I used to do these “Kitbasher’s Diary” threads a long time ago at the old Gauge, & this was one of them… I’m sure some of you have seen these before, but I thought since this is a fairly new site, I’d re-post this one…It probably won’t be of much interest to the “old hands”, but I thought some newcomers to the hobby might get an idea or two from it…

This will hopefully demonstrate how you can take an inexpensive plastic structure kit, & by moving things around, taking some things away, & adding others, you can transform it into something that is unique to your layout…
I’m also hoping to demonstrate how mistakes & flaws can lead you on to even better ideas…


This was an N scale project, but it could be any scale…

Here’s the kit I started with…(keep in mind that the manufacturer’s description of the kit means nothing to the kitbasher…we look at them as simply a collection of parts)



Built per instructions, they’re a bit toy-like…hopefully, we’ll be able to improve on that a little…
The first thing I did was to discard the molded plastic base…this frees you up as to the “footprint” of the structure…
I glued the walls together, & the little annex that’s supposed to go on the rear of the main structure, I attached to the side, keeping the tops of the walls even…



I needed some kind of foundation for the annex now, so I cut some pieces from some HO scale brick walls…I also cut a hole for a door in the main section, rather than using the large arched door assembly that came with the kit…I primed everything with gray primer…



The back wall of the main structure was basically a blank…it was just calling for something, so I fashioned a lean-to addition from pieces of an old Model Power farmhouse kit…Made another little foundation from the HO brick walls…



I painted everything, & glued in the windows…If you look back at the 2nd & 3rd photos, you’ll see a large gap where the annex joins the main structure…I hid this with a chimney I made from styrene covered with Holgate & Reynolds brick sheet…

Now I needed to make a roof…I started by cutting pieces of thin cardboard as templates…



When I got the templates to my satisfaction, I used them to cut roof pieces from styrene V-groove siding…I painted this silver to look like a tin roof…I also started adding a wooden front porch, & some figures…





I finished the front porch & also added some wooden steps to the rear of the house…

I don't remember it, Drew, but I like it!

I like it and the ideas you showed.
I don't know if this is what you intended, but to me it looks like a typical farmhouse where the additions were added to the main structure later on as needed.
Really cool

Loren

Nice job taking an inexpensive kit and building it to something with some character.

Great work

Nice! I especially like the rustic porch and stairs!
Ralph

Really nice work there

Nice!
I always look at the cheap kits as "Something other than whats on the box"

Nice work, that is an amazing transition from the original to your structure, I would never guess that was originally a life like structure!

- Dan

you did a fantastic job on the transformation of that junky Life Like kit!! You did a great job on the scenery around it too

He did a fantastic job on that bash. You should see it in person! I am now the proud owner of that as Drew passed down most of his beautiful work when he changed scale. He is a wonderful modeler and a great friend.

Here is a picture of it on my layout in the Bay Area section of the WC & T. Notice the pig on the porch!
Now the lighthouse keepers house

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Awesome job. Please share more. Makes me want to spruce up a kitbash I did a while back and share....hmmm....

Galen

Thanks for all the nice words folks!

Jim & Tyson have provided good homes for quite a few of my old N scale "orphans"!