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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
 Posted - June 06 2010 : 7:56:22 PM
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This drug store has been on a ongoing project for several months, but I had to take a break from it for a while. Finally got into the mood to do some more work on this building. Among other things, I made a wall clock and five ceiling lamps for it. Here's the clock:
And here are three of the ceiling lamps:
The clock was made from a ring-shaped necklace clasp, with the clear plastic dome from a "googly" eye. The lamps were made from a couple of metal necklace beads soldered to a short length of brass tubing. I used Plastruct clear acrylic domes for the "glass" lampshades. The Plastruct domes were very thick, so I hollowed them out more using an oval carving bit in a Dremel tool. The domes were then given a coat of white spray paint on the outside.
I have some pics of the construction of these items on my website, beginning here:
http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Dos_Manos.html#106
This building will be part of the town of Dos Manos, on my outdoor layout, the In-ko-pah Railroad.
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Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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wm3798
 Conductor
USA
2078 Posts |
Posted - June 07 2010 : 05:26:21 AM
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That's some great stuff, Ray! Thanks for sharing it here. I dabbled in a little 1/24 a few years ago with a garden railroad.
It was pretty fun. I pretty just used "off the rack" stuff from a dollhouse supplier. The station was scratch built from some old paneling I had, and the windows were fabricated from styrene strip.
Unfortunately, living here on the east coast, the weeds were impossible to keep up with, so I dispensed with all the track and rolling stock. I still have the station, though.
Really nice work! I'm looking forward to seeing more.
Lee |
Route of the Alpha Jets
www.wmrywesternlines.net |
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Jon Foster
Supporting Member
 Conductor
USA
2924 Posts |
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DTI973
Entry level Engineer
USA
49 Posts |
Posted - June 08 2010 : 03:00:11 AM
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Very nice Ray.
You always do very professional work. |
Brian Briggs
S.E. Michigan |
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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
Posted - June 19 2010 : 11:42:58 PM
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I've made a lot of progress on the upstairs office of the drugstore. The interior is almost finished. I used some 1/24th scale dollhouse furniture for the desk, chairs and bookcase. They're a bit crude but I made a few modifications, and heavily aged/distressed them to fit this old, grungy office space. I also made a small cabinet and a lot of boxes and other details. The desk lamp will have a working bulb. Here are some test shots:
The walls are "weathered" to look stained and a little grimy, and the floor was painted to look like old, worn linoleum:
I still need to add a few more details, and put in the ceiling and lights. I've built the door and window frames but need to add "glass" and then install them into the openings. I also need to build the roof.
There are a couple more pics on my website, beginning here:
http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Dos_Manos.html#115
Enjoy!
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Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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Jon Foster
Supporting Member
Conductor
USA
2924 Posts |
Posted - June 22 2010 : 07:51:32 AM
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Good stuff Ray. You should try your hand at building a doll house. We have a huge Victorian farm house sitting in our living room right now.
Jon. |
Come Visit The JJ&C Railroad! |
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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
Posted - June 26 2010 : 1:08:51 PM
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Here's another brief update on my progress...
I've installed the "glass" in the drugstore's windows and door, and glued the whole assembly into place on the front of the building. The ceiling lamps are installed and the bulbs wired up in such a way that it will be simple to replace any bulb that burns out. The ceiling assembly connects to the power via a tiny two-pin plug, so the whole assembly can be removed as needed. The upstairs portion of the building will connect via a second plug.
The sidewalk is finished and installed, along with two pillars made from brass tube, and the lower part of the upstairs balcony.
Additionl new pics begin here:
http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Dos_Manos.html#117
Enjoy!
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Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
Posted - June 26 2010 : 9:39:39 PM
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This afternoon I decided that the balcony really needed to sag a little bit, between the two support pillars. Ideally the sag should have been added before that part of the structure was attached to the building.
So I placed the building on a slope, shielded the storefront, and put a lead weight on the bottom section of the balcony. Then I poured boiling water over it. This softened the styrene enough to let it sag just a little, and when cool it held that shape.
The rest of the balcony structure will be given a matching sag when it's built.
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Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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Jon Foster
Supporting Member
Conductor
USA
2924 Posts |
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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
Posted - June 27 2010 : 10:20:10 PM
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A really good idea turned out to be a really bad idea...
The balcony of this drugstore is in two sections. There's a thin, simple piece attached to the ground floor of the building, which acts as a "ceiling" over the sidewalk and provides a way to mate the upstairs portion to the downstairs portion. As seen in my previous posts, I have already installed the groundfloor piece, and used boiling water to induce an appropriate sag.
So I've been building the rest of the balcony, which will attach to the upstairs part of the building. It's a more complex structure, with decorative trim. Rather than trying to bend each piece of styrene to the correct curve to replicate the sag, I had what seemed like a good idea at the time. I built the structure, complete with decking, and even added the simulated wood grain texturing. Then I placed the whole thing on blocks to support the rear and sides, so that only the front end would sag -- and put it in the oven on low heat (about 225 degrees).
In just a couple minutes it was becoming soft enough to sag when I placed a lead weight on it. Unfortunately the heat was having other effects as well. The deck planks became severely warped and distorted. The "liquid weld" glue joints softened more than the styrene, and all the joints shifted. The individual components failed to bend as one unit.
End result: A lot of time and effort wasted.
It looks like I can salvage the frame, after stripping off the deck planks. The deck will need to be replaced. The frame had to be almost completely disassembled. I bent the front section of the frame separately, by hand, after pouring hot water on it.
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Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
Posted - June 28 2010 : 10:15:32 PM
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I successfully repaired and rebuilt the balcony frame and replaced the deck. In these photos you can see the way it sags a little in the middle. You can also see how this part of the balcony will be attached to the upstairs part of the building, and how it slips over the lower portion which is attached to the ground floor. I still have to add the railings, posts and roof, and then paint the whole thing. :
I wanted the balcony railings to look like slightly ornate wrought iron or cast iron. It took me a while to come up with a suitable way to do this, without excessive amounts of labor. I found some cheap wooden boxes at Michael's. These boxes have a somewhat elaborate metal grill in the top. I cut this grill into sections and soldered the sections to 1/16" square brass tubes:
In the above photo, the railing still needs to be cleaned up, excess solder removed, and the horizontal members trimmed to the appropriate length.
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Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
Posted - June 29 2010 : 11:06:54 PM
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I didn't get much time to work on the model today but still managed to get the frame built for the roof of the drugstore's balcony.
When I first worked out the rough plan for this building in my 3D program, I made the store's false front taller. Then when I started putting together the foam-core form to make that part of the structure, it looked way too tall. So I cut a little over an inch off of it. Now I wish I hadn't done that! I would have preferred more space for the sign that will be painted on the front of the building.
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Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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Jon Foster
Supporting Member
Conductor
USA
2924 Posts |
Posted - June 30 2010 : 07:39:20 AM
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Ray, I promise nobody will notice anything wrong with the height of the building face. Your attention to detail is fantastic. The focus on all your structures will be the fine details.
Jon. |
Come Visit The JJ&C Railroad! |
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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
Posted - June 30 2010 : 09:13:30 AM
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| Thanks Jon! |
Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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dnhouston
Supporting Member
 Professional Engineer
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - June 30 2010 : 1:53:06 PM
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| Ray, Fantastic work there. I can't wait to see the finished project. |
David
http://www.djnrr.com |
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Ray Dunakin
Entry level Engineer
25 Posts |
Posted - July 02 2010 : 7:00:07 PM
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I'm making good progress on this building, and getting close to completion! First off, I decided to replace the original desk lamp with something a little slimmer. Instead of running the bulb leads through a brass tube, I twisted the leads together, coated them with glue, and then painted them gold. The result isn't perfect but it is an improvement:
I finished the balcony railings. Thin, vertical brass rods were soldered on at each end. The square horizontal pieces fit into styrene "boards" that will be glued to the balcony posts:
The roof of the balcony was created using individual styrene "planks". Each plank was textured with simulated wood grain. I used an X-acto knife to carve large cracks into some of the boards, and cut away small broken sections:
Finally, the balcony was painted to look like aged, weathered wood. The railings were then painted and glued into place. I had to touch up the paint on the posts afterwards, as the solvent made the paint come off at the slightest touch.
Next I will partially cover the balcony roof with some sort of worn out roofing material -- I haven't yet decided whether it will be rusty metal, shingles, or something else. In any case, parts of the material will be missing, leaving some of those nicely weathered planks exposed.
I'm still debating whether or not I should add a little bit of worn, peeled paint to the balcony's wood.
Once the balcony is finished, I'll installed the arched doors into the doorways, and paint a sign on the front wall. Then I'll glue the balcony to the building.
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Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad! |
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Topic |
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1/24th scale drug store details
