If you dispair at the high costs of 1/148 'N' Gauge buildings, have a look ar www.metcalfemodels.co.uk 
mostly UK type buildings ...BUT their industrial range will have many international applications
The 'Bus depot' P.25 includes 4 large garages and 2 offices type buildings for a snip at £7.50 

Are the Metcalfe ones made from card?

Quote from: Maenoferren on 11 September 2010, 06:32:20 PM
Are the Metcalfe ones made from card?

Yes, Metcalfe are made from card. Also available are the Bilteezi range (link).

Cheers, Martyn

Thanks Martyn, that is another good link.  I have just completed a WW2 Control Tower in plastic card.  The 'plans' are a card building. It works well, and I see potential for sculpting it in balsa for a potential mould master to cast in resin. (the plans claim 1/144 but the model looks more like 1/150 which  is neat for 10mm ) 

Has anyone else experimented with this concept of using card models as plans for  or sculpt ?

QuoteHas anyone else experimented with this concept of using card models as plans for  or sculpt ? 

me for my 15mm world war two french village, I used the card buildings and transferred it to cork and then used the cork for the buildings, I am contemplating using the cork walls to make a mould and then make them out of plaster.

these are the rough cork without the window sills etc added.

Those look good very good indeed !  Does cork take paint- or are you stuck with "the Cottswold" look ? Nothing wrong with it, but if it was latin American Spanish, they would perk up from a dry brushing in matt white.    One solution I use on surfaces that don't take paint, is cover in tin foil, prime and paint.

Again ...nice work.  I can see the sales of cork tile rise this week across the nation.

I have used Metcalfe in the past very nice range but I struggled with putting them together which could be down to the fact I have no patience for kit building anymore.

yes, they can be fiddly.  I have to say it was the sight of my Control Tower roof 'sagging' like a garden shed, that drove me to use stiff plastic card.
The use of cork by certain ex-Lancers does show a degree of innovation that a few on the forum may well emulate!

I am currently designing a set of barrack type huts in plastic card.   Ideas always welcome !

Okay, for the best price of all, I suggest you look here.

Remember, anything that comes in a PDF can easily be re-scaled to fit what you want.

For example, the Wizards Foldup Paper Models are designed for their miniatures game, and are scaled for about 28-30mm I think. Certainly printing them at about 30% size gives you useable models for 10mm.

For a barracks, maybe the buildings at the Stalag Luft POW camp could be used?

Now a question - where can you get cork tiles in the UK? My local B&Q/Homebase no longer seem to stock them?

Thanks, Martyn

Card buildings are the devil!

Rather than cork foamcore or foam board available from art and craft shops would be a good option.

Quote from: Raider4 on 13 September 2010, 05:16:36 PM
Now a question - where can you get cork tiles in the UK? My local B&Q/Homebase no longer seem to stock them?

Never mind. B&Q and Homebase may no longer stock them, but I'm informed that Wickes and Focus do ...

Bloody typical that the two I looked in are the ones that don't offer them.

Quote from: NTM on 14 September 2010, 08:13:28 AM
Rather than cork foamcore or foam board available from art and craft shops would be a good option.

Yes, I use foamcore for 28mm buildings, I think it's probably to thick for 10mm.

Cheers, Martyn

Cork tiles are 3.2mm thick according to Wickes website and you can get foamboard in 3mm though perhaps not as aesy to get as 5mm.

Thanks guys. Some great sites and practical advice...I have this vision of the Pendraken forum users, all busy building little houses ......and the armies gathering dust.  But seriously, the modern battlefield has an urban element ,,,,otherwise I wasted a lot of man hours on FIBUA training !

The forum has a dedicated thread on modelling, so I look forward to some nice pics and learning a few new tricks in 10mm real estate construction.

Keep them coming.

Whilst shopping for Balsa wood - for a bit of scratch building - I chanced on N gauge 1/148 buildings from Kestrel - in plastic !
The prices are VERY reasonable on the R&R Hobbies site.
Has anyone build any of the Kestrel kits ?