Northern California structures

[Tom]

The reason you won't find many photos online of the steel rod reinforcements is that is was by design so unobtrusive you really don't notice it unless you really look hard. All you'll see (and thus easy to recreate on a model structure) is about a 12" square piece of flat plate steel (styrene) with a Nut-bolt-washer casting on it on the outside. Put them on in pairs across from each other, and be sure to turn the square plate 45 degrees so it looks like a diamond and you're all set.

At least that's how I see them do it around this part of Northern California and in Old Sacramento as well.