How to Kitbash Structures

Learning to kitbash commercial structures is an essential skill for modelers. This title covers basic techniques for working with kits, how to use kits in unexpected ways, and step-by-step projects that will help enthusiasts take their layouts to new levels. Structures covered include railroad buildings, lineside industries, coal tipples, storefronts, and more.

• Helpful for beginner and intermediate modelers
• Features a tutorial on making photo backdrops
• Includes an inspirational gallery of kitbashed structures

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Author: Tony Koester
Softcover; 8 1/4 x 10 3/4; 96 pages; 200 color photos; 10 illustrations; ISBN: 9780890248669

Tony Koester has written eight books focusing on his lifelong hobby of model railroading. He is currently working on a multi-deck HO layout that depicts the Nickel Plate Road's St. Louis Division in 1954. Tony is a contributing editor to Model Railroader magazine, writing feature articles and the popular Trains of Thought column. He also edits Model Railroad Planning, a special annual issue of Model Railroader.

Introduction: To kitbash or not to kitbash?

Chapter 1: Do not read the label on the box!
There may be a soybean plant hiding in a cement plant box

Chapter 2: Depots in disguise
House kits can often be modified into depots

Chapter 3: Towers and freight houses
A new roof and other minor alterations may do the trick

Chapter 4: Coal country structures
Kitbashing truck dumps, tipples, company stores and houses, even a church

Chapter 5: Lineside industries
Ideas for grain elevators, factories, paper mills, and "flats"

Chapter 6: Residential and retail
Disguising a kit's heritage may be as simple as applying a coat of white paint

Chapter 7: Bridges and trestles
Tips on modeling steel viaducts, through-truss bridges, and timber trestles

Chapter 8: Combination tower and depot
A Santa Fe prototype provided the inspiration for an easy kitbashing project

Chapter 9: From cement to soybean plant
A cement plant provided most of the components for a different industry

Chapter 10: Kitbashing cornucopia
Examples of structures from several of the hobby's leading practitioners