The December 2014 MR has an article by Jim Gore on his really neat On30 "Chili Line" Branch of the D&RGW, "A Tall Tale Come True." A side bar on page 62 discusses how he makes adobe buildings out of balsa. I've wanted to build some similar buildings for some time and Jim's work inspired me to get to it.
My adobe buildings are in HO, so I changed a few things. I used 3/32" basswood. For HO, it's less grainy so the texture is better matched. It's often cheaper than balsa these days, too. I painted mine with Rustoleum PaintPlus Satin Fossil and skipped the step with adding sand, as it's a texture too coarse to work well in HO, at least what I have on-hand.
For the vigas -- the poles that support the roof which poke through the walls, I used 1/16" hobby sticks, staining them, breaking them in half, install, clip off extra length inside, then glue permanently with CA from inside the structure. Keep space for them in mind as you lay out your walls. There needs to be space above the often high set windows and below the roof you install to fit a row in without it looking squeezed.
I mostly used a file to work over the basswood, with a final smoothing with sandpaper. I used Titebond to make the main wall structure tight and strong, but reelied on gap-filling CA to speed much of the other work.
One key feature of this sort of architecture is that windows and door are insent into their openings. In fact, I turned some doors around because it looked better with all these installed from the inside of the stricture. So how about some pics? I failed to really take many construction pics, but I will take some inside pics and post them later.
Think of arranging them like building blocks to help you plan. I made one single unit and another that was L-shaped, with a second floor. Together they're more impressive but still not huge, with a rough footprint of about 60'x80' feet.
I didn't bother with windows and doors on the back side. Everything else was from the scrap bins and Grandt Line leftover.
Finally, a little bit of Night Scene action.
The roofs come off to work inside. Eventually that will get attention, as well as some outside details like smoke jacks, outbuildings, vehcles and a tractor, etc.
Anyone else gives this sort of construction a try? It's quick and easy.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Looks great
And thanks for the detailed info how you did your building.
I have some Piko "adobe" buildings on my G scale outdoor layout and also an adobe house on the HO layout. I can't remember the name of the company that made the HO house. But they offered lots of HO scale adobe buildings. Sadly they went out of business.
Here's my adobe village on the G scale layout:
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Matt,
Thanks! yeah, too bad about losing that option in HO. There's not a lot of it out these in terms of models, considering it was a distinctive and widespread regional design.
Alpine Division stills offers their Citrus Exchange: http://www.alpinemodels.com/catalog/item/6856812/6812290.htm
Walthers offered a Santa Fe station and frieght depot in Mission-style in addition to the huge Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal. Beyond those I don't recall others, but if people do know of kits past or present, that would also be approprirate to post here. Even if a kit is no longer available, a little documentation on it can still give ideas that are useful.
Really nice Mike. Please take photo's as you progress on the inside, that is an area I would definitely benefit with some more tutoring on.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Vigas! Flat roofs in snow country!
I'm kinda kicking myself for not taking pics as I went along. Having too much fun I guess. But these interior pics pretty much show the tale, so here we go.
An overall shot with tops off
The single unit dwelling I made first. My model "vigas" or poles didn't quite reach so I just doubled them up. I didn't glue these, so they can be slid out of the way to get inside, except for the couple I attached the LED to, which I glued together.
A reverse angle shows how the windows are installed from the inside. Some model windows are made this way. Other need to be adapted. Either way, they are so deeply set they don't need to be perfect, as they're a little hard to see anyway.
Inside the front of the two story, multi-unit building. Note that I set the LEDs far back in the building, as that best obscures the fact they're largish. Since the small windows are hard to see into, the interior will be minimal when it happens, but will take pics.
Note that the interior walls, as well as the reinforcing posts in the corners and elsehwhere, help set the roof height. You want it down far enough to form a modest parapet , then there's the thickness of the roof, then space for a row of vigas, then the doors and windowsare below that. Plan accordingly for the extra space. In my case, each story is 11' high.
On this building, I decided to just cut the vigas off flush inside, then apply some CA to fix them in place, which worked well.
In the next shot is shown the relationship between the walk-out doors to the roof and the second story. There needs to be a slightly raised threshold, so water from the roof doesn't come inside. Allowing the wall to project below the roof surface helps minimize light leaks from inside. Some of the small pieces of "lip" below the roof on the inside wall are for the same reason.
Here it is with the roof on.
I cut floors and inset them to help stop light leaks. I tgry for a friction fit, but glue them in otherwise.
Part of the reason for doing the fllors that way is so the building can snuggle down to the ground. Adobe construction is from the earth literally. There's no raised foundation as there usually is with most buildings. I need to use some texture to raise the ground a little to cover the visible gap in the middle here, but it's already snuggling down well.
I could done a bit better job disguising the corner joints, but a pretty fair effort so far with easy to do techniques.
-E-C-Mills Vigas! Flat roofs in snow country!
Actually, this is over near Dove Creek, so down outta the mountains. Otherwise, there could be trouble. That may have been one reason they liked to build in cliff overhangs, as that protected from the worst of the elements naturally.
Here's a photo on my HO layout that shows the adobe house I mentioned above. Interestingly enough, the building on the bottom left is the Citrus Exchange you linked to.
Mike:
The adobe buildings look very authentic.
Nice work fitting the roofs and the floors too.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks Matt and Dave!
Really like the veranda, etc on your house.
And small world dept on the citrus exchange. Some years back, I met Ed(?) Suydam's son at a National Narrow Gauge Convention. Right now, can't remember his first name, but nice guy and apparently a talented musician, too. Another year I gave him a ride to a couple of layout visits out in the sticks and he regaled me with tales of the family kit business. Lots of work goes into those kits, even when they seem simple.
mlehman Actually, this is over near Dove Creek, so down outta the mountains. Otherwise, there could be trouble. That may have been one reason they liked to build in cliff overhangs, as that protected from the worst of the elements naturally.
Oops I hope my humor wasnt coming across the wrong way. No voice in text. Just cheering things on. Kind of like Viva Vigas! Good work.
But it does remind me of a story: My dad designed this great house in Denver (Lakewood) we grew up in. Contemporary, fantastic view of Mt Evans and Pikes Peak. (We were house rich but cash poor). Nevertheless, it had a flat roof - with generous artsy overhangs. My mom would get nervous after those occaisional heavy snows and sure enough, we were up there shoveling snow off the roof. Most people would shovel their driveways. We shoveled the driveway and the rooof! Fun times.
Anyways, those stout vigas should hold up just fine!
EC,
Oh, no problem, I can understand you asking about that if you're not familiar with the exact geography of my layout
Beautiful house, but I guess you mom didn't trust dad's architecture? Good thing y'all didn't live in Buffalo, where it seems like everyone was shoveling their roof this weekend.
Thanks Mike. Frank LLoyd Write once said, about his houses notoriously leaking roofs: "Thats what happens when you put art out in the rain!"
On our occaisional snow issue, I can relate a little bit with the Denver and Salt Lake crews fighting snow on Rollins Pass.
That "lake effect" snow in Buffalo; a fairly serious issue. Worried about some of those people.
Ok so now maybe you have to add Luminarias to your adobe home for the holidays?
-E-C-MillsOk so now maybe you have to add Luminarias to your adobe home for the holidays?
Hey, now there's an idea, if I can find some HO scale paper bags...
I'll have to consider that one. If this was O scale, no problem. Not sure I can make it work without a bunch of those pricery SMD LEDs.
Suggestions on how to simulate credible paper bags are welcome
Been working on the adobe buildings little by little over the last couple of days. It reminded me about something I wanted to say about doing these adobe buildings. They make a great first time scratchbuild project. First of all, you are basically just building a box. Throw in some architectural details like the parapetted flat roof, deeply recessed dors and windows, no visible foundation and protruding vigas and it's real easy to create a credible model. Don't fear, the water is warm and inviting
Here's how things looked after I got everything dirted in.
An early morning shot shows some changes...
With the sun up, we can see this is turning into a family of pinto bean farmers, who are members of the Anasazi Bean Co-op.
They even have one of the modern city amenties, running water.
Next up, a barn.
You're doing a great job, Mike.
Ever since You started this thread...I have been thinking where I could put one. LOL.
Take Care!
Frank
They look like fun to build! I never knew that real adobe has straw added to the mixture and has to be coated over with another layer of adobe often (was told once year). On my trip last month to Colorado amd New Mexico we saw a church in Taos Pueblo that was real abobe and old, you could see the straw in the mixture. Santa Fe has building codes that require structure to be no more than 6 stories and made to look like adobe structure, although I believe most of them are made from concrete, now.
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Thanks for the kind comments, Frank and Mark
The straw component is important, as it's the binder that holds things together once the adobe is dry. It may not be that walls exposed to the elements, generally those outside of the dwelling, require repair every year, but they would require inspection. While the climates adobe is used in are generally dry, it doesn't take much rain working its way into adobe before it could start causing problems, so you wouldn't want to go through the rainy season again without repairs.
Definitely anything over maybe three stories high (maybe only two?) would not be adobe. Like bricks, there are structural limits to how much weight the lower courses can support. Higher structures would typically be concrete or other materials made to look like adobe.
I managed to finish major work on this project with the barn I will detail in pics below, although still plenty of detail to add as I get around to it. The barn is one step up in difficulty from scratchbuiling the adobe dwellings, but still pretty simple stuff. Here are the 4 walls cut and laid out. This was easy since there are no windows and the doors are all done as surface appliques over the wall, so no need to cut openings in the walls for them
If you have a sloped roof like on the barn, it's helpful to cut the side walls a little shorter that the end walls where they join. This is to allow the roof to sit all the way down. The "recess" is just enough so that when the roof is on, the overhang fits without being blocked by the sidewall.
The small bit of glue showing is covered up by corner trim. For the primary joints like on the walls, I like to use Titebond III. I glue a side and end wall together to make an L, then do the same with the other two pices, doublechecking for squareness.
I glue the two Ls together with Titebond and let set. I then add bracing in each corner, around some of the edges, and to support the roof, using gap-filling CA for most of the rest of the build as it speeds things up considerably over waiting to let the Titebond set.
I added the corner trim and the door track/horizontal trim.
Next I do the batterns, while leaving spots for the doors to be added later. It';s much easier to simply glue lengths of the 2x3 to the walls, then trim them off to size, than it is to cut to size and them glue them on.
Here the basic shell is done.
I stained the wood with MinWax Driftwood. Many people prefer to stain before assenbly, which I do in certain situations. If you're careful with the glue, you can stain things one assembled and save a lot of time.
Next I used some Testors CreateFX acrylic stain. Just one coat here, as it's a very weathered old barn.
I used some .030" styrene for the roof, with some aluminum duct tape on the underside to hold it together. I cut out some paper corrugated roofing, but use whatever you want, spraying the styrene then placing the roofing on it.
The barn still needs to be dirted in, also some rafter ends, etc, but an easy build if you want to try it.