Good Morning Everyone. The link below is to a structure I scratchbuilt. I’m trying to enhance my techniques. One mistake I made on this structure is I did not make the pitch of the roof high enough, it is too flat.
I would love to hear any critical comments. Many of the vets on this forum have forgotten more than I know about scratch building. Please feel free to drop me your $.02.
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx266/pj1775/IMG00281-20101112-0705.jpg
Thanks,
PJ
Do you have a prototype for this?
I think the walls in the second level are too tall. At least it looks so for me.
I take always some prototype date and calculate. With my farm co-op grain house for my station Naumburg I had only pictures. a friend told me, that door is 2m tall. It’s a standard door. That was the important tip, I could estimate all other data.
Wolfgang
Looks good, especially for a first project. I do agree, the second floor looks too tall, amplified by the “porch” roof. Since the era looks to be late 19th century, it needs more roof overhang. Back then, siding was real wood, not aluminum or vinyl. The large overhang helped protect the siding. The roof should definitely have more pitch if your layout is set in an area the could get a lot of snow.
PJ you did a very good job of scratchbuilding that building. By the looks of the photo, the “too high” second floor has actually left you with plenty of height on the gable end of the building to increase the pitch of the roof. If you were so inclined, you could remove the roof, recut the gable ends to give your roof more pitch and then add an new roof with greater overhang. You also may want to add a couple of windows on the second floor sidewall unless you left it windowless for a purpose.
Good luck and let us know if you decide to do any remodeling.
Pat
Thanks Pat. That is exactly what I’m going to do. I’m not happy with the lack of pitch of the roof or the lack of overhang over the siding.
Do you have any recommended techniques for re-cutting the roof? It is going to be a delicate job. Would you recommend using a cutting disk/bit on the Dremel?
On the remainder of the second level I had intended to add some weathered signage.
One other technique I wish I would have used is the rubber cement/duct tape removal to create wood chippage revealing the weathered undercoat.
I really appreciate you guys weighing in.
PJ
It’s wood. I would cut it with hand tools, like jewelers saw or knife. Very slooowly.
Wolfgang
The pitch of the roof is fine if its supposed to be in an area that doesn’t get a lot of snow.
On the other hand if you had made the pitch of the roof steeper it would have take care of the "second story too tall " comments.
There is a gap between the roof and the siding on the left side. One way to fix that is with a fascia trim board, a thin peice of card or plastic about 6-8 scale inches wide . That will cover up any gaps.
My question is what are the big things in the first floor wall facing us. They look like loading dock doors, but there is a railing in front of them. If you can’t get stuff in and out of the doors why do you need them? You might want to consider removing the railing in front of the doors or replacing the railing in front of the doors with a couple metal stanchions and some cable or chain railing that could be taken down when the door is being used. Then put a big wooden board (4x8 or 6x12) on the porch edge under teh door areas and put a couple pin heads on it to resemble bolt heads to make a bumper so when trucks back up to the doors they don’t damage the porch.
If you have a big eave overhang a detail you can add is rafter ends, really dresses up a model.
Does your building have heat or hot water? You can add a chimney.
Does your building have toilets? You can add a vent pipe.
I think it turned out very nicely. Keep up the good work and don’t be afraid to try new stuff. If you are trying to do something, ask on the list for suggestions. Many of us have been doing scratchbuilding for decades and we have picked up a bunch of techniques and shortcuts over the years.
You will "lose the roof panels becase if you change the pitch they will be too “short”. remove them carefully because you might be able to reuse them on another building.
Depends on the material of the siding. If its styrene just score a line and snap it off. If its wood then a razor saw of cutoff wheel might work. If its wood, cut above the line and use a sanding block to bring it down to the line. Use a fascia trim board to cover any boo-boo’s.
While you have the roof off, you have the opportunity to add some lights to illuminate the sign on the side of the building.
You can also put a little paint on terry cloth and lightly dab it on the siding. The little nubs and loops of the cloth make random spots on of paint. Test the technique on some scraps first.
PJ, carefully remove the old roof.
I would then get a piece of 1x wood, pine or anything you have lying around that is rigid. Cut the 1x material so it will slip into the top of the building and be close enough to each of the side walls that it will adequately support the gable ends. Once you get the support material trimmed to the right width, clamp it to the edge of your workbench with enough of it sticking out past the edge for you to slip the building over it. Find the center of the gable end walls at the ridge and then determine where the eave elevation will be. Transfer your measurements around the building. I would then take a small metal straight edge like the blade off of a combination square and connect the measurements. With the building positioned over your support that you clamped to the edge of the workbench, run an xacto knife along the straightedge to make the cut. Don’t try to cut it all at once. Use multiple cuts. Repeat the cut for each side.
Once you get the walls cut down your ready to install your new roof. Flip the building upside down on whatever material you decide to use for the roof sheating. Place the building’s ridge along one side and mark the edge of the walls on the sheathing material. Once you get the building perimeter laid out on the sheathing you can then add however much overhang you need to the building outline. You don’t need to add any overhang along the ridge, just the three sides. Repeat for the other side. Once your happy with the amount of overhang, glue the roof sheathing to the building. It’s easier to glue the roof on one side at a time with the building upside down. Depending on the size of the building you might have to prop up one side to keep the top edges of the walls in contact with the roof sheathing while the glue dries.
Hope this helps. Let us know how you make out with it.
Pat
Over all I think you did a pretty nice job for the first one out of the box one of the things I would suggest is next building address your windows a bit differently. In architecture/construction regarding widows there are two things one must consider head height and sill height sill high being how high off the floor your widow sill is off the floor and obviously the head height is how close the top of the widow is to the ceiling.
If you look at your fist floor widows your sills are basically on the floor which would make it very easy to kick out a window. Yes some widows do go almost right to the floor but not a double hung like in your structure typically you see those types of widows in stores and such. What may help you in the future are a few things In residential structures walls are generally 8’ high and commercial structures are 10’ high so scale out your walls accordingly and center your widows in that distance. If your going with a multi story building don’t forget to add 8" scale inches for the floor joist. I know this might sound a little anal but it’s the little details that make structures more realistic. Regarding your roof pitch and over all construction I think you did a nice job roof pitch is subjective depending on so may different things, part of the country where your modeling, time period or era your modeling rural or city structures etc. I have found a great source of information regarding modeling is to do image searches for structures your looking to model and work from a picture for the most part.
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Outstanding points by all, much appreciated.
Dave H - the rectangular things you see on the right side are windows. I did not build it from a prototype. Sort of a freestyle experiment. I was thinking this building was a hardware store. The windows are rectangular, with clear styrene. The angle at which I took the pic doesnt do them any justice.
Pat - great idea for lights for the signage. The area in which the building will end up does get snowfall so this roof would definately not be able to carry the snow load. And also great points on the chimney and vents, there is definately indoor plubming in this building and heat.
I intend to make changes and re-post once the remodeling is completed. I think someone asked what the wall material is, it is wood clapboard. The awnings that surround the deck is very think sheet styrene, coated with grimy black, and finished with peel-n-stick shingles. I then aged the shinkles with colored pencils, and gave it two washes of india ink & alc.
Did you ever end up making this structure the way you wanted it?
A few comments:
If you like it, then it is fine. I have buildings that have issues but I still like them. Model Railroading is supposed to be whatever you want it to be.
The roof pitch is fine for a climate with little rain or snow.
The second floor is fine as it is. Hotels in the earlier times with rooms upstairs had a high roof because they had no air conditioning. My immediate thought was that this was an old hotel- and if that is what you were aiming for then you hit it square on!
Mike