A couple of weeks ago, I started dabbling with a drawing for a Woolworth’s store. I was going to build one for my layout, but ran out of room in my downtown. It is a store everyone remembers and shares memories, and no one has offered an O Scale model.
I used this store in Greensboro, NC as my guide:
Andre Garcia laser cut this first run:
The signage is outstanding.
Thank you Bob. The Woolworth’s sign is laser cut in wood. The front entrance area below uses 3/32" acrylic and the lettering in these window panel is also laser engraved. This laser cutting equipment is pretty amazing the things you can do.
Here’s a better look at the signage beofre painting:
In addition to Woolworth’s we also made art for signs for Krese, Kresge and McCrory’s as all these stores and others were popular at the time.
I would buy this! My mom worked at an F.W. Woolworth’s store as a clerk during W.W. II where my dad used to “shop” just to see her!
Like a time machine. I remember Woolworths stores like that! And not from so long ago, either.
The 1960’s weren’t THAT long ago, were they?
Of course not! On a related note, Marx was sure able to find a market nitch with these “five and dimes” - didn’t he?
Check your “Messages” in the upper right corner under your avatar/profile
A question: What did you use in the windows of the completed model to get that “3D” effect of a store full of merchandise? Looks great!
I scavanaged a couple of internet vintage retail images and stretched it out to seven inches, the made a second copy flipped so it is a mirror image emanating to each side from the center. The image is mounted on card stock and adhered to the inner wall, but bows out to work around the entrance. The window material is 3/32" acrylic. Most kit makers use acetate, but we opted for the acrylic. A bit more expensive, but really raises the quality bar.
It’s a bldg everyone will like. But as one of our club members noted. They should have gone 1 step farther and added an interior.
Marx at the 5 & dime. Oh how many many times did I walk past the Marx being offered and never stopped to look.
Thanks for the response Frank!
Certainly a valid point, however, when developing these kits there are a number of factors to consider and at the forefront is afforability. We could have really taken this a lot further, but it bloats the cost and takes it out of reach of folks on a budget. For $300.00 or so dollars you can add counters and merchanding dispays and people and interior and exterior lighting, and narrow the market considerably. We wanted to make this kit affordable and therefore you hit decision points.
I’m a model builder myself and I’ve built dozens and dozens of structures - both from scratch and from kits. The more affordable the kit, the more I could build. I could take my own stab at an interior using readily available resources and end up with something pretty good, and I think most folks can. If it is inside the builders skill level, the canvas is blank to create an interior. If not, use some images like I did on this sample and if that’s not the goal, frost the front windows.
This kit gives plenty of options for every skill level and threashold for work at a cost anyone can afford.
The kit will have a home on many layouts. And I am sure a lot of them will have interiors added.
That’s certainly the goal. part of the fun of this is I’m now starting to see some of the structures we’ve introduced in the past couple of weeks showing up on people’s layouts.
Same here.
Well, not entirely. I had/have Lionel trains, and considered Marx to be “cheap stuff” outside my area of interest, as a kid. But Marx accessories were attractive even to Lionel purists. I had a Marx water tank, a bubbling water tower, a bridge and a paper-mache tunnel, all of which I still have and use today on my scale/postwar layout. I had a Marx operating crossing gate, but in short order, the end piece loosened up and started flapping around, so I retired it, though I still have it.
I occasionally find Marx accessories at flea markets and antique malls, at attractive prices, and I grab them for my tinplate layout.
Is this available only as a flat, or as a build-up kit? I would love to have one of these on my mainstreet if it could be turned into a build-up.
Outstanding look.
Same here.
Hey Frank, glad to see you still around. What’s the foot print and is the kit available as a flat?
Paul