Removable structures

[spikey]

I need to start planning ahead what I'm going to do how about buildings, and would very much appreciate some advice. 

 

My baseboard is hinged to the wall along its long side in order to allow easy access to the underside, so any structures over about 6cm high are going to need to be easily removable.  There's only going to be five significant buildings, but I'm anxious to avoid them looking like they descended from the heavens ready-built, without sinking into the ground when they landed.

 

I keep thinking there has to be a way of making the building sit into the "ground" much in the manner of a plug and socket, but as yet it's not obvious to me quite how I might do that.

 

Any ideas please chaps?  This is 00, and the buildings will be a mix of plastic kits and plastic scratch-build.

[Miss Prism]

[28XX]

Perfect engineering solution, Miss. I can only add that various bushes and clutter could be attached to the buildings, rather than the sockets, to help disguise the joins.

[johnb]

That's pretty well how I do it on my exhibition layout. It works well, However I use quite lalge buildings and don't screw them down. The buildings transit in a large Really Useful Box.(64litre)

They are modified Walther's kits in the main, sitting on a foamboard base and braced internally with the same material.

 

John

[sp1]

This answers a question I was going to ask about fixing down 'ready to plant' resin buildings. I had already thought about one or two pieces of wood glued inside that I could screw into from below- I anticipate using them on other layouts in the future, or swapping them around to change period: set them into a cork/ card/ balsa base, job done! Many thanks.

[Miss Prism]

I can only add that various bushes and clutter could be attached to the buildings, rather than the sockets, to help disguise the joins.

 

I like it!

[spikey]

Gosh, why didn't I think of that?  So simple - and simple is good!

 

Thanks folks.

[Chubber]

Pavements closely fitted around a building would work in Miss P's method, too.

 

Doug

[Miss Prism]

A pavement situation was indeed an example, in this case the building 'aperture' was a brick plinth perimeter, shown here before the main bolt hole was drilled:

 

 

 

[Dbr1295]

Hi,

 

This is a method I use, copied over from my layout thread. I only remove the buildings to work on them, or if I want to make a major change without damaging the structure, so I can't say how well it would work if one is constantly removing and replacing them.

 

Firstly I take some small nails, such as panel pins or brads, and cut the head off.
I then glue 2 of these into the corners of the structure. Normally diametrically opposite, but as this building was going up against the back-scene I glued them to the front corners. I find using super glue to first locate the nails first, then applying araldite works best.

 

 

Next I mark out where the building is going on the layout by using the sharp end of the nail to put a little indent. I then drill the holes approx. 0.1 bigger than the nail diameter. If necessary, these can be opened up if the building doesn't fit first time. It helps if you ensure you drill the holes perpendicular. A small block of wood with the right size hole drilled in it using a drill press aids this.

 

Marking hole centres.

 

 

Holes drilled.

 

 

Building fixed in place.

 

 

The building in the picture still isn't quite finished, so by using this method I can easily remove and replace it as necessary. Once I'm fully happy with it and don't need to move it again I can do the scenery around it to bed it in, yet if necessary it won't be too much effort if I need to remove it in the future.

 

I have seen one method where brass rod is attached to the structure and this went into brass tube in the layout. This may work better if you were doing it regularly.

 

Hopefully this may have been of interest,

 

Cheers,

Les