Hobart Tower Project, Part 2

[Neptune48]

[Note: Part 1 was titled “Approximating a Different Structure—Not About to Quit the Project Yet”]

 

In addition to his superb book The Union Pacific in the Los Angeles Basin, which featured 4½ pages on the Hobart Tower, Jeff S. Asay wrote a longer article in the Winter 2006 issue of The Streamliner, the official magazine of the Union Pacific Historical Society.

 

I obtained a back issue, and found a couple of key dimensions.  From them I was able to re-scale my 3D CAD model to a more accurate size.

 

Then the obsession started to grow: why not put some furniture and fixtures inside?  Mr. Asay had published enough pictures to get a good idea of the interlocking machine and some other objects, and we were off and running.

 

Lacking anything I could find on the Web in the nature of a free download, I proceeded to model the  40-lever interlocking machine, a desk with a 1940s vintage typewriter, a rolling office chair, the model board, and a switchboard.

 

Oh, wait, this is N scale.  Just how big—or tiny—will these trinkets be, anyway?  Just because the fancy CAD program lets you zoom in to the nearly microscopic doesn’t mean you have to model every detail.

 

So, just how small are these pieces?

 

 

To get a better idea of scale, I made a 3D model of a quarter and placed it on the 2^nd floor.

 

 

Yikes!

 

The 3D printing company’s preliminary screening software says it can be printed, so why not?  It would be cool to peer through those little windows and see stuff inside, wouldn’t it?

 

So far these parts can be squeezed into the existing footprint of the 3D printing, so they don’t increase the cost any.  It’s already going to be pricey, as I’ve decided to print all the walls as well as the roof, rather than cutting sheet styrene for all those windows and doors, especially when the finished model will only measure 1¼x2 ¼ inches.

 

I am having fun, though.

Bruce

 

[Southgate 2]

Very cool!

I remember reading about and seeing pictures in old magazines where many of the  structures were cardstock, paper, wood, maybe some metals. Printed windows. It took skill and patience beyond most of us to make really fine models, but there were some.

Early plastic windows were an improvement, but still kind of on the heavy side. Then came Grandt line, Tichy and other brands, like Jordan, who really refined the making of plastic models.  

I won't even try to list all the other jumps in technology and materials, but now you're taking along into your example of the next one here. And since you are having fun, well, all the better.

I'll follow you on the progress, but I know I'll have to stick to hands-on tools and materials. Keep after it, it's looking great.  Dan

[hon30critter]

Hi Bruce,

Nice progress!

May I make a suggestion? You have started a second thread on your tower project. Unfortunately that leaves newcomers to this thread in the dark about what you did in the first thread. In fact I'll be honest, I can only remember a few details of it myself.

At the very least you should provide a link to your first thread so those of us who are uninformed (or brain dead like me) can easily refer back to the start of your project. A better alternative would be to ask the moderators to remove this second thread and allow you to post your progress on the original thread. If your thread gets too long, then you might consider starting a new thread.

I have a layout thread (currently dormant) which has more than 1000 posts and thousands of views. That is getting far too long to be useful to anyone. When I resume working on my layout I will start a new thread, but I will begin the new thread with a link to the original thread as well as a brief synopsis of what has happened so far.

Just a suggestion.

Cheers!!

Dave