Scratch building structure plans in N scale

[gary60s]

My specialty is making plans for scratch building structures in N scale. I call them "Scratch Sketch Sets". The name came from the CAD drawing program that I use (Sketchup). A Scratch sketch set is a collection of 3d drawings, step by step assembly sketches with directions and materials, some photos, and precise printable templates in N scale. These sets make it easy to do a scratch structure of your choice.

When I first did a set of N scale plans for scratch building a structure, it was a crude collection of 3d sketches done with google's "Sketchup". The "sets" included overview sketches, dimensioned (drawn to nearest 1/64 of an inch) parts layouts, and assembly sketches. These sets resembled what I had seen online, but lacked an easy way to cut out parts.

I had the beginning scratch builder in mind, so an improvement was in order. The main solution was the creation of parts templates drawn precisely to scale. Changing to decimal dimensioning allowed me to get to the nearest ten thousandth of an inch. With totally accurate printable templates, dimensioned parts layout sketches became unnecessary. Ten thousandth of an inch accuracy is needed when dealing with material thicknesses in the .010 range. The newer templates are not dimensioned, so you won't see it, but the precision is there.

The other thing that was lacking, was an easy way to print the templates. The answer to that was creating PDF's. All of my sketch sets now include PDF's. All you have to do is print them, cut out the parts outline, use rubber cement to glue to your building material, and cut on the lines. The paper peels off easily.

This whole process makes scratch building fun and easy. BTW...my sketch sets are all public domain, so they are FREE.

I have made 108 sets and cover a wide range of structures from loading docks, to depots, to homes, to railside industries, etc.

Unfortunately Sketchup won't allow me to fit most HO scale structures on one standard sheet of paper, so I haven't done any in that scale.

If there is enough interest in this, I can post some samples.

[trnwatcher]

Are you able to work form blueprints? I'd be interested in templates for a couple of scrtach build projects for our club layout.

[gary60s]

Steve, I don't normally do custom sketch sets. I have worked from blueprints, but complex
structures bog me down and can take forever. I'm used to working from photos and scaling
down to N scale. Again, I have the beginning scratch builder in mind, so I avoid doing complex
structures or ones with brickwork.

[gary60s]

108 is a lot of plans. Doing a scratch building couldn't be easier. Here's the link:

http://www.therailwire.net/forum/index. ... ic=31109.0