“Shotgun” homes made for great model houses as they are narrow and allow for several fronts in the space of one larger house footprint.
Musings…
Bart: thats what I have planned for Majestic. Six or eight identical company houses…
Grandtline had, and I assume still has, HO kits for several prototypical very small houses. They used to post pix of the houses and/or plans. You might check them out to see if they’re still doing so.
Also the book The Logging Modeler’s Plan Book by Ken Schmelzer - 1995 has plans for skid shacks from Long-Bell, Potlach and Weyerhaeuser that might be of interest as well as other structures, etc. The pages are much too large to fit on my scanner or I’d email you some plans.
Thanks for the tips, all. Sorry for the delay replying (we’ve been away). The latest Walther’s monthly catalog has some HO kits that look interesting. Unfortunately, I always come back to the question, “What are the dimensions?” This tends to deter me from plunging ahead with yet another project.
Joe a house with a shotgun type build, or one room wide is around 18’ wide. For two rooms width, around 28’ wide. Length average is 12’ per room. Maybe that will help. Of course a tape measure around your home may give you general information too. 
Joe,
Unless you have a lot of space, you may want to do some selective compression of the dimensions.
On Hollywood’s example of a shotgun house, you may want to go 12’ x 10’ for a room dimension. Maybe 7’ ceilings instead of 8’.
As for scale dimensions, I guess that depends on what scale you work in.
I figure my buildings in 1/24, because 1/2" to the foot is easy to work with and die-cast cars are 1/24th.
Ralph
Yeah, a tape is always handy, Dave. Actually, there are two small, board-and-batten cottages that resemble shotgun houses, at least from the front, in our town. They date back to when SB was a beach retreat for folks living in LA. Anyway, I passed by them today and thought I’d better photograph and measure them before they are demolished to make way for more, very expensive row houses, which is what gets built on those lots. My only concern is that someone will see me and call the cops, which the folks who live in that part of town, like to do. The local throw-away newspaper runs a weekly Crime Log and the stuff these people bitch about is silly: “Resident called to report man was sanding surfboard in alley and making noise.”
Pardon me for breathing.
I can understand your plight there Joe But the tape you can use around your own home or apartment and get an idea of sizes. Stairways have a tread of 10" to 12" and a rise of 7" to 8" nominally their width is around 32" to 36" normally. Doors, windows, porch wall heights, etc.
And Ralph is right on selective compression sometimes.
You can’t get much smaller than these:
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/plans
I’ve been following this housing trend for a couple years now, they are pretty interesting!
Hmm, Vic, them there small houses look mighty interesting when the missus and me go off the grid. 'Course we’d need an extra one just for our wine cellar…
About the original topic: found a couple of possibles at American Model Builders aka laserkit.com
joe
Sounds like more B S of someone trying to sell you something by beating around the bush.
What ever happen to getting to the point and not waste my time.
David, speaking of beating around the bush, what are you refering to or implying? Because what I’m reading is that by mentioning a website “someone (is) trying to sell you something.” Would that be me?
Joe Rusz said:Hey Joe, if those Hubley kit are the white metal ones, they are 1/20th scale. I have about 30 of them and they are great for modeling 20.3. They did a 32 Chevy and 3 versions of the Model T besides the 4 or 5 versions Model A's in 1/20th. They were also sold under the Gabierl and JE Scale Models (Eartl) brands.
. Plus I have a dozen Hubley Model A kits, painted and assembled, with no place to go. Granted they are 1/24, but maybe if I put 'em in the background...
Rodney
Rodney, yes they are white metal and I assembled about a dozen, all Hubley kits and all Fords. I did a dang nice job too, which sometimes amazes me because I often do schlock work. I still have an unassmbled Model T and…I forget what else. Problem is, by their age they kinda paint you into a corner when it comes to the era you choose to model–if details such as this are important. With 1930s stuff, you’re lookin’ at maybe up to the early 1940s or possibly immediately after WW II, when cars were still scarce because of the war effort.
So I dunno…
Maybe it would be easier to model turn of the 20th century and just have dirt roads, horses and wagons and maybe the occassional automobile.
A way to avoid the tape measure, make a “Story Board”, at least that is how I call it! A 6 or 8 foot 1x6 or 8, painted white with alternating black squares 1 foot long alternating on each side. You lean it against the building and take a picture and then you can scale off the picture. Of course if stop and knock on the door and get permission to measure and take a picture or two, you might find another modler!
Paul
Paul, I’ve seen those devices (boards). MR or some other model train magazine did an article on making yourself a folding stick with black, or red and white has marks. Of course, if ya gotta go somewhere by air, hauling around a stick is problematic. But it sure is quicker than measuring. When is was back near Albany, NY gathering data on my Riders Crossing store, which lays unassembled on my work table, I spent several hours measuring–and sketching–every single element of that building from the clapboard size (3-inches and 6-inches, they mixed and matched) to the thickness of the window muntins. But I had nowhere else to go and had the permission of the owner of the building.
Anyway, good tip. Sorry to ramble.
Joe Rusz said:
Rodney, yes they are white metal and I assembled about a dozen, all Hubley kits and all Fords. I did a dang nice job too, which sometimes amazes me because I often do schlock work. I still have an unassmbled Model T and...I forget what else. Problem is, by their age they kinda paint you into a corner when it comes to the era you choose to model--if details such as this are important. With 1930s stuff, you're lookin' at maybe up to the early 1940s or possibly immediately after WW II, when cars were still scarce because of the war effort.So I dunno…
Maybe it would be easier to model turn of the 20th century and just have dirt roads, horses and wagons and maybe the occassional automobile.
Joe,
There were still quite a few Model A cars around even to 1950. Two different friends of mine had dads that drove their model A to work and one of them had a coupe with a rumble seat that he took us to an airshow in about 1948. We rode in the rumble seat and … heavens…no seat belts either !!! :o There was a 1928 (approx.) Mack bulldog crane truck with open cab still working on the SF water front in the 1960s and a most elderly gentleman who frequented the produce area in Oakland collecting used wooden produce crates in a real jalopy also.
My grandfather’s last “new” car was a 1931 Model A that two of my uncles repainted and gave him in 1950. Lots of these in farm country behind barns.
Joe Rusz said:
Paul, I've seen those devices (boards). MR or some other model train magazine did an article on making yourself a folding stick with black, or red and white has marks. Of course, if ya gotta go somewhere by air, hauling around a stick is problematic. But it sure is quicker than measuring. When is was back near Albany, NY gathering data on my Riders Crossing store, which lays unassembled on my work table, I spent several hours measuring--and sketching--every single element of that building from the clapboard size (3-inches and 6-inches, they mixed and matched) to the thickness of the window muntins. But I had nowhere else to go and had the permission of the owner of the building.Anyway, good tip. Sorry to ramble.
Well if you’ve got a dollar bill or a credit card in your wallet you have a measuring tool. Granted it doesn’t work as good as a painted stick, but it gives you at least some point of measurement.
Craig
I really like Piko houses. Nice size and super easy to build.
(http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4297/townlaundry.jpg)
Love the clothes line Matt!