Other than intended

[Bsklarski]

OK. I have seen enough on this board to know some of yoose guys are geniuses when it comes to some stuff. So lets see some kits that were completely used in a different manor than intended. What I mean is that someone like me who still has alot of HO building kits hanging around. I keep looking at the parts from the Walthers HO Tri State power and the gears are spinning in overtime looking at what I can do with this in N scale. What has anyone else done with kits like this and others?

[PAL_Houston]

Both Savanna depot



and Oregon depot



were fabricated almost entirely from sectionned DPM modular pieces and Plastruct or Evergreen styrene stock.

The exception is the roofs, which are printed on cardstock from patterns built in Excel by formatting cells...one of these days I will find a better solution for shingled roofing, and then I will have ready-made patterns to cut it in.

[DKS]

I'll start with one of my favorites, although it's not quite as far removed from the sources as other projects. This old steel mill building (now on permanent loan to the Sceniced & Undecided) began with an ancient European enginehouse from Pola (long since discontinued). Filled in the windows with cinderblock (oversize brick, really), and added a second story made from Model Power scraps (former Pola quasi-modular stuff). The rest is just various forms of sheet styrene.



Not so much a radical departure as it is a really big mashup of almost every Model Power brick kit made, used to create this abandoned metalworking plant:



A much more radical change in purpose is a passenger station I'm building for Dave Vollmer, using the Cornerstone Water Street freight terminal as the basis:



For other examples, I must switch to Z scale. These are somewhat relevant since they're all baed on identical kits available in N scale. My East Theater began with two Miller Engineering firehouses grafted together, with a facade assembled from bits of Miller's car wash.



Then, my firehouse is actually a Miller theater kit, with doors made from an N scale gas station, and the extension on the back was part of a townhouse.



This apartment building was bashed from two of Miller's Victorian houses.



Many other examples are here: http://1-220.blogspot.com/2010/08/thinking-outside-box.html

I keep looking at the parts from the Walthers HO Tri State power and the gears are spinning in overtime looking at what I can do with this in N scale. What has anyone else done with kits like this and others?

Specifc to your original post, my friend Rick Spano used the HO powerhouse building to make this generating station in N scale. Turns out that, aside from the brick size, it's reasonably close in dimensions to some real buildings of this kind.

[Bsklarski]

OH MY. Do I see parts of the Revell 1/144 Space Shuttle Launch tower in there?????????

[DKS]

OH MY. Do I see parts of the Revell 1/144 Space Shuttle Launch tower in there?????????

You'd have to ask Rick...

[Bsklarski]

I just looked at my kit... It is.. Does he know those kits can retail for $300+????? They where only $40 in 1985 when they came out LOL. I feel old.

[Zox]

When I was creating Area 53, I had a couple of beat-up old buildings that had been given to me. Parts of them ended up getting merged into the main complex:



The older-style building on the left was a movie theater. It had a recessed entrance on the ground floor, with ticket windows on either side. That part of the front ended up as the entrance to the new building, behind the flagpole.

I then used a chunk of the other salvaged building to fill the hole left in the front of the theater. The rest of the complex (the entrance building and the tower behind it) is scratchbuilt.

[Ian MacMillan]

I have the HO Corn Unloading building from Walthers. It is an awesome N building when you cut the height down in half. Eric recommended it to me. This is only half of the building as I need to finish the other side. I will be using it for a plastic pellet facility or a cold food storage...haven't figured that out yet.





Dave, this building has always been one of my favorites from your work. The building was really a good back drop for photos. I really liked that layout I just wish I could have seen more of it!

[pnolan48]

I'll see what I can scout up. I built a few massive complexes when Model Expo was blowing out their kits for $1, with free shipping. Let's see if I can find some photos in the next few days.

[Roger Holmes]

Walthers Cornerstone HO Pier with new side doors.

[pnolan48]

Well, here's one--a linear accelerator built from cut-up Bachmann car kits:

[pnolan48]

Hi Roger,

I recognize the "Savon-Art" freighter there. Not a bad hull at all! I modified mine extensively into a break-bulk freighter. I'll be coming out with a much larger, and more to scale freighter/container ship in the next few months. Just poured the first molds today, skipping my beloved Patriots game.

I'm not sure of the history of that freighter. I dealt with the original builder many years ago, and bought many parts from him. I believe he passed on, and most of the larger freighters posted on eBay are phantom postings--buy one, and we'll try to make it.

[Pomperaugrr]

I used one of the HO Walthers Ethanol Series buildings to build "Neeltran" for my layout.  It is in the corn unloading set.  I cut the walls down a bit and used the cut off sections for the flat roofed section to the left of the peaked roof, which is the top portion of the kit.  N scale doors, windows and details will make it convincing.  The flat roof is from the NuLine warehouse kits I used in another structure and still needs paint and skylights added.



I still need finished paint and details on this.




I am also using portions of the HO scale Walthers Black Gold asphalt plant for Specialty Minerals.  There are portions of IHC cement plant kits here.  I ended up making N scale sized raicar openings.  These are just in the initial stages and need serious painting, detailing and weathering.





Eric

[Flagler]

I was thinking of Ho kits for my N scale Power plant that will be coal feed,

[jnevis]

Walthers Cornerstone HO Pier with new side doors.

OK I'll have to find that one....
That could easily pass for some of teh structures around San Fran or LA.