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Saturday, August 24, 2013

28mm Laser Cut Western Buildings Side by Side Comparison Photos

Its hard to describe exactly how the buildings from one manufacturer compare in size and "feel" to those from another manufacturer. You can give all the measurements in the world, but seeing is truly believing. Since I had just completed the six 4Ground buildings for Dead Man's Hand I decided to do some comparison photos with similar buildings from my collection of Battle Flag, Gamecraft Miniatures, Sarissa Precision, Aetherworks and Tri City Laser (Knuckleduster). Each photo shows a 4Ground building next to another similar style building. In this case I'm only going with two comparisons; 1 story buildings and 2 story buildings. Where possible I have removed porch roofs and awnings to get better pictures of the buildings themselves.

The pictures of the Tri City Laser (Knuckleduster) buildings are the old models, I haven't ordered the re-designed buildings yet, but I will get a few as soon as funds are available. Keep that in mind when looking at the comparison pictures and my comments. 


First up are the 1 Story Buildings. Please note that I left the 4Ground Side Street Building #3 off its foundation base which would increase the height another 1/2" or so. I also didn't include the staircase to the second floor on the backside of Main Street Building #3
Aetherworks Brick Building and 4Grounds Side Street Building #3


These buildings are very similar in size. The Aetherworks building is shorter but has a much taller false front giving the impression of a much larger building. Which is pretty much exactly the purpose of the false fronts to begin with.


Battle Flag Saloon and 4Ground Side Street Building #3


If the 4Ground building was on its foundation, these two buildings would be almost the same height. The Battle Flag building is  a little wider and a little shorter.


Gamecraft Miniatures and 4Ground's Side Street Building #3


The 4Ground building is much deeper than the Gamecraft. Again, the Gamecraft building looks much bigger from the front because of the huge false front and high peaked roof. Overall its a considerably smaller building.



Sarissa Precision Medium Building, 4Ground Side Street Building #3


The Sarissa Precision building is narrower and much deeper than the 4Ground building. It is much more typical of the shotgun style of building that was popular in the west at the time. I didn't measure but the Sarissa building is probably close to the proportion, popular at the time, where the front of the building would be 1/3 of the total length.
Sarissa Precision Small +, 4Ground Side Street Building #3


This is the Sarissa Precission Small + series. Its as wide and tall as the 4Ground building but is considerable shorter.


Sarissa Precision Small Building, 4Ground Side Street Building #3


Sarrisa Precision Small building, both narrower and shorter than the 4Ground building. Note the open hatch to the roof in this picture.


Tri City Laser (Knuckleduster) Small Building, 4Ground Side Street Building #3


The Tri City Laser (Knuckleduster) building just has odd proportions. Its wider and the false front is taller, and its considerably shorter and it has a very squat look to it. Now this is the old version. Tri City has re-designed all of their buildings so these pictures are not an accurate reflection of what they look like now.


Tri City Laser (Knuckleduster) Larger Store, 4Ground Side Street Building #3


The larger Tri City 1 story building. Again wider than the 4Ground building, but about the same height (especially if you put the foundation on the 4Ground Side Street building), and longer. Closer to the shotgun style building but a bit wide and again has a very squat look to it.



Battle Flag Photographer's Studio, 4Ground Main Street Building #3


Battle Flag's 2 story building is just a bit wider than the 4Ground building. Otherwise they are nearly identical in size. I did leave off the back stairs of the 4Ground building which would make it longer overall, but these two buildings are almost identical in size.


Gamecraft Miniatures 2 Story, 4Ground Main Street Building #3


The Gamecraft building is a bit wider and a bit longer than the 4Ground building. The Gamecraft building has some odd looking proportions because of the 2nd Floor window placement.

Sarissa Precision Large Building (I have misplaced the roof at the moment which is flat, the pitched roof is not an option for their Large Buildings), 4Ground Main Street Building #3


The Sarrisa building is narrower and longer than the 4Gound building. Again it has that shotgun style that I like.


Tri City Laser (Knuckleduster) Hotel (old design), 4Ground Main Street Building #3


The Tri City Laser Hotel is both wider and longer but a bit shorter than the 4Gound building. The Tri City kit doesn't have quite that same squat look as the 1 story buildings but it still has something of an odd feel to it.
So there is a quick photographic guide showing how these buildings might look on the table together.

13 comments:

  1. I can see some differences but are they enough to create a problem when gaming? You know I don't know this.

    What I'm thinking is that it would be okay as back then things weren't built to a "standard" size. The windows in the same building weren't even the same size. I'm thinking of my house built in 1849 and no 2 windows are the same measurement. We've got a couple of shotgun houses nearby and no two are exactly alike.

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    1. You are correct! Doesn't create a problem at all in the gaming world, in fact the more nooks and crannies you can create the better. I think most gamers just want to see how the buildings looks standing next to each other and it provides an idea of what x amount of dollars (or pounds for that matter) is going to get you.

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  2. Are the Sarissa the "Heroic" or the 25mm ones? I was looking at the 25mm bundle as a possible purchase.

    Roughly I want to get a few Knuckleduster ones, I like the internal detail on them. The Sarissa has a nice building on a lot of 6 which would bulk up side buisness, then move on to other spots, the Marshall from 4 Ground is nice with the removable wall spots...

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    1. All my Sarissa buildings are the Heroic scale. I think the Heroic buildings will look more in scale next to the Knuckleduster ones.

      I like some of the features of the 4Ground Marshall and Sheriff buildings but I did have a budget to work with so I passed on those since I already have buildings for them. I do like the removable bits in the jail cell walls though.

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  3. Have you seen this company?
    http://www.burnindesigns.net/

    BTW, I just want you to know I have a SERIOUS CASE OF OLD WEST TOWN ENVY! I would kill to play on a table with those buildings.....

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    1. I have some of the buildings from Burnin Designs and I'm a bit frustrated with them. The western style buildings don't have any instructions and last time I looked there were no videos on their site for them either. I have built a lot of laser cut buildings in the past 10 months or so and I can't figure out how some of the parts are suppose to fit together or whether they are optional parts. The scale is way off for 28mm gaming. At the very least they are O Scale (1/48) and they even might be British O Scale (1/43). A Black Scorpion mini looks small standing in the doorway of one of their buildings.

      I have that feeling myself sometimes when I look at some of the old west boards that are out there and the scratch built stuff that Geboom is working on over on Lead Adventure.

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    2. Yea, his talent is well...amazing...not sure I could do something that nice. I do have a good talent at building things from scratch and I am going to give it a whirl soon and I usually end up with decent results. Keep an eye out!

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    3. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you produce! I have three buildings on the schedule to be scratch built. Just have to be worked in with the other projects.

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  4. Very usefull. Bitt late I found this. Already made a order 4Ground. But these seem to be nice. I also like Sarissa Precision en Battle Flag.

    I am also very curious how the inside looks form the Sarissa Precision en Battle Flag houses.

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    1. There is no interior detail on either Battle Flag or Sarissa Precision kits. 4Ground has interior detail because they go with a "double" wall. In other words a 4Ground wall is made up of two pieces each of which has detail on one side, they are glued together back to back to give details on both sides. Battle Flag and Sarissa only use a single piece for their wall and laser cut kits only have detail cut into one side so the interior is smooth with no detail.

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  5. Is the base size of the Main street Building (4Ground) the same as the Side street ones?

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