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How to Build Realistic High Rise Buildings in 1-87 Scale

HO scale, or 1-87 scale, is the most commonly used model railroad scale because it offers a great deal of realistic detail and still allows for a display in a relatively small space. Modern high rises can make a nice addition to a layout, but if you can't find a kit or simply want to save money, you can create scale buildings fairly easily with plastic sheeting and a few household items. Most high rises are fortunately rather nondescript and you can render them convincingly without great detail.

Things You'll Need

Online unit conversion calculator
Metric ruler
Plastic model sheeting
Plastic beams and blocks
Cyanoacrylate glue
CA glue accelerator
Spray primer
Spray paints
Acrylic paint
Brushes

Instructions

- 1
  Research building styles to get ideas and real world dimensions.
- 2
  Determine the size of the real world building and convert to millimeters with an online unit conversion calculator. For example, a 50-foot tall building would be 600 inches tall, which would convert to 15,240 mm.
- 3
  Divide your total millimeters by 87 to determine the proper size in scale. For example, 15,240 mm divided by 87 yields 175 mm, which would be the height of the model when completed.
- 4
  Cut sections of plastic model sheeting to serve as the outer walls of the structure.
- 5
  Glue the sheets together at right angles with cyanoacrylate glue and CA glue accelerator. Add plastic blocks or beams in the interior corners to support the structure as needed.
- 6
  Glue horizontal strips of sheeting at regular intervals, alternating between blank spaces and plastic strips, to simulate different floors.
- 7
  Prime the structure with spray primer when all glue has dried.
- 8
  Paint the exterior with spray paint or an airbrush in colors appropriate to modern city buildings like light grays, light browns and gloss black or silver to simulate glass.

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