Structure Blueprints or Plans

[ken_23434]

Does anyone know of an on-line resourse with blueprints or plans for various structures for people to scratch-build their own stuff?

I used to build RC planes with my dad when I was younger. The blueprints for the planes were basically a drawing that you would build the wing or fuselage on. You would place a piece of balsa on the drawing, take an exacto knife to cut to length, then use some CA glue to glue the pieces together. Before you knew it, you had an assembled wing. Put a piece of waxed paper over the drawing before you started to build and you could use it over and over again.

I was thinking something like this would work out good for bridges, piers etc... made out of balsa or the sheets of plastic and wood sold at the hobby stores. If you take something printed on a laser printer, put it face down on a piece of wood, and lightly heat it with you wife's iron, the ink will transfer over to the wood. Then, all you have to do is cut on the lines for what ever structure you are wanting to build.

Building this way eliminates all the calculations and figuring out angles and such. It's basically "copying" the picture.

There is an example of the type of drawing I am referring to that is used to build model airplanes.

 

[MrTrain]

Ken 23434,

I used to have website that had a lot of details and blueprints. It is not in my favs on this computer. I will look it up and post it.

 

[Smitty49]

From what research through Google I've done , there are not any that I 've found do far. There are though scale converters links this one that will convert your full size building dimensions to the scale you need.

 

[rlundy90]

The Library of Congress web site has some, but you have to look around for them.

 

[ken_23434]

I did a Google search also and was able to find plenty of airplane prints but nothing with buildings, docks, bridges and such.

I am working near an industrial area and was looking at the various cranes on the horizon this morning and thought that they would be a prime candidate for scratch building this way. The balsa or hardwood pieces would be perfect for modelling up the skeleton like structures that the big cranes are constructed from.

The stuff I have found on the Library of Congress site was for printing out color pictures of the buildings. They seemed more appropriate for background images. I guess I could print out the 4 sides of the building and use it as a template for cutting the plastic or wood for the structure.

 

[Railphotog]

Look for old model railroad magazines, they used to publish plans all the time. Often larger structures would be done in N scale, with the dimensions given in real feet and inches. I made a complicated lumberyard that way. You could also have the plans enlarged in a photocopier to your scale. There are a lot of plans out there, you just need to look.

 

[rlundy90]

There are actual blueprints and line drawings at the Library of Congress site. I have seen them, I just can't remember where. There may be someone there you can email who will point you in the right direction. You can also make your own drawings from old pictures. I just take a picture and scan it or take a digital photo of it. I then print it out and measure something that I know the dimensions of. Usually the door. They are roughly 7 1/2' high. When I get it printed to a size where the door measures the right height, I can then measure the other dimensions and do my drawings quite quickly. If you PM me your private email I can send you a set of plans I have done from a picture so you can see what I mean. It works very well. Ron.