REVIEW: Using Evan Designs’ Model Builder Software
Everyone knows it’s the small details that make a model train layout more interesting. Whether your layout is 4’x 6’ or 16’ x 30’, the addition of a few simple buildings to a scene can add extra detail to bring a layout to life. O Gauge buildings and structures aren’t cheap so a well-developed town can set you back some serious dollars. Because of limited budgets, many have come up with ingenious methods to fabricate buildings from scratch but these techniques can be cumbersome and time consuming. The folks at Evan Designs realized this and created a software product called Model Builder Software to simplify the construction of model buildings from scratch using card stock and printed images. I had a chance to use this software and here are my thoughts.
Be sure to read how to enter a chance to win a copy of Model Builder Software at the end of the review.
Click on the link below to read on
Evan Designs is a sponsor of OGaugeWatch and I thank them
for that. However, as I was getting
ready to review the software I was skeptical of the appearance of the buildings
created using their software. My
thinking was that you would only want to use these paper buildings on the
far off portions of a layout. To test
my hypothesis, I decided to create a detailed diorama of a city street complete
with buildings, sidewalks and a cobblestone street all made using the
software. Surely such a detailed scene
would expose the quality of buildings for what they were, images on card stock.
a nice DVD style case complete with a user manual and a booklet containing
project ideas (see Photo 1). 
Installing the software
was as simple as placing the CD in the CD drive. The installation program started automatically (like mine, most
PCs are set up to start programs on a CD automatically when inserted into the
CD drive) and in less than a minute or two the software was installed. Sorry Apple users, Model Builder is designed
to only run on Windows (2000, ME, XP, Vista).
sides, backs and roofs from a plethora of image objects like windows and doors
and building material patterns like brick, stone and siding that are included in the software. All of the objects and patterns can be moved, resized and layered on top of one another. When you’re done designing the images of your building’s components you
print them out, cut them to size and paste them on a card stock building shell.
for my diorama. The software’s interface (see Photo 2) is easy to use especially if you’re familiar with
Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Publisher or similar programs.
Don’t worry
if you’re not familiar with these programs, the user manual does a very nice job
of explaining how to use the software.
You will want to have the following tools and supplies on hand before you start assembling your buildings.
- Presentation Board 1/16 inch thick
- Matte Photo Paper
- A razor knife with breakaway blades
- A metal "grip" ruler
- Craft glue
- 2 small scrap pieces of presentation board for spreading the glue and smoothing the printed images after gluing
- A set of Soft Pastel Chalks
- Matte clear coat spray paint
- Foam Core board if you plan to create sidwalks
Using the Illustration Board I purchased from Staples (see Photo 3), I built 4 rectangular shapes of various sizes for my
building shells. Since I had limited
space, the depths of the buildings were only a 
few inches, a nice size for
background buildings on a real layout. I then used Model Builder Software to create the four walls and a
rooftop for each building using different brick patterns, windows, doors and
trim to fit each shell. To complete the
diorama, I used a gray stone pattern for the sidewalks and curbs and a rustic
brick pattern to create a cobblestone street.
snap. For brick, stone or siding
patterns you have the ability to stretch the pattern to the desired size then
paint the pattern across a desired area. Objects like windows and building extras such as entrance lamps can be
easily resized using the same functionality. You can crop smaller pieces of an object too. For example, I cropped a piece of a window object and resized it
to make a storm sewer opening for my street (see Photo 4) . You also have the ability to create you own brick or siding patterns
using the Material Designer if the many patterns included in the software don’t meet your
needs.
The instructions suggest printing the finished building images on matte photo paper. The
Multi-Purpose Matte Inkjet paper (pictured in Photo 3) I purchased from OfficeMax worked just
fine. You can use regular paper but you will achieve superior results using the matte photo paper. If your image spans more than one printed page Model Builder Software will add alignment marks to each page to help you line up the images.
the printed images to fit the card stock building shells required a very sharp knife, a metal “grip”
ruler and a good cutting surface. I
can’t stress enough the importance of using a metal “grip” ruler. A grip ruler has a raised portion in the
middle so you can securely grip it making it easier to hold the ruler in place. This is very important because you use the
grip ruler to guide your cutting blade across the image you are cutting. Using a breakaway razor knife is also
important because you need a sharp blade to make clean cuts. I used almost an entire strip of breakaway
blades for this project.
I used Sobo premium craft & fabric glue (as suggested in
the instructions) purchased from Michael’s Crafts to adhere the images to the building shells. The Sobo glue worked just fine. Work on one side of a building at a time, spreading on the glue with one scrap piece of presentation board and smoothing the image with the other. The Sobo glue sets up slow enough to allow reposition of the image. I found you really only get one chance to reposition the image within 5 - 10 seconds before the glue takes hold.
After gluing all the images to the building shells and foam core boards (for the sidewalks/curbs) I noticed the white paper edges at the corners of the buildings and sidewalks stuck out like a
sore thumb (see Photo 5). This is easily remedied by
rubbing pastel chalk of a similar color to the image across the edges
to hide
them. I found this technique worked
very well. Notice how in Photo 6 the white edges are much less noticeable. I also used the chalks to
weather the sidewalks and the cobblestone street (see Photo 7). After using the chalks I covered the buildings, sidewalks and streets with a coat of matte clear coat.
Model Builder Software performed just fine and you
become more proficient in using it with each building you design. There was one quirk I found
troublesome. When creating objects that
repeat on a structure, like windows, the easiest way to create additional
objects of the same size is to use the software’s Duplicate function. I discovered objects duplicated using
this function would sometimes be a fraction smaller than the original
object. I worked around this problem by
using Copy and Paste instead of Duplicate.
after I completed my first building. As
you can see in the photos of my diorama, the buildings, sidewalks, curbs and
street look fantastic. The Model
Builder software enables you to be as creative as you want and is really easy
to use even if you haven’t used this type of program before. I highly recommend Model Builder Software to
anyone looking for an inexpensive way to add buildings to his or her
layout.
the Evan Designs website, www.modeltrainsoftware.com. Watch a video demonstration of the software here. Check out all of Evan Designs’
other software products including Sign Creator, Stained Glass, American Advertising, Brick Yard and Window Designer. Evan Designs also sells a line of inexpensive LED lights.
You can view more photos of my diorama project here.
Designs was kind enough to give me a copy of Model Builder Software to give to one
lucky OGaugeWatch reader. If you are
interested in winning this copy send an email to dave@ogaugewatch.com with the subject
line Evan Designs Giveaway by 11:59 pm Friday, November 30, 2007. On Saturday, December 1st I will
pick one winner at random from the emails I receive and announce the winner on
OGaugeWatch. One email per participant
please.
4 Responses to “REVIEW: Using Evan Designs’ Model Builder Software”
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Posted by: Marty | Feb 9, 2008 at 9:14 PM
Hi all
Wanted to let everyone know that we have made some updates to the Model Builder program. Stop by the update page of our site to get your FREE update with more images, more tools, and new features.
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/modelbuilder.html
Hey Dave, send us an email, I think ours are not getting through to you!!
Posted by: Evan Designs : David Jamison | Jun 18, 2008 at 7:28 PM
I want to give a gift certificate to a friend who collects O gauge - what are the best on-line retailers?
Posted by: Friend | Jun 26, 2008 at 3:16 PM
Can this model builder software been use to create Malaysian type of village house that use wood as a common material for house building?
thanks
Posted by: yassin | Oct 5, 2008 at 2:06 AM