Source of 28mm Buildings?

[Laughing Penguin]

I've been running a bunch of All Things Zombie lately, with an eye towards other semi-modern/near future games as well but I'm having a lot of trouble finding decent terrain to use. I've constructed a bunch of buildings from foamcore that work well but I'd really like to put some decent buildings on the table that aren't limited to my rather modest modelling abilities. The thins is, finding building in a roughly 28mm scale is proving really difficult, and what I do find tends to be the overly gothic GW stuff and/or ruined buildings. Almost never any intact, modern-ish buildings for gaming.

Does any one have any good leads for finding items like these? Train buildings always seem a bit off in scale to me, but i'd certainly consider some that scale better than the Plasticville sets i've been finding. The last really good sets I'd run across were some old Flying Tricycle units found on eBay, but that company doesn't exist anymore. Suggestions?

[General Roos]

Old Glory has some nice buildings: http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/products.asp?cat=586

[Lordblackwing]

Try Armorcast for modern brick type buildings as well as various set pieces like dumpsters and such. Miniature Building Authority has a small modern section as well. Sorry for putting links, but it is 3 am here for me.
 

[Grün]

Maybe http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/ can help

[tjantzen]

You could also do some kit bashing with these parts - DPM kits

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Design_Preservation_Models_O_Scale_s/1385.htm

and Ainsty has some store fronts

http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/aifrontst.htm

[Tacgnol]

Keep a weather eye out for toys.  Some playsets may be in the right scale for you- a few weeks ago i passed up a chance to buy what was essentially a multi storey car park and i've been kicking myself ever since. I started a thread in the workbench about some poundland doll's houses that scale up well. They're Chinese-made so should be widely available outside the uk.

[Doomsdave]

I use a lot of plasticville and K-line o-scale model train buildings.  Very little repainting required if you just wanted to plop them on the table they work out of the box.  You can certainly repaint them for some good results.  They also can be used with lift off roofs to allow interior gaming. Many times you can find used ones on discount at train stores.  My local train store takes trades and usually puts them out at a reduced price.  Also I don't know if you're in the US or not, but Michael's and Hobby Lobby stores often have sales on their train buildings.  I just got a $40 building for $14 last week on clearance.

[Argonor]

Plasticville O scale?

EDIT: A little late, there, I was...

[supervike]

Also I don't know if you're in the US or not, but Michael's and Hobby Lobby stores often have sales on their train buildings.  I just got a $40 building for $14 last week on clearance.

Dang! The Michaels in our area went out of business, and the Hobby Lobby only carries HO scale.....


I second the paper terrain.  At least for buildings that only serve as decorations.

[Glitzer]

I recently saw the Disney Cars playsets have some buildings for Radiator Springs (was that the name of the town?), as the Disney Cars models roughly equal the 1:50 Hot Wheels I use for my games I already wondered about aquiring those sets...

[Doomsdave]

Dang! The Michaels in our area went out of business, and the Hobby Lobby only carries HO scale.....


I second the paper terrain.  At least for buildings that only serve as decorations.

Hobby Lobby near me has O scale.   Also you can routinely find cheap used plasticville on ebay.   The K-line kits are usually around $20 each.   

[ZenWired]

Try Armorcast for modern brick type buildings...

Just be warned if you're unfamiliar with Armorcast modular brick buildings: Instead of being built as four walls and a floor, they're built as four walls and a ceiling, so when you lift off the the modules to access/place minis on any given floor, the walls of that floor disappear. It's a bit counter-intuitive, and makes placing a mini appropriately within a building challenging - especially on a ground floor, in which case you're lifting the entire building off the table. Unless you have another frame of reference, you can't even tell where the walls should be, much less the windows and doors.

This design also makes it nearly impossible to accurately determine what a given mini within the building can and can't see from its vantage point. (We use small laser pointers to trace line of sight, and with the Armorcast buildings we usually have to trace LoS back from a potential target to a shooter in a building.)

In short, I've found these buildings to be a PITA during game play. Personally, I'd steer clear of the Armorcast buildings if I were you - there are better ones on the market, IMHO. (Litko springs to mind.)

[Patron Zero]

Have you considered any paper model structures ?     I find paper-cardstock buildings to be very flexible and most thrifty when needing such in quantity.

Many great FREE model sites about the web, Googling will bring many to choose from, that said my personal favorite is SpaceStation42 (www.ss42.com), look to the upper left for FREE TOYS, enjoy !

[Commander Vyper]

One word:

Worldworks.
http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7













More here:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=12559.0

Suffice to say my vote is for the printed carstock/foamboard buildings

[Laughing Penguin]

First off... thanks for the replies! While I had seen some of these online before, the links to live projects and first-hand experience with some of these options are very helpful. Thanks for the note on the Armorcast in particular, I had been eyeing those a bit.

On train buildings: I do have a small number of O-scale building from Plasticville and K-Line, but in my experience, they seem really small. Maybe it's just a case of scale creep in some of the minis I have but it feels like they would barely fit through the door in many cases. They work in some cases, but they just seem a bit *off*.

As for WorldWorks, when built properly, they look absolutely incredible (as Vyper clearly demonstrates), but after seeing some friends work on a relatively small board out of one of the Fantasy sets, I'm not sure i'm up for investing the labor and material cost to really build it out. I was really surprised the amount of money spent in printer cartridges, cardstock, etc, not to mention all the time the two of them sunk into construction. I think I need a lazier solution... heh.

I'm hoping for more items I can put together quickly and play. I was doing well with some initial construction, but the project kind of ran out of gas and now I'm playing with blank white buildings. So moving forward, hoping to find somewhat less labor-intensive options.

You can see some of what I have below, in case anyone is interested:

A shot from an early game -


Good ground-level shot, with the Flying Tricycle buildings in the distance -


Ground level at the gas station (roof was removed here) -


This one shows off the Flying Tricycle buildings I bought. Scale on these are just about perfect, and very playable. I wish these guys were still around, I love these things -