I want to build a particular factory building which has multiple panes, as used in what is referred to as "Daylight" factories. They were built just after WW1 about 1919 and on. You've seen them I am sure. I have looked online and in Walthers catalog, but can't find anything that fits my bill. However, I have scratchbuilt them in the past using an X-acto knife inverted as a scribing tool.
However, that was on left over material from old kits, etc. I need several sheets for my current project. I've looked it up using search engines, and also Walthers catalog. They have stuff called "polycarbonate", "clear polyester", and clear PVC, etc. It comes in thicknesses of .005, .010, and .015. Mfrs include Evergreen, Midwest, and maybe one more.
My question is, what would you recommend for thickness, and type for my project? Thanks for any info you may have, and any suggestions.
I use Evergreen Plastic Styrene Clear Sheet .015x6x12 for windows in my scratch building. It is easier to cut and work with than clear Acrylic. It’s available at most hobby shops and craft stores. For houses I use City Classics Window Dressings.
Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I use microscope slide covers as they are nice and thin and I think they look great. They come in various sizes and thicknesses.
Here on the left, you can see how thick the plastic glass is that came with a kit sitting on the window frame. On the right is the microscope glass, much thinner.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Mostly I use clear thin acetate, the stuff that comes in simple kits in sheets, that you have to cut to fit. I glue it in with canopy cement, because it dries clear after going on white, and you can easily remove any excess with a toothpick after it dries. This is the same stuff used to package toys and lots of other stuff, so you've probably already thrown away more than you could ever use.
However, are these large multi-paned windows? For these, you can use the canopy cement to create window "glass" directly. It will dry clear. This has the advantage of producing a non-uniform surface that light will shine through but you can't focus through, perfect for illuminating a structure with no interior.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hello All,
The parent company of my railroad is The Consolidated Materials Group.
The concept is to use "found" items (materials) to construct the railroad where ever possible.
All of that bubble plastic packaging (cellulose acetate) that everything seems to come in these days can be used as "glass". Think of the packaging of a turnout.
The famous "Wizzard of Monterey", John Allen, used the same material to make the windows of his structures.
After his death, it was discovered that he hoarded the packaging of boxed Christmas cards.
He used a Magic Marker- -today I would use a fine-tipped Sharpie- -to draw lines on the plastic to replicate windows.
If you wanted to replicate the structure of the large daylight panels you could fabricate the grid out of styrene shapes and lay it over the sheets of cellulose acetate.
For weathering tips check out this thread...
Frosted Window Glazing
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I don't think thickness is all that important for a building, especially for a building, unless you are going to try and model some of those windows, which rotated open.
For convenience on a big building I would use clear styrene but for small buildings, I salvage the plastic on the packaging that comes with nearly everything you buy today. It keeps it out of the ocean.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I usually use the plastic "glass" which comes with most kits, regardless of its thickness, as most of my structures don't have detailed interiors.On this one, I first airbrushed the windows' framework, then cemented the "glass" to the frames. I then masked-off most of the inside face of the windows and airbrushed the still-exposed areas with an extremely diluted light green, an attempt to model the tinted glass which was often used to replace broken panes. My hometown had a plethora of curtain wall factories, and the tinted replacements were widely used.
I then removed the masking tape and airbrushed the entire inside face of the "glass" using straight lacquer thinner, which crazed the plastic enough to not permit a view through it....
For this truncated casket factory near the edge of the layout...
...I used the supplied "glass", but cemented .010" styrene window blinds to the inside of the windows. There are floors and walls inside the structure, but I have no inclination to add interior details or lighting. The main purpose of the building is to hide an access opening to a staging yard.
For smaller scratchbuilt structures, I use Evergreen clear styrene sheets, either .005" or .010" thick, affixed with solvent-type cement (MEK, applied with a brush)...
Wayne
I have a few Walters kits that came with very thick plastic window "glass," so I put it in the scrap parts bin and replaced it with acetate sheet. I intentionally seek out structure kits wit large windows which make good candidates for interiors. Thick, cloudy plastic windows are totally wrong for this purpose.
I've thought of the plastic report covers from n office supply store. They come in several colors and are clear enough to see throughl Have one building, if I ever get to build it, that is what I am thinking of trying.
Have fun,
Richard
Here's a nice repository of photos of "Daylight Factories"
https://buffaloah.com/a/archsty/daylight/index.html
I really like this one:
https://buffaloah.com/a/niag/1360/1360.html
The thought of scribing mullions on acetate for factory windows led me to think of using one of the Cricut machines to easily replicate dozens of identical windows with excellent accuracy.
I bought a Cricut Explore about two years ago and never really messed with it. Recently, my wife dusted it off and has been cranking out intricate greeting cards and other neat "crafty" items.
I tried to Google "Cricut scale model factory window" and didn't have much luck. I just wonder if anyone has tried using one of these machines for this task? I found lots of videos on making trusses and station sheds but none specifically for windows. Of course, any search with the word windows automatically gets two million hits for the operating system
I suppose you're on a budget? Otherwise I'd suggest the Tichy Factory window which, if I recall, has a tilt-in opening and includes pre-cut acetate.
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_masonry-windows/p/8087-20-pane-industrial-window/Default.aspx
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_masonry-windows/p/8295-40-pane-masonry-window/Default.aspx
Good Luck, Ed
gmpullmanI really like this one: https://buffaloah.com/a/niag/1360/1360.html
That looks like a close relative to Walthers' American Hardware Company...
...although my modified version of it isn't the same match.
Depending on where a structure is located on a layout, you may be able to get away with painted-on mullions and muntins. I used them on the shop building at Lowbanks, visible at the upper right corner of the photo below...
...they're very easily done: simply apply masking tape, cut to appropriate widths, to mask-off your window material for either the vertical or horizontal separators. Apply the paint of your choice - I used my airbrush - then remove the masking. Once the paint has dried, mask for the intersecting separators, spray, remove the tape and allow it to dry. It's a process probably better suited to background structures, although mine is less than 9" from the edge of the layout.
Here's a just-taken photo showing a better view...
How about the clear window on all those junk mail envelopes?
Terry
Inspired by Addiction
See more on my YouTube Channel
One thing you might Google is "International Casement" or "Hope's" steel windows, which were a formative influence on me the way Froebelian blocks were on Wright: the building I lived in from birth to 2½ and my grandparents' house both used them extensively. These have relatively large panes with very thin 'muntins' between them; one way to make them is by using thick drafting ink on Mylar or other nonabsorbing clear material with 'tooth'. I suspect if you had a heatproof clear material you could do really well using a high-dpm-resolution laser printer. 3D printheads with fine resolution using black or dark green would be ideal, letting you duplicate the look and perhaps the function of the openable panels Hope could provide.
One problem modeling these is as noted: in practice the individual panes were not perfectly aligned as if one solid piece of glass. Which in essence a modeled window of this delicacy usually would be. Something relatively recent to me is the development of 'handheld 3D printers' -- basically a cross between a pen, a hot-glue gun and an airbrush -- that can be used to draw shapes in 3D. One of the first things that came to mind seeing one of these in an ad was 'what if I laid about 20x30 little pane-sized pieces of microscope cover glass in a grid on a surface plate and then 'pen-printed' thin muntins along their edges...'
For these steel sash type windows which cover a large expanse, at many factories the glass is of a sort which permits light to enter but are not really transparent like glass windows in a house. I notice this in the photographs I have taken of them - you can see that it is glass, and at night you can see the interior lights, but you cannot really see into the factory. On factory tours I have the same impression looking out at the windows - they admit light but you can't see what's going on outside except for moving shadows.
And you often see the random panes of a darkish green perhaps where a broken window was replaced and they cannot match the color or shade of the original. Dr. Wayne captures that look very nicely.
You really want to convey a sense of the whole expanse of window, not individual panes, and for that reason the canopy glue way of making windows might not be best, as there always seems to be some slight wavy variation in the surface that catches light differently and thus distracts attention from the overall window.
I know a guy who has used film - camera film - for windows as it has the reflective quality he wanted , isn't really transparent, and has a short of darkish cast to it.
Dave Nelson
i have had best luck with microscope slide cover glass .. it's thinner than plastic and it actually looks better once installed ...
drawback is the need for a carbide scriber instead of a razor knife, but not a major issue ..
i hold it in place with walters goop, it doesn't fog with CA like plastic can do ..
Great info from all! I am going to explore some of your ideas.
Thanks to all. If anyone has any other ideas, by all means, please submit them!
Al
As a note: a potential source of large pieces of microscope-cover-glass thickness for a larger project (like the skylighted-drafting-room roof of some of the older factories) might be protective cover glass kits for obsolete tablets or phones.
I have not yet worked with this material, and it should be mentioned that most of it is technically tempered glass (google Gorilla Glass for the technical and chemical details) and might not be friendly to all methods of scribing or snapping to size. It would certainly be interesting to see results, though!
A cover kit for even a medium-size tablet might yield enough picture windows for several buildings... with all the advantages of smaller glass-pane methods.
astapleford I want to build a particular factory building which has multiple panes, as used in what is referred to as "Daylight" factories.
I want to build a particular factory building which has multiple panes, as used in what is referred to as "Daylight" factories.
I've used chart tape, available in a variety of colors and widths through office supply stores. To get the window muntins to match the trim color, I'd stretch a length of the tape between two posts and paint the top side; when dry, stick the tape strips onto the transparent sheet and trim as needed. To ensure even spacing, I'd draw the desired muntin grid on paper and tape the window material over it to serve as a pattern.
I particularly like the "to scale" 3-D look that this method produces.
Jim
hardcoalcaseTo get the window muntins to match the trim color, I'd stretch a length of the tape between two posts and paint the top side; when dry, stick the tape strips onto the transparent sheet and trim as needed.
I used 1pt Chartpak for fine-lining extensively, and I would have tremendous trouble if I tried to paint one side of a length of it while keeping the paint away from the sticky side. Meanwhile the adhesive on this stuff is not exactly industrial-grade and I found it letting go within a few months ... after which the tension on the colored side would make it curl annoyingly up at the edges. It is very difficult to apply adhesive to 1pt tape without either getting some on the visible side or applying enough to 'blob' when you go to push the snakehead end down...
Meanwhile, some of their adhesive is exposed at the tape edges, where it tends to act as something of a dust magnet. The accumulated schmutz is a pain to remove, especially on a clear substrate...
If anyone has techniques or materials that get around these sorts of issues, I'd love to hear them.
(Incidentally it is very easy to cut 'mitered' joints between crossed pieces of tape so everything will lay flat, but you need a sharp knife, and some care not to emboss or score the surface adjacent to the tape 'corners'.)
I use the clear plastic packages the Entemann's danish pasty comes in.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com