I've got several structures for a city setting which are mid-rise [6-11 story] and a few high-rise [12 story or more]. None of these buildings are designed with a built-in parking garage. For the most part, N scale structures are not geared towards larger city setting and therefore are low-rise [1 to 5 story]. These buildings would be perfectly fine without an attached or detached parking structure... since curbside parking or open lots could serve that purpose. Certainly most industries served by rail would NOT likely need parking garages... so... it is possible that there are few model railroaders that would be interested in such a structure. I've inquired at a couple of shows were manufacturers have displayed their structures... but the staff members were not sure if such an item would sell. I've sent a couple of emails as well... no one has replied. My guess is that "I" must be too excentric... thinking of such an item for N scale. Afterall... who would want a 3-4 story garage with ground floor retail? They really were not that prevalant in MOST small cities or towns... so they would fit only modelers interested in larger cityscapes. To satisfy my curiousity... or perhaps validate manufacturers disinterest... I would appreciate your participation in this poll. Your comments... for or against... would be nice as well. BTW... if you've built your own... please post photos!!! Here's a Green Max model [left one is parking] found on the web:
If you have an urban area, they are a must have! But I did vote no, because the tallest buildings in the towns I model are grain elevators and they just don't do me any good.
take off the P and Japanese writing and you cant tell what it is i like a parking garage that is more open BUT that means more cars are needed i would want something more like this
I model small rural Texas towns in 1951. They didn't have them. Now days, with these same towns being suburbs of Houston, parking garages are all over the place.
It would be a fairly easy scratch/bash. Some good starting points - DPM Hilltowne Hotel x2 - Would be usefull as a rehabed, converted older structure. Use bottom floor as-is. Join two buildings together to make it large enough for internal ramps. Either add a ramp on the outside up to the first floor or modify one of the openings on the colums to create an internal ramp system. From the second floo on, cut out windows on remaining floors. Rix Modern Overpass parts - Use them as the basis for a modular concrete garage. Sheet styrene for the floors and ramps, add the Rix beams and railings for the details and then add some styrene for the verticle colums. Cornerstone Brach's Candy Factory - has the right look but sold out at right now. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3215 Cornerstone Hardwood Furniture Co. - same story as Brach's. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3232
Like Auto racks, the garage idea sounds great,it is filling them with costly vehicles that is prohibitive...what about an underground parking entrance/facade....
The Japanese style closed garage isn't my favorite either... but it does serve the purpose of giving the 'illusion' of a parking structure... without having to actually fill it with vehicles. I like the ideas you gave Tony [Skipgear]. I was wondering how to scratch build one that was NOT as contemporary as the one Mark C [Bigford] posted photos of. Thanks for the photos and kitbash/scratch build ideas! Rasputen, Russell and Karl... thanks for your responses. I figure that manufacturers are thinking along the lines that the majority of model railroaders [in any scale] are doing more rural environments... or small towns with no need for parking garages. They probably are also considering the ease of which [modelers that need them] could kitbash or scratch build from existing components. So far with 19 votes... there seems to be an interest for parking structures [12 yes, 7 no]... but of the 12, half would build there own. Probably not going to induce any commercially made garages with this survey. Still... lets see how many of us would rather see them available commercially ready-to-build or ready-built; or, prefer manufacturers to concentrate on something else. Thanks for your comments and votes!
The idea of scratch building one isn't a bad idea. I found one that is 1/500 scale that looks easy enough to build. Take a look. Also in reference to the auto required to fill the spaces there are two ideas I have and have used. Plastastruct has generic cars in both scales that Might fill the void, and also their is a vendor on Ebay from Japan that sell 50 nicely detailed cars for about $10 if memory serves me correctly. Also aone last option is JTT the company that makes to nice trees they sell unpainted generic cars for $3.49 for 3. But enough already the Parking Garage.
Thing is, a city of low rise buildings is still going to need a lot more parking than the streets eill provide, even if that;s ust a large parking lot. which would also benefit you in being easier to fill (one level) than a garge of 5 levels. It's said a lot though, we build our layouts for the trains, but the public within the layout does not always get the best shake when it comes to the DOT. Now, I;m planning on modelling a short line that's rurla and the tallest building is a three story 1800s Mansion (not looking forward to having to model that), so a parking garage is not a requirement for me, but if I did have a larger city, if the CMPA still wnet to Columbus IN for example or I was modeeling something differen, then yes, a small garage would be a welcome addition to have. Worst comes to worst, I can claim that the sports teams are at away games, hence why the garage is nearly empty.
Some parking garages have grating over the open 'window' areas to prevent people from falling out of the structure... or to prevent vandalism similar to what was done with the autoracks. If the model had some etched brass grating then putting cars in the lower floors of the garage would be optional [unnecessary really]; then only a few on the top floor [roof top] would suffice. Morgan, I agree that the 'need' for parking garages is totally dependant on the effect the modeler wants to achieve. Even in some small towns, with low-rise buidings, a parking garage could exist if for no other reason that an owner of a building wanted to have a covered-secure place for employees and patrons to park. A parking garage in N scale is certainly not an absolute necessity... even with large buildings on a layout depicting a fairly large city... the garages could simply be out in the background as part of a backdrop... or building flat. For the majority of model railroaders... ultimately... IT IS ABOUT THE TRAINS. None-the-less, the structures still define a lot about the area and time the layout depicts; together with the trains that move through the scene. If you plan to have large buildings, you would need either some open parking lots or a few parking garages [depicted in some form] to give better credence to the scene.
I built one. It's supposed to be the Sierra Madre Villa station, part of Metro here in LA county. A great deal of selective compression; if built to scale the width would be 54" - more than an Ntrak module. It was my first 100% scratchbuilt building. It didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. I will never attempt another model out of that paper covered styrofoam sheet. As soon as you start to paint it, it warps. But still, it was finished in time for the layout, and it does look like the prototype to the general public.
Richard320... that is a very nice looking parking garage. Even a selectively compressed model is better than nothing. If a parking garage is placed up against a backdrop, it may be possible to give the illusion of depth without actually building out to actual prototype dimensions. What are the dimensions of your model?
Wow cool!!!!! I used to work across the street from the station and took the Metro Gold Line just about every day...there were a handful of days where I drove to work and "illegally" parked at the structure and walked to the office...if anyone approached me about it, I'd just show them my Metro pass One day, when I drove to work, I panicked because I couldn't find my car. I called the tow-away number but they couldn't locate my car in their records. Eventually I found the car on the top level, I somehow forgot I parked it there! You need to make the freeway and the pedestrian footbridge though But great work! I couldn't tell any flaws from the structure from the photos! I wanna see this in person sometime! Also, I know a few people at Metro, I think you need to show this to them, they would absolutely love it! Plus, if this is a module, they might want you to display it at any of the Gold Line events, especially since they're building the Phase II extension to Azusa right now! I think something like this will get people excited about model railroading, especially N scale!
We have plans to add the footbridge eventually, and better looking platforms. These modules were built (adapted from existing, really) for Metro. The pictures were taken at the groundbreaking a few months ago. They'll be set up a couple more times as the Gold Line Extension extends. The garage is 6" deep by 18 or 20" wide. I think it ended up something like 4½" tall.
Hmmm interesting!!! Richard320... what is the length from the right edge of the advertisemnt[billboard?] straight across the angled decks to the right edge of the wide [vertical] wall? That is about how long I'd make a local parking garage... I'm estimating its about 8" to 10" long.
Absolutely fantastic creation, you hit this one out of the park, everything looks just right, you should size it up piece by piece and sell this as a kit, you'd do very well. fatalxsunrider43
Right edge to right edge is just about 11". I measured on of my scrap pieces still floating around in the garage and the whole thing is 20" wide. You could scale off that.
The platform as-is really captures the flavor of the Gold Line station architecture! Especially the shade of green! Too bad no one makes any modern N-scale buses for your commuters to transfer to. Oh okay, cool, you're a step ahead of me then Who made the original model of the LRV?
No need for them with me, 90% of the towns on my route were small bedroom communities, and the one big city had sub-terainal and street parking in my era.
