American rural arcitecture...

[Argonor]

I'm wondering:

What would a small(ish) mid-western town look like in the inter-war period?

Does anyone know of models appropriate (paper or resin)?

I have a pretty good hunch about farms and the likes (I also would like recommendations of models for those), but towns...?

[Doomhippie]

Sorry, no pictures here but maybe you could find some inspiration in the old Waltons series... ?   

[Operator5]

It would vary. But you could use any pulp building style currently available as long as none of the buildings were above 4 floors (that's not a rule or anything but most small towns would probably only have had 2-3 story buildings since there was no need to go higher). All the commercial buildings would be situated along one road.

An even smaller town would have the General store, a gas station, probably a town hall and some homes all along a central road.

[PeteMurray]

What would a small(ish) mid-western town look like in the inter-war period?

Does anyone know of models appropriate (paper or resin)?

I have a pretty good hunch about farms and the likes (I also would like recommendations of models for those), but towns...?

You might take a look at model railroad kits. Here's a good example of what a smallish city would look like:

http://www.horailroad.com/fsm/fsmlayout.html[/u]]http://www.horailroad.com/fsm/fsmlayout.html

Now, that looks very busy and much too large to game on, but there are some important elements there. Notice that the industrial buildings are all brick and the rest of the buildings are wood frame and siding. Probably the only other brick or stone buildings in town would be the bank and the town hall. In the midwest, these are likely light colored limestone (the exact same color as that stuff from Northern Germany that's so full of lovely fossil fishes and Archeaoptryics) and done in a Federal style. Pretty much every town has a central square with a war monument on it, guarded by a few inoperative cannons. That's usually an obelisk, topped by a bronze statue of a soldier, or Lady Liberty holding a dead soldier, or Lady Liberty holding a laurel wreath over a soldier, or... you get the picture.

The important thing to consider is that American towns are fairly sprawling affairs, as real estate is generally cheap. Thus, like Rich said, there are very few buildings over a storey or two tall.

If you want a farm house, any farm house from an American Civil War range would work just fine. Make sure you put lots of tall trees right by the house. These were to shade the house (the prairie doesn't have much shade) and to act as impromptu lightning rods.

[Argonor]

Sorry, no pictures here but maybe you could find some inspiration in the old Waltons series... ?   

That's exactly where I have my hunch about farms from 

[Cory]

Other points to remember. Most Midwest towns are built on a grid pattern aligned north south or along the railroad. The central square is simply a block devoted to parkland with the business district facing it. Also residential houses will have large yards, especially by European standards.

[Argonor]

www.horailroad.com/fsm/fsmlayout.html

Had to clean up the link a bit...

Looks like some of the 'nicer' Old West buildings could be mixed with brick buildings if the wooden walkways were replaced with sidewalks....

I think the look of that one is a bit too 'industrial' for what I'm thinking of... I would like a small town, not quite a village, where the local farmers come to buy theit fertilizers and seeds... and tools and stuff... ya' know, the kind with one main street where the businesses are, and some side alleys where the residential area is placed to one side, and the small 'industries to the other...

A sleepy place, where you can be sure something is amiss just below the surface, in the good american horror tradition... 

EDIT: Much like the one you describe later on.... 

[Argonor]

Would something like this be the style...?

[Operator5]

That looks like it would be close.
Go to http://pro.corbis.com/ and type in "town midwest 1929" in the search field and you'll get a good shot of what a town would look like.

[Argonor]

Oh, yeah, that 4th photo seems more like it 

Broad dirt main street, and a street silhouette that resembles that of an Old West town... I think I could use those Cheepsville buildings... I just have to replace any signs and the likes with something pulpish...

Another project added to the list 

But first comes first - next up is the purchase of some Mean Streets and Mean Sets from TVAG.

[Johnnytodd]

I'm trying to remember the details from my most recent trip out into the mid-west countryside.  Very wide streets (by European standards) - wide enough for a horse wagon to do a u-turn.   Probably a dirt street.  Midwest towns were agriculturally based so you may want to add a grain elevator along the tracks.  A very small bank may be the only brick building in town...

[Johnnytodd]

take a look at these:

http://flickr.com/photos/artorg/sets/72157601295903741/

[Argonor]

Those are good, too... confirms my belief, that I'll be able to use the Cheapsville sets with a few kitbashes 

After all, the PI has to go somewhere to find the evil cultists that kidnapped the million dollar heiress... 

[flooglestreet]

Wisconsin towns nearly always have a bar, at least in the 60's. Prohibition would put the bar out of (open) business. Wisconsin hunters are a thirsty lot.

[jlstuht]

A lot of those really small towns in the 20s/30s/40s have a combination Post Office/Gas Station/Grocery Store plus the required Tavern/Greasy Spoon and a few small houses and that's it.  Heck, if you drive around in rural Wisconsin, you still can find some of these small outposts of humanity in the middle of nowhere - though how they still survive is beyond me.