Vic, I am enjoying following this thread on 2 different forums. And be careful what you say about shady places, us shady characters tend to hang out in them places.
Turned the thing around today and realized the back is going to be 10x more complex, oy vey
Progress on the backyards:
A rather crappy pic of the backsides
WS kit bashed as a car shop
lighting added
WS metal kitbashed into a bungalow
roofs from Paper Creek
That’s it for now.
What did you say the Woodland Scenic structures are made of?
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
What did you say the Woodland Scenic structures are made of?
The kits are either entirely white metal or WM with scribed wood sides. Their pre-made pre-finished lines are entirely plastic.
I really haven’t read their catalogue for a while, just looked at the plan view drawings. 
I leave building the kits to others. 
Kits? Oh, they still make building kits? Most of what I see anymore are built ups.
David Maynard said:
Kits? Oh, they still make building kits? Most of what I see anymore are built ups.
Yes Sir, they do. Even in 0 scale, that could be quite handy for an indoors 1:29 layout as background structures.
Woodland Scenic is also one of the companies providing plan view drawings of the structures. I appreciate that very much, saves a lot of work when adding structures to layout plans. You know that “I’m not re-inventing the wheel” kind of stuff.
Huh. Building kits. Interesting. So I guess the model railroad world hasn’t completely gone RTR. Or as I say at my job, “Plug and play and throw away.”
While the assembled WS buildings have a very nice finish, buying the kits lets one pick one’s own colour scheme for everything on that structure AND if so inclined one can modify anything to one’s own taste. That prevents the “Oh, he has one of those too” expressions on visitors faces.
My favourite articles in the mags? Taking a stock kit and changing/adapting it to what one needs to fit a theme and/or location.
BTW for the same reason I scratch build as many structures as possible and restrict my “consumption” of “the usual” stuff to as little as I find “bearable”. 
Given my general attitude I also go “Harumph” when I see another so called RhB layout with structures that are distinctly “flat-landish”.
Hans, yea I don’t want to have the same town as another model railroad out there, whatever scale I am working in.
That problem is especially exasperated in LS where the number of available buildings, kit or assembled, is extremely limited. One thing I have always hated about the layouts published is that the same exact buildings would show up issue after issue. Kits are nice because the you can customize them to taste.
I can’t help but wonder where modelling skills have gone .
When I got my first LGB (when it first came out) there were no buildings or accessories , so I built my own .
Now it seems if you can’t get a kit to exactly fit your requirements , you don’t bother .
Try scratch building , especially building bridges (which is what I am doing here) , the bridge have to fit a particular spot , bending the track round to fit a bridge can look artificial .
And I have to add , Vic seems to be having a lot of fun building his mini layout , it shows . It’s very good .
I am, but I ran into a big snag. The “HO” fence I bought on Ebay arrived and was found to be bigger than G yikes! I am negotiating with the seller on refund and return, but dam I really needed the fence sections so I can set the last building in place. Until I can get the right thing, I’ll have to focus on something else, probably the car repair scene.
Vic Smith said:
I am, but I ran into a big snag. The “HO” fence I bought on Ebay arrived and was found to be bigger than G yikes! I am negotiating with the seller on refund and return, but dam I really needed the fence sections so I can set the last building in place. Until I can get the right thing, I’ll have to focus on something else, probably the car repair scene.
Is it very special HO fence? I have a largish HO stash of very many fine things, insluding fances. Just let me know.
HJ I was looking for an ordinary low wood picket fence, 3-4 HO scale feet tall. I got something that could keep an HO scale Godzilla at bay.
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Vic Smith said:
I am, but I ran into a big snag. The “HO” fence I bought on Ebay arrived and was found to be bigger than G yikes! I am negotiating with the seller on refund and return, but dam I really needed the fence sections so I can set the last building in place. Until I can get the right thing, I’ll have to focus on something else, probably the car repair scene.
Is it very special HO fence? I have a largish HO stash of very many fine things, insluding fances. Just let me know.
You getting lubricated again, HJ?
Steve Featherkile said:
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Vic Smith said:
I am, but I ran into a big snag. The “HO” fence I bought on Ebay arrived and was found to be bigger than G yikes! I am negotiating with the seller on refund and return, but dam I really needed the fence sections so I can set the last building in place. Until I can get the right thing, I’ll have to focus on something else, probably the car repair scene.
Is it very special HO fence? I have a largish HO stash of very many fine things, insluding fances. Just let me know.
You getting lubricated again, HJ?
No, I don’t have that lubricating problem, but I was hurrying like crazy, someone with … on his brains suggested it.
Vic Smith said:
HJ I was looking for an ordinary low wood picket fence, 3-4 HO scale feet tall. I got something that could keep an HO scale Godzilla at bay.
OK I’ll have a look at the shop tomorrow.
Mike Morgan said:
I can’t help but wonder where modelling skills have gone .
When I got my first LGB (when it first came out) there were no buildings or accessories , so I built my own .
Now it seems if you can’t get a kit to exactly fit your requirements , you don’t bother .
Try scratch building , especially building bridges (which is what I am doing here) , the bridge have to fit a particular spot , bending the track round to fit a bridge can look artificial .
And I have to add , Vic seems to be having a lot of fun building his mini layout , it shows . It’s very good .
Mike, yes, I wonder too. The RTR and built up market helps bring into the hobby, folks who haven’t developed those kinds of skills yet. But it seams to me that those skills aren’t being passed on, nor developed by many folks in the hobby, in all scales.
I had a fellow club member ask where I got the dual gauge track with gauge separation sections that I have on my HO module. I told him the I hand laid it. He asked again where I got it, as if I was keeping a secret from him.
I had a gentleman get kind of indignant at a train show, when I told him that I scratch-built my trestle. He said something like, yea you built it, but where did you buy the kit? I tried to explain that I took some pine boards, and made scale lumber on my miniature table saw, and built the trestle from the lumber I made. He didn’t like that answer.
But I do have to say I was a bit flattered when another club member told me he thought my scratch-built N scale trestle and bridge was a laser cut kit.
Kit-bashing and scratch-building skills are developed by trying, failing and trying again. Learning what doesn’t work can sometimes be as helpful as learning what does work.
And getting advice from experienced and talented modelers is very helpful. That is why sites like this are great for those who want to learn skills they don’t have yet.