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+--- Thread: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge (/showthread.php?tid=9917)
Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-25-2024
Part of my layout addition includes a wall on the left-hand side of the available space, and I would like to be able to do two things with that area:
1) disguise the wall and guide your eye away from the fact that there's a wall there,
2) Give the illusion that there is a hill that runs from high to low from front to back of the available space.
The germ of the kernel of the idea is to start with the corner of a low-relief brick and concrete warehouse and run it parallel to the wall and gradually run sections downward toward the back of the 16 inches I have available there. No pictures yet of what this'll really look like - I have to play around with bits and pieces of a Clever Models kit that's a bit of a kitbasher's dream. The kit files include nothing but walls, windows, pilasters, roof caps, and doors. I'll also supplement some other doors, awnings, signs, etc. from other Clever kits to add some additional interest. That's the plan at any rate.
Here's a shot of a couple of the printed "base" sheets that can be cut out and joined to my heart's content.
...and here's one of their (Clever's) ideas on what could be built:
I think my structure's going to be a bunch of conjoined warehouses which house the same business - I'll have to do a little research to see what other than coal was going on in Hazleton in 1976 that might merit the structure.
No real plan! This will really be a true kitbash, and a challenge.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-26-2024
I mocked up (cobbled up really) a couple cutouts to simulate the scale of the part of the building closest to the front of the layout. Shown in the picture are the corner of a 4-story warehouse on a base that's elevated about an inch and a half above the surface of the layout base. I think the elevation's about right, but based on this pic, I think I'll go up one more story.
The subfloor of the warehouse as delivered only has windows in the concrete walls as well as one personnel door. I would like to add some truck entrances along this side of the structure, so I found one in the "Brick machine shop" that was a great build when I put that one together a couple of years ago. I'm going to include two of those in the bays next to the corner bay. In the photo below, you can see that roll up door in the picture below in the upper left corner of the top sheet.
I think that 5-story portion of the warehouse is going to be three bays wide before I drop the whole structure down about a half inch and probably reduce the number of stories as I recede away from the front of the layout and go downhill toward the backdrop.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-27-2024
I wanted to provide a little background on how easy it is to kitbash these structures using parts from other kits - and I'd have you keep in mind that if a part doesn't "fit" as printed, one option that's always available is to print the plans in a different scale by modifying the "scale" in the PDF print options. Clever sells about half of their kits in O-scale, but they give you the printer scale to print in any scale - HO is 55% for instance.
So, I brought up that I liked the rollup door from the "Brick Machine Shop" and I'd shown the printout in the previous post. In order to fit the two kit together, I simply measure the size of the opening needed, draw that onto the "Philly Modular Flat" section, cut out and apply the folded 3d rollup door section into the backside of the Philly modular section.
Here are three sections ready to incorporate, and I want to do a fourth, but I want to use a different set of doors, this time off of the first Clever kit I built, the Garage with Loft has some really nice aged barn style doors that I'll add in the fourth section.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-27-2024
More progress... It was time to add the pilasters and join the modules together. In this kit, that's done with a 3-bay add that joins the components together. I thought it wasn't going to go well, but I learned how to put it together fairly quickly and aside from having to add some stiffeners later, it turned out alright in the end. Still a lot of modules to build and join together if I'm going to make this 5 stories tall, and then there are other sections to go after this one's complete.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-28-2024
Paper, even cardstock can be a bit wobbly, and you'll notice in the photo above, the center bay looks like it's tending to bow out. The bottom of the structure had also expanded a bit from side to side - like an accordion due the stress of the glue joints with nothing to keep it from expanding. The corner was also not 90 degrees due to the same stresses. Time to reinforce - this time from the back of the structure. Most Clever kits give you interior supports that you can cut and fold, and this kit had both horizontal and vertical stiffeners, but no corner stiffeners, since this is supposed to be a low-relief kit. Dug into my previous printouts and found some of those in kit I used for the steam plant. I also cut a floor piece and added that to further tie the structure together. Here's the reinforced unit from the back.
Next, it's time to go vertical. The there are no different pilaster printouts for only brick, so I'm going to have to print the combo brick/concrete ones and cut off the concrete and do one story at a time. Based on the previous 2 stories, I think putting the pilasters in first and then filling in with the window modules is going to be the best way to go. There's also no provision for a window sill, so I'm going to have to improvise something for them. Three more stories to go!
For the windows themselves, the kit does suggest having a few open (tilted in/out) units (there's one I've already done on the 1st story, and I'll probably have quite a few of those since I'm simulating August.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-28-2024
Windows! I have a lot of these modules to do to complete this project, and the first one is always the hardest, as you find out what needs to be done first, and what's the best sequence. The brick casing for the windows is inset inside the pilaster fronts and then the window frame is inset further back. The 3d quality to is amazing in terms of detail, but to get the effect, it's quite a bit of work.
Pilaster frames went in first, and I think that was a good call. I anchored those to the lower story with a cardstock cleat backing on the bottom of each pilaster foot and then glued each pilaster column to the story below it via the cleat.
Next came building the window unit, including cutting out two sections of pane to allow for tilt in/out windows, and then folding the frames up around the windows. The brick frame was then cut and folded and the window was cut out of it.
Wrong choice as it turns out, but I decided to glue the window frame into the brick frame at this point.
...and then glued the whole assembly into the open area between the pilasters.
The only change I'll make with the next one will be to glue the window unit in last. Lots more of these units to do. There will be 4 on each of these 3 upper stories on this section of the warehouse... Like I said the 3d look is worth the exasperation. Reminds me of putting the bands around the silos...
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - tompm - 07-28-2024
Todd
Looking good. For some reason I really like the cloudy windows with the vents. To me that is an old Pennsylvania factory or shop. Nice solution on the stiffening.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - Tyson Rayles - 07-29-2024
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-29-2024
Thanks Tom and Tyson - you guys are motivating me to continue printing, cutting, folding and gluing.
I wasn't ready to pick up my Olfa knife and start carving up cardstock yet, so I decided to do a little research on manufacturing in Hazleton. Aside from coal, the only other big business was in textiles prior to 1970. Turns out one of the key textile companies in Hazleton was the Duplan Silk Mill, which oddly enough, was the largest silk mill in the world prior to closing in 1953, and guess what? It was within a half mile of the Hazleton Shaft Colliery. And another thing? Made of brick. 600,000 square feet of it.
There's a picture of a small part of the complex here: image.jpg (1351×900) (loopnet.com)
Boom! Not a perfect match, but my brick and windowed warehouse complex is going to be the former home of the Duplan Silk Mill - now since repurposed. However, I decided that I'm going to paint the brick with a Duplan logo that will be checkered and faded.
But where am I going to get a Duplan Silk Mill logo? Turns out everything's on the internet if you look hard enough. Someone on ebay at one time had a 15-year pin from the company:
So, I'm going to pull the "Duplan" off the button through the artifices of an app on my computer and blow it up to the right size to fit across the brick 2nd story of my first section of the warehouse, build a stencil and paint the side of the building with it. Bash indeed!
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-30-2024
Made up the stencil (after playing around with the scale on paper) and decided to duplicate the gold motif for the lettering on the brick. I had to cut the stencil up to get it between the pilasters, but a little tape and some patience got the job done.
I drybrushed the paint into the stencil, working with a mix of yellows, oranges and browns until I liked the end result.
I think I'll put a big faded white border around the whole thing and then maybe do a gray between the white border and the letters sometime this week.
Oddly enough, one of the guys in our division is a Duplan, so I think he's going to get a kick out of this. Who knows, maybe he's a relative of Jean Duplan who started the company around the turn of the century.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - tompm - 07-30-2024
I like it. A very creative way to make something for just an idea and how to morph it into your layout.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-30-2024
Thanks again, Tom. I think stuff like adding this fiction/historical perspective is a very cool part of our hobby and it adds a little to the number of things I know a little bit about.
Got the paints out again - this time whites or off-whites and black. Painted the "white" border first to establish the boundary and then went to work with a dry brush in between the letters and the boundary with gray with no attempt to get full coverage. I can't really capture in a photo how good it looks sitting here on my desk, but here's one shot:
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - Amalynn - 08-01-2024
That came out excellent!
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 08-01-2024
Thanks, Amanda. This project's been fun, but it got a bit repetitive getting 5 floors of walls and windows up one block at a time. It's now time for the roof details on this section before I move on to the next section receding toward the backdrop. The kit at least has some tar paper and wall caps, but I'm thinking about doing something a little different. I'll also probably be adding an A/C system and some ductwork that I'm pulling from the Lucky's Lunch Counter. Believe it or not, there was a big unit on top of that little shack's roof. I thought it was complete overkill, but I can use it on this project for sure.
RE: Tmo kitbash '24 build challenge - TMo - 08-02-2024
Glued some tar paper to the roof. That also squared up the top of the building, but it bulged out in the middle on the short side, so I decided to add more stiffeners and straighteners to the back side.
Scratched the A/C unit on the roof. I figure a much more suitable location would be at the center of the building, not out on the corner. At any rate, I folded up some brick interior walls for the roof from a brick wall off of the "Plant #2" kit into four-sided columns that snugged up to the brick front wall on the roof.
I then folded up some concrete caps from the leftover "basement" story on this kit and glued them on top of the brick for a finished roof cap.
Phase 1 (of 3 I think), complete. Phase 2 will be a 4-story of about the same length, but I'm going to pull it away from the wall a bit more and it'll be geographically lower than Phase 1.