I know, I am starting late, but better late than never. I am doing one of those neat Miami shoe box designs . Here are two pics from Google Maps. What I like most about this structure is the signage on the wall, the details like the fences and the color. Seems like I just listed all the features of this building that are likeable at all.





The building site is all ready, so construction can start.

After I determined the dimensions, I cut the walls from .080" styrene. The dimensions of my structure will be almost to scale, only the long side wall facing the tracks will be a few scale feet shorter than the prototype.



Next I glued styrene strips that will support the roof and the floor to the insides of the walls.



Before I started to assemble the walls, I cut the roof and the floor from 1/8" cardboard. The thick cardboard will make the structure quite sturdy and will prevent the styrene from warping.

Kurt gosh dangit, another start to a BEAUTIFUL looking structure and scene!! Man am i exited to see some more pics

Hi Kurt. Another nice building going up.
Since you are working from Google maps, how do you determine the buildings dimensions?

Loren

Looks good!
I forgot you were in the scratchbuild.




I'm out!...........

Josh, thank you for your encouragement and faith in my abilities ... hope you won’t be disappointed.

Loren, I usually start looking for the biggest aerial shot I can find on Google Maps or Bing Maps. On these aerials I measure the overall dimensions of the structure. It is not totally accurate, but it is good enough for me. In the pictures of Google street view, I look for doors, loading docks, cars that are standing close to the structure or any other objects that will help me to determine the size of the building. If e. g. I can find a door in one of the pictures and I assume that the height of the door is 7', it is easy to determine the height of the structure. Again, this method may not be absolutely accurate, but it is good enough to get good looking model structures.

Ed, I am sure my ugly shoe box cannot compete with your really nice and very well detailed station. BTW, I think it is too late to withdraw, Don would not let you ...

The lettering on two of the walls make it necessary to build this structure a bit unconventionally. Instead of waiting till the end to apply the lettering, I am doing it as the next step. The only way (I can think of) to do these signs, is to do a little photoshopping, and then print out the entire wall with the lettering and glue it to my structure. Here is my little "artwork".

Now it really looks like a shoebox, doesn’t it? I printed out my little artwork and before I glued it to my structure, I sealed it with matte clear paint from a spray can. Now I can start with adding details and then paint the other walls.

Moving right along there.

I like the instant paint & lettering.

e-paw Wrote:I like the instant paint & lettering.

Dito Kurt, thats sweet!! Ill have to use this method for sure on some of my structures that ill be scratching for the M&ET lol

Trucklover Wrote:

e-paw Wrote:I like the instant paint & lettering.

Dito Kurt, thats sweet!! Ill have to use this method for sure on some of my structures that ill be scratching for the M&ET lol

So simple. So smart. Bravo!

Grin,
Stein

Don, e-paw, Josh, Stein, thank you for your kind comments.

Now that the walls are up, I can turn to what I like doing most: detailing. Yesterday I worked with styrene, so I thought it would be nice to do something else today. I need burglar bars for the doors and the windows and I think they are best made from brass. To do these burglar bars I use .020", .032" brass wires and a .040" U-shaped brass profile.

First step is to do an exact drawing that will act as a template to place the pieces.



Then I cut the pieces and fix them to the drawing with paper masking tape (that tape you use when painting walls).





When all the pieces are in place, I carefully peel off the paper.



The last step is to add a few strips of tape to the other side, to make sure that all stays in place. Now it is ready for being soldered.



Now it is ready for being soldered.



The first burglar bar I finished today is the big one for the loading door. I added little pins to the backside to make it easier to fix it to the wall.

WOW!!!
Ralph

Thank you, Ralph.

After I did the window guards yesterday,



I still had some time for modeling left and the soldering iron was still hot, so I decided to do one of the fences.



Today I built the corrugated metal shed you see on the left in the prototype pic. Still have to add a few details, but with the shed my little scene is starting to take shape.

You got some soldering iron there, Kurt..!!! It would have taken me 5 days to do that last piece.....waaaaayyyyy too long for the soldering iron to remain hot...!!!

Fantabulous work..!!!!