Your first scratchbuilt structure

[JAMES MOON]

Bob, Very impressive job with the house.  It  is very similar to the one I currently live in including the colors.

[farrellaa]

JAMES MOON

Bob, Very impressive job with the house.  It  is very similar to the one I currently live in including the colors.

 

Wouldn't happen to live on Southgate Ave in New York? :)

[JAMES MOON]

Bob, No, I live in Ohio.  You are right about the appropriateness of this style house for the period around  1925 as I believe that was about when my current house was built.  Putting a layout in the basement has been a challenge as a very large furnance set in the center of the basement requiring me to build benchwork around the furnance.  I am about half way around the new smaller furnance at present.

[yankee flyer]

This was built as a receiving shed for a farm supply store. My first scratch built no plans, just an idea of what a small store might build in the late fortys.  May not be up to the standards of most pics I see, but it's my first.

Anyone know why when I post from photobucket by inlarging the picture and copy and paste the picture is compressed in width untill it is clicked on? Could it have something to do with the number of pixels the camera records with?

Good work all.

Lee

 

[jmerullo]

Bob,

Are those windows scratch-built or did you buy them? I'm hoping to build an HO model of the house I currently live in but I'm having trouble finding 6 over 1 windows like those. There are a few available, I think from Grant Line or Tichy, but I need different sizes and I can't seem to find them.

I'm almost finished with my first scratch-built model, a model of the Cape Cod style house I grew up in. I'll post pictures later tonight if I get a chance. You can see the WIP on my blog, linked below.

 

Jim

https://coveringourtracks.wordpress.com/

 

 

[Lake]

Mine was this rail bridge.

 

[farrellaa]

jmerullo

Bob,

Are those windows scratch-built or did you buy them? I'm hoping to build an HO model of the house I currently live in but I'm having trouble finding 6 over 1 windows like those. There are a few available, I think from Grant Line or Tichy, but I need different sizes and I can't seem to find them.

I'm almost finished with my first scratch-built model, a model of the Cape Cod style house I grew up in. I'll post pictures later tonight if I get a chance. You can see the WIP on my blog, linked below.

 

Jim

https://coveringourtracks.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

Jim,

Those windows (6 over 1) are either Grandt Line or Tichy (don't remember which as I used both brands on my model) but they were 6 over 6 and I cut the bottom mullions out. I don't think I ever found a source with exactly what I needed. I was amazed at what I did find though, like the porch railings and lattice and not shown in those photos but the back porch has iron pipe railings which was also available. I spent about $50 on the model not counting the styrene which I had. About what a good laser kit costs.

Good luck on your model and please post photos when done.

   -Bob

[chutton01]

farrellaa

Those windows (6 over 1) are either Grandt Line or Tichy (don't remember which as I used both brands on my model) but they were 6 over 6 and I cut the bottom mullions out.

If that house is a representation of the house you once lived in - did it really have angled window sills like the windows on each side of the front dormer have? I can't imagine that working - half size windows I could see maybe, like casements.
As for the back porch, if that represents a painted concrete deck (like it looks it does), every single one I ever saw (dozens I guess) without fail had chips in the top coat which reveled glimpses of the previous paint job (or two, or more - sometimes the cracks exposed several layers down to bare concrete. That's a look I always associate with painted concrete decks.

As for my first scratchbuilt structure, it was a now frightening 30+ years ago (Sadly, nowadays the 1980s seem a bit more than just a few years back), and was a basic storage bin with "plank" walls constructed with various pieces of scale lumber I somehow got, stained with an india-ink wash as described in Model Railroader articles of the time, of course - and I even remembered to use a push pin to represent nail holes at the joints. I'm sure it looked lame, but I did cover it with lots of those paper advertising signs you used to find in Lifelike and AHM structure kits.  Nowadays those type of small outdoor storage bins for bulk commodities like gravel, sand, recycled glass shards, etc seem to be made of concrete blocks, at least around the Tri-State NY area.

[hon30critter]

chutton01:

I was in the window business for many years, and I did see a couple of examples of windows like the ones in farrella's model during my career.

Are they a good idea? No!

Did they leak? Yes, but only when it rained or the snow was melting.

I am curious to find out if farrella's house was really built like that.

Dave

[chutton01]

hon30critter

I was in the window business for many years, and I did see a couple of examples of windows like the ones in farrella's model during my career.

I understand that windows come in many different shapes, but what appears to be otherwise standard double-hung windows with angled sills? Were these once-squared windows which warped over the years along with the rest of the building? I guess if you tried to opened them, you could only slide the bottom sash up - simple geometry would prevent the opposite maneuver...

Did they leak? Yes, but only when it rained or the snow was melting.

Well, if they didn't leak when it was sunny and clear out they weren't all bad then...

[farrellaa]

hon30critter

chutton01:

I was in the window business for many years, and I did see a couple of examples of windows like the ones in farrella's model during my career.

Are they a good idea? No!

Did they leak? Yes, but only when it rained or the snow was melting.

I am curious to find out if farrella's house was really built like that.

Dave

 

The original windows were wood framed casement windows that were hinged on the sides and had a sliding metal rod that limited how much they opened and could be locked in any position with a large thumb screw. I had to make some deviations on the model as I couldn't find anything that was close so I used a double hung window with the correct (?) number of panes. The windows on the sides of the dormer didn't open and were fixed. The attached photo is from a year ago and you can see where the original window area has been close up some and modern windows installed within that area. I couldn't find any photos of this part of the house from back in the 50's or 60's to confirm my memory, nor my sister's memory either? Overall, I captured the look of our house but it did take some 'artistic liberties' in the  window area.

The back 'deck' was built by my dad and myself. It originally had a small 4'x4' wood stoop coming off the rear entrance and there was a 'cellar' entrance near the end of the rear wall that we sealed and covered with the new deck. The concrete was coated with a thick colored surfacing compound (don't know what it was called then, circa 1960's). It was troweled on and lasted for years, up to when they sold the house in the 1970's.

Thanks for all the observations that I had totally forgotten about. I hope this explains some of the questions. This was certainly the most complex and challenging model I have built. I wish my eyesight was better as the model needs some more accurate trimming and detail work, which seem to show up in photos.

   -Bob

[hon30critter]

chutton01:

The supposedly odd shaped windows that I recall seeing weren't actually odd shaped at all. They were normal windows and there was a recess built into the roof to allow the window to sit below the roof line. The bottom sills were straight.

As I recall, the situations were invariably the result of someone having modified the house with an addition that interferred with the window. I walked away from the quotes because we couldn't guarantee that we could prevent leakage. Anybody who suggested they could keep the water out was either lying or they had connections from above!

In any case, Bob's picture of the original house answers the real question, and we will have to allow him a bit of leeway on the model.

Dave

[farrellaa]

hon30critter

In any case, Bob's picture of the original house answers the real question, and we will have to allow him a bit of leeway on the model. Dave

Dave,

Now that this window situation has been brought to my attention, I am beginning to question my memory and try to imagine the windows from inside. This room we called a 'sunporch' back then and in the summer we (kids) would sleep in there with the windows open. I think there may have been some additional windows going up the slope following the roof, all small fixed panes. I wish I could confirm this arrangement but will live with what I built.

    -Bob

[hon30critter]

Bob:

What you built is pretty darn good, especially for a first scratchbuild. Only you, and maybe your sister, will ever know the difference between the model and the real thing!

FWIW, our first house was almost an exact copy of yours. It was in Chatham, Ontario. I think our house must have been smaller than yours because, although we did have a similar sun porch, it was only big enough for a couple of chairs.I loved the ornate woodwork inside the house.

Your use of the sun porch in the summer was precisely what it was built for. Around the turn of the 20th century it was believed medically that getting fresh air was essential for one's health. Many houses had similar rooms so one could "take the air".

There you go - more useless window history from the Critter!

Dave

[farrellaa]

hon30critter

Your use of the sun porch in the summer was precisely what it was built for. Around the turn of the 20th century it was believed medically that getting fresh air was essential for one's health. Many houses had similar rooms so one could "take the air". There you go - more useless window history from the Critter! Dave

Dave,

Well put; and we were healthy back then: little or no TV, lots of radio, and even more outside 'fresh air' activity. Ah, for the good ole days!

BTW I have lots of useless history and information that I don't know what to do with it.

   -Bob

[GGOOLER]

here is my first scratchbuilt building as an adult. dont have my n-scale building i made when i was 12 or so. this is a scaled down version of my current house. drawn 1:1 in 3-d then scaled down and i use those dimensions to make the house.

still a work in progress, will get back to it one day.

later

g