City Houses - Status and need your help

That's magnificent.

 

I think you would sell a lot of this componentry is these were presented as at least base buildings on your website and then enhancements. 

 

As for color, since it looks like one building, I would treat it as such.

wow, les, that is something else! fantastic. I agree with Harry in that the overall effect seems like one very large upper west side NYC building and would consider one color. a tan brick might work, possibly over a concrete granite color base. windows a dark gray? if you want more of a traditional brick color, there's one called Georgia clay, which has a slight orangish tone that might be good.

regardless, the details are so impressive I think you can't go wrong on color. 

 

jerrman

That's a spectacular building Les. Must be a real chore to handle it in any way. What are it's general dimensions? Jerrmans comments on colors seems to be practical and realistic.

 

Bob

Outstanding modeling, it would look good in any of the surfaces mentioned above.

The roof reminds one of the old Astor Hotel architecture.

Without a doubt, one "color". A building like this would be natural brick or stone...not painted. The roof would be gray/green slate, most likely.

Less,

 

She's a beauty!

 

Dave

That's breathtaking, Les.

 

Regarding color(s), how 'bout like the Dakota House apt. building in NYC (at 72nd St. & Central Park West ?)

Frank

Les,

Holy smokes...I'm impressed, excellent work.

As a project manager/estimator for a large masonry restoration firm here in Boston, my professional opinion would be that the lower cut stone would probably have been limestone...in addition to the window headers, sills, and belt courses. I envision that the roofs of the dormers in addition to the roof of the bay projection would have an aged copper patina look (green)...as the copper metal roof aged and became weathered. The stair walls and balusters above could also be limestone with granite or bluestone being used at the treads and landings. I'm assuming that your leaning towards the application of slate shingles and that would seem like the appropriate fit. I'm not sure if you thought about the exposed copper flashing that would occur at the roof valleys, where the roof ends..etc. that might give a nice look also.

 

I picture the wood frames of the windows being like a hunter green...and the brick having a spotted tan look...I'll post a few pics of what I'm talking about in a little while.

 

 

Good luck...and keep up the fantastic work....

 

PS: teach me master.

 

Nick B

Boston

Very Nice!!!

My vote is for tan brick with antique white for the window frames and trim.
You can mask off the bottom and spray it with Val-Spar light textured paint in granite color but since it's resin you'd need to prime the whole thing first with primer to insure your paint will go on even.

To hide the seams(in the front) at each end you can use some # 12 solid copper wire to simulate down spouts. Just take a cheap straight pin and wrap it around the wire cut it and use it to simulate the straps for the down spouts.
Paint it black or green and you won't see those seams .
Nice work.
David

 

Not my photo...but it's a Brooklyn Brownstone

 

 

That is absolutely stunning!  Great work!

Wow! The building is stunning. I looked at your website and it said you used individual bricks to build this! Fantastic! I would suggest a limestone color with dark gray windows. Green-gray slate would look good on the roof. Fred

Les:

 

I saw the first floor castings on your website. Will you be selling the upper floors too? 

Mr Muffin nice to hear from you again and our best to your wife. Back in the days of my participation at your you may remember I did cast modular wall panels for several buildings. They did not sell and the cost of creating the molds plus making an inventory of castings turned out to be a very costly, time consuming and loosing propersition. What I surmized is that if some one is going to model a building  beyond a particular kit they want it to be a building particular to their interest. Very few would probably want a building of this size for their layouts.

 

Thus if I have a component to make and think it will possibly be of interest eg window, cornice, store front etc I go the extra step in making a casting. In this case I thought some traction or subway folks would be interested in creatiing a variety of urban buildings. I am still waiting to hear.

 

Take windows for example. I am well aware that there are many excellent quality and variety of windows available at very competitive prices. The only advantage I can offer is providing a set of windows for a given architecture that is not available. From what I can tell most modelers are very content with the more generic buildings and not focused on archtectual preferences.

 

Thanks again for your comment

 

Les Lewis

 

 

 

Les: We re building a new layout and have the room. Any chance you can sell us everything so we could build one of these? Thanks, once again, for your reply. I have been saving back the parts I bought from you to make the REA station. We are finally going to build it!

Les: Our layout contains many structures built with your printed building faces; we have long admired your work.

 

We too are quite interested in building a structure based on this building. I'm thinking in terms of a row of urban housing, so perhaps I only need (multiples of) an upper floor panel and a relatively modest roof panel.

 

I also would dearly love to see a first floor panel section converted to a retail store.

 

We lived in the South End of Boston for over 30 years. Urban housing stock of this age goes through many cycles of modifications and uses at ground level!

 

Jan

I would certainly be interested in buying any and all castings to create a similar building.  I have used your modular parts to create a very nice building and would be very much interested in paying for the new castings.  I understand your position given the history you relate; however, I would encourage you to consider marketing those castings.  Regardless, your building is awesome and a beautiful piece of work

 

I would like to begin by thanking each of you for your comments. I have recorded them all in my workbook and will consult them as I look at color swatches.

 

I appreciate your interest in row houses and large structures and thought I would post a few photos that did not appear in the published articles. Please keep in mind photography is not my strong suite.

 

About 10 years ago I needed a backdrop model to finish off one of my end loops. In looking through architectual books I found a photo and plan for the Hotel Victoria in Chicago that fit the bill size wise. It is constructed in styrene but faced with Holgate and Raynolds siding. I was a big user of their brick material until I decided to use individual brick. I perfer the irregular appearance and the crisp edges of the bricks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About 8 years ago I Participated in a trolley meet and my wife and I spend some time strolling the streets around Commonwealth Ave ( seem to recall). Since I always travel with my 100ft tape measure when I came across a row of connected but individual houses aound the commons area. So we measured and I tried to capture the spirit of the street.

 

 

 

 

I'll betcha every forumite who has just seen these photos still has their mouth hanging open, beginning w/ that magnificent hotel.

Frank

You got that right.

David

Wow, My dentures fell out when my bottom jaw hit the desk. I cannot even find the words to describe how amazed, maybe stunned will work, I am when viewing these photos. I can picture myself relaxing on the stairs of any of those homes watching kids play in the street and listening to the sounds of the neighborhood! Congratulations on showing us just how high the bar can be raised!

 

Thanks you!

Les, I've admired your buildings for a long time. Recently came across an old article of your trolley layout in OGR(early 90's). While I agree the detail and sizes of your models may take too much real estate, I would be in for a couple of normal,smaller structures.

GREAT WORK!

 

Dave G.

Les,

As promised, see below for some pics of our past and current projects in the Boston ares showing the coloration of the masonry that came to mind when I saw your structure....rather than going with a "typical" red brick.

 

Nick B.

 

Yup!  Me, too.  Absolutely beautiful.

 

George

To all of you that praised my efforts I truly thank you for your encouragement. I should confes that all my attempts have not been that successful in the long run. A while ago I became enamored with a building I saw in an architectural book that is from Melboure Florida. It had a coral block face and would fit nicely in a main street lot I had on the layout. I still like the model but as you can tell from the photo it looks totally out of place in a small Connecticut city setting.  The figures shown, were made form Durams Water Putty paster over copper wire armatures. They have all been replace with my own resin cast firgure of slightly higher quality. Also the buildings interior has been enhansed.

 

 

Les,

I took the time to copy and alter your posted photo in Photoshop CS5 to "mock up" some different color elements that might work for you. When I think downtown CT I think brownstone, limestone, granite, and the such. Take a look of the pic....IMO with a little color variation and some atmospheric weathering...you'll be much happier with the more "prototypical CT" look you might be going for.

 

Nick B

Middleton, MA

Nick, I appreciate your taking the time to photoshop my photo with you wonderful suggestions. I printed your photo and will apply many of them to my current project and add your photo to my 'Things to do" project list for rehabing this building. I also plan to add a door where the open stairway is currently. Should help to keep the snow out.

 

Thanks again Les

Just bouncing this beautiful thread back to the top for any recent members who may not have seen Wes' work.