Thanks John. Attending WS game 5 was a great moment in my life And for the cubs. For any baseball fan, Wrigley is a place worth visiting.
I did develop a model file of the stadium. Mostly the grand stand portions are completed and adapted to print properly. For example, the exterior elevation lattices and railings as well as the seating or steel rivets had to show clearly. I printed a test “slice” of the stadium “cake” and was happy with the results. Problem is at prototype scale, Wrigely is over 5’ X 5’ on the table. It could be shrunk down to 4’ X 4’ and still look convincing but I felt this project would only make sense in a large exhibition model if that ever happens. For now, the layout I’m building is modeled after a fictional city in the Chicago metro, so adapting it to look more like a minor league facility with Wrigley’s archiecture is likely the ultimate endgame.
Well, baseball is back and I’ll be finding my evenings and weekends at Wrigley Field and of course all the other outdoor activities that summer brings. Therefore this will be my last major update for awhile. Here’s what was done in the last couple of months:
Chicago 2 and 3 flats. These are pretty much the most basic of housing in Chicago. You’ll find them everywhere in this city. Not as embelished as the city’s greystones, or 1800’s era Italianate, Romanesque or Queen Anne, but they were fast and easy to build and yet very durable and have been easily adapted into modern homes today. I created a basic model for the back and sides, and the facades can be interchanged and redesigned for all sorts of different styles. I do have intentions of possibly making these files available
When I lived in Chicago, not far from Wrigley Field, I lived in an apartment on Dakin St, close to Sheridan Rd. A lot of the apartments on Dakin St. looked a lot like your models. Brings back a lot of memories.
I attended Wrigley Field with my father about 30 years ago for a doubleheader with the Dodgers. He couldn’t believe that on a weekday they were still almost sold out. The only seats available were the upper grandstand along the right field line. He was from Milwaukee and had grown up a Cubs fan but switched his allegiance to the Braves when they moved to Milwaukee. He switched back to the Cubs when the Braves left for Atlanta.
I decided the only way to include a ballpark on my layout was to make it part of a photo backdrop. The problem is finding one with the right perspective. I looked for photos of old ballparks including Wrigley, Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, etc. all were taken too close to the stadium to give the proper perspective. I finally found a shot of Cleveland’s old Municipal Stadium taken from across a parking lot behind the centerfield scoreboard. I scaled it down slightly to make it look like a minor league
I’ve looked through this thread before (very nice work, by the way) but just noticed this comment. In case you don’t already know, you can often reduce the current draw of LEDs by wiring them in series/parallel instead of straight parallel. For example, if you are powering them with 12 volts and currently have them all wired in parallel, by wiring groups of three in series you can cut the current draw in third and still have the same light output. The only criteria to do this is the total voltage drop of the LEDs in series has to be less than the supply voltage (white LEDs are usually around 3.5 volts, 3.5 x 3 = 10.5 < 12) and the LEDs in each particular series will all be running at the same current level (though each series can be adjusted independently).
I actually have them wired 4 in series. Basically one series circuit is a floor of a building. The rest is parallel. They are bright and run on 24 volts dc (pass-through) or individual load centers for city block clusters on 16 volts ac. The downtown portion alone is likely at 300 watts.
A bittersweet end to the warm weather season of baseball games, biking and vacations. I’ve started the 3d printer back up. This latest project was a quick build made from some leftover pieces from Walthers kits. Mostly cornice pieces and doors. I also have tons of 3d printed furniture excess from other projects I populated as entourage for the interior. The only major 3d printing was the wall panels.
The inspiration is the intersection of Damen Ave and North Avenues at Milwaukee Ave in Chicago’s Wicker Park / bucktown neighborhood. The 6-way intersection creates some cool angled structures and I was hoping to capture that since I needed some complimentary structures to a CMR tower I have shown in the pictures.
The lower level of the building contains apartment entrances as well as 2 commercial tenants…a vintage record store and donut / bakery shop. The upper floors are meant to have once been commercial but were converted to apartments with 2 modern steel and glass penthouse levels added to the top…for which I still need to add balcony railings.
I like the start of this new series where I’ll burn through a huge container of leftover parts since so many kits come with extra pieces that I’d hate to just throw away.
Fantastic! Your buildings look better that the display I saw about 20 years ago at the Museum of Science and Industry. I’m not sure, but I think it was O scale, or what I tend to think of as O27.
