Small Scale Military Headquarters

Not sure if this goes here or not, if not pls move and forgive.
I've been looking at buying some buildings for sometime for my ETo figs and making a diorama (which would be my first)
So far I've looked into playmobil and found that it'd take too much work for me to get it right.
I've seen mentioned in a couple of threads that 1:16 scale railway buildings seem to do the job. Is this scale N scale.

This leads to a few more questions that i hope you can answer
- what is the best scale to go with my 21C figs
- what brands are good
- what are the names of these scales
- any online store reccomendations
- besides railway buildings what is another good source of buildings and structures, brands, companies, scales, any idea's I haven't considered

any help would be appreciated

Bird, first things to get are the 21st Century farmhouse and hayloft .

After you pick those up, take a look at some of the Pola and Piko G Scale buildings. Just about any G Scale buildings will be close enough to work.

Here's an example:


G Scale is actually 1/22.5. I'm not aware of a standard model railroad scale that is bigger.

Pola buildings are the best. I have a waterwheel building that looks great with the German soldiers! Some boardmembers have also had luck with Playmobil buildings. They make a Victorian era dollhouse and some older German style buildings. In my opinion, they are a little on the small side and look a tad bit toyish, but they can be obtained easily!

Few items:

- N scale is 1/160 - way too small.
- "G Scale" refers to track, not scale. "G scale" trains and equipment can vary anywhere from 1:20.3 scale to 1:32 scale.
- Piko and Pola buildings are made to go with LGB equipment, which is 1:22.5 scale. Alot of board members have had good luck with these.
- Playmobil works well, but will need some paint and replacing/living with clunky parts for some detail items.
- I haven't found any sources for buildings, but a better source would be any models made for British 16mm (1:19 scale) trains.
- Take a look around a train store for buildings. I think Aristocraft makes some as well, but they never are clear on scale. take a 1/18 scale friend for input/sizing.
- There are several small manufactures of 1:20.3 buildings for trains. They are general western US look, and very expensive.

Here's the web site of one garden railways magazine I get

http://www.trains.com/grw/

Look around. You should be able to find some building construction ariticles, and some vendors with buildings. Being in Australia, I would recommend trying to contact a garden railroad club. They may be able to point to in the direction of good overseas suppliers. Case in point - outside of England, very few people have any information on 16mm modeling and suppliers.

I have a few G-Scale Piko/Pola/LGB and Aristocraft Buildings along with the 21st Century structures. I occasionally cruise the second hand stores looking for other suitable buildings. They are out there at very reasonable prices (cheap). But these buildings require painting weathering and texturing. Look for the Ghostbusters Firehouse, Arnold's schoolhouse, Spawn playset....etc
I also like the buildings from Playmobil. But they also require a bit of work to make them look more realistic.

One thing to consider about the G-scale structures is that they are expensive if you purchasing brand new. As mentioned, make sure to get the 1:22.5 scale as it is the closest thing to 1:18.

If you need some G-scale walls and culverts, Columbia Junction makes some neat stuff. I hope they start making bridges in 1:18 scale too.

Can't forget about the Build-a-rama building ruins.
Cheers

Here's a good site for 16mm stuff. Lots of links to 1:19 scale accesories, figures, etc.

http://www.16mm.org.uk/index.htm

But I did find these few buildings. Might be useful for ETO diorammas.

http://www.modeltown.co.uk/link.html
http://www.cptees.co.uk/handcrafted_pottery/index.html

And since they are for 16mm, they should be closer in scale to 1:18 figures that the LGB,etc stuff.

thanks guys i appreciate the advice