or two  8 ft boards of flats. Id like to try and make some myself and mix in whatevers available out there.Maybe they plan to make more. For the price of windows,wood, sheets of brick etc, this aint to awful for some fill ins. Just wasnt sure if they are new or have been around for some time.

Hi Patrick,

 

They've been around a while. It would be nice if the new owner of the Cornerstone line (is it Atlas? - can't recall) were to add a few more to the line.

 

As George mentioned, the brick version is included in my row of industrial building flats as Frasier Electric. It was also used in the background as part of the "stacked" buildings on the Reading Central "door-sized" layout project.

 

A slightly altered version of the modern building is also included on my layout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim

Speaking of putting together a row of flats, my entire "industrial row" area was pieced together in that way. It includes everything from train show junk box HO buildings, to spare Ameri-Towne parts, the Walthers flats, and several scratchbuilt structures including the cardboard-strip-on-plexiglass type.

 

Probably the most expensive part of the entire wall was the glue used to assemble everything. Those cardboard strip buildings use many tubes of Plumber's Goop contact cement. Some of the higher priced commercial flats are very nice, but a little imagination can produce believable results too. 

 

 

 

Jim

I am sure an article in OGR has already been done on building background flats but I sure would like to see a new article on this subject. Perhaps this could be demostration at York this spring! I have an area on my layout where I want to put some flats. The problem I encounter is capturing the forced perspective.

More here –

 

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/d...ent/2415514336649733

 

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/d...ent/2415514336593453

 

 

These building flats have been around for a number of years. They are currently out of stock on the Walthers website.

 

However, per the Atlas website, they are including in the tooling that Atlas bought from Walthers. So we can hopefully expect to see them produced again in the near future.

 

They show up at shows and on ebay from time to time. In fact I just saw them at a show several weeks ago for $35.

 

They are great for kitbash projects.

 

Matthew

GEF,

 

I'll keep that in mind - good idea.

 

One quick tip I've discovered is that too flat is no good. This area of the layout is on my list for improvement since it has flats that are no thicker than the front wall itself. As you say, that makes achieving a sense of perspective difficult.

 

 

 

 

If you can at all spare the extra few inches needed, vary the thickness of the flats from building to building.  If you have no more room, at least extend the upper floors out over the tracks a little. It will add lots of visual interest.

 

Also, break up long stretches of flats with some over-the-tracks feature such as this stone overpass. It will create more opportunity for some interesting scenes to avoid the monotony of nothing but flats. In the first photo, a simple bridge is installed to carry a street across the tracks to accomplish the same thing.

 

 

 

Jim

Patrick,  Those look sharp.

 

 

I just picked up a few of these as I am going to try my first attempt at some flats for my layout.  http://www.clevermodels.net/

 

 

The instructions on how to give them some depth looks good.  One of the buildings came with some roof parts, if they look good I will try and incorporate them on some other structures.

Jim,

 

that looks great! I never seen that angle before on your layout. Very Impressive.

Its funny the things  you dont notice until you are looking for them. The reason i noticed them at the store was it appeared to be  a  new big shipment of them.But they where all the same 2 buildings.

 

Thanks Steve and T for the extra links.

 

TMac! Your picture is not showing , hope you didnt do a tutorial of posting pics.haha

 

Yeah please do when you get started on them.

 

 

 

Patrick,  

 

Wow that is weird - I was just grabbing a burrito at Taco Bell and reading this on my iPad and the picture does not show, just a little box with a question mark.  I am now back on my laptop and the picture is there.  I wonder if that is a Safari thing or an iPad thing?  What are you viewing the forum on?

 

-Ted

Patrick, depending on the depth of your layout, another way you can fill in some large background real estate is to get some large foamboard,  cover with some brick or other designed paper (like from Clevermodels.com), then cut some windows/doors. Use chalk to add some texture to the paper so they don't look so flat and uniform. Add some 3-D details like fire escapes, wall billboards, signage etc. Add a 2"-3" roof extension to the top and you can put chimneys, other billboards, even rooftop stair exits on it. You can even built out a section from scrap wood and get the effect that Jim has on his Heritage Furniture building. 

 

Jerrman

I dont know  anything about computers Ted, I was just  havin a little fun with ya.I have windows vista, thats all i know.Hope i didnt ruin your burito.

 

Actually Depth is not going to to be a problem so much.I am going to put it on rollers or temporary mounts for certain sections of the layout.Ill lokk into that cleveland.Wouldnt mind finding some brick styrene at a reasonable price.Be nice to get some big sheets of it. The lttle sheets to me seem a little high. Thanks.

patrick, the clever models brick or wood paper is on a disc and u can just print it out( the used to sell it printed but I think that's been discontinued). As far as depth I only meant to say that u might not want  the paper too close to the viewer. otherwise it works great.

jerrman

Patrick,  

 

Yes I understood 

 

If you are having computer trouble you can call support

 

 

BTW, Anyone try to model Indian Power poles?

 

Ted,

 

Please , i  bit into trouble already this year.Dont get me started again with that pic.

If I have trouble its usually about the time i need a new one! 

 

 

Jerman ,

Im gonna try and stay away from paper for now, i should say brick styrene sheets not paper.. However that cardstock Jim had, looked pretty convincing, maybe he covered that with paper then did a little magic on it.

I bought mine a few years ago when Walthers was blowing them out at half price.

 

They were installed as shown to fill up some space last summer when I was finishing up my layout article.

 

As can be seen, they were installed stock, right out of the box. Eventually they will get detailed and have lighting installed.

 

I installed a piece of 1/4" MDF on the backs to finish them off.

 

Donald

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently OGR has stopped selling the one and two story Ameritowne fronts. Must be unprofitable or just generally slow sellers as opposed to the three story fronts.

Not sure who is selling a complete range of plastic building fronts these days?

 

 

Dewey,

 

A good assortment of 2 and 3 story building fronts is still available in the OGR web store:

 

OGR Building fronts

 

Both 2 and 3 story are listed - not sure if the one story buildings are available, but a quick call to George Seil at the OGR office will get an answer. 

 

The fronts (and sides and rears) snap apart at each floor so they could be customized in height fairly easily depending on your needs. 

 

Jim

Thanks Jim but the good folks at OGR told my model builder on Thursday that they[1&2] were no longer available. He will just have to cut,snap and fix more often now cause I need some one and two story fronts!

He has already shown me an illustration of three one story Ameritowne 41 fronts w/docks, combined and with bricked up windows[Cotton Warehouses along a spur].

I think I've seen those somewhere too!

Dewey,

 

I'm surprised to hear that. I'd still give George a call Monday morning, and see what he can do for you.

 

Jim

Jim:

I am building the fronts for Dewey.

Some two story fronts like the factory walls and the 860 series are available but not what Dewey requires.

What's needed are the two story 820 series and the single story 300 series.

Sell these as fronts and both Dewey and I will be happy campers.

Joe

TMack:

Those photos (above) are HILARIOUS! You practically made me wet my tighty whities.  

I might have to slip on some Depends before reading this forum again. 

 

To all:

GREAT THREAD! These dimensional flats are truly STUNNING and imaginative. Who knew that being an OGR fan would lead some of us to become artists?! The addition of lighting to Jim Policastro's dimensional flats are amazing!

Hilarious is right!!  I emailed this blog out to people and asked them if that was the

guy they had talked to on the phone for computer support?

Terrance,

 

What is amazing is how smart these guys are.  We have a significant immigrant population here and they are all computer programmers, doctors etc.