I wanted to create the look of high speed GG1 pulled passenger trains streaking above the rear of typical New Jersey tenements:
For those who don’t know, these were typically built as one building, but they looked like they were separate buildings from the front. I decided a three wide unit would look reasonably realistic, artistically pleasing, and above all, fit in the available space. I made mine from three Woodland Scenics JW Cobbler buildings. For the two outer ones I used “Built and Ready structures.” The inner one was made from a kit. This photo shows how I arranged them:
I had to widen the roof in the center section, as well as do a little trimming to get everything to line up. I used Black Out tape cut into ¾” wide strips, to make the roof.
The biggest challenge was to match the brick/mortar color of center wall to that of the two ends.
I also re-arranged some of the details (electrical conduits, drainpipes, trash bins, awnings) so all three backs would not be identical.
If I had stopped there, this would have been a two day project. But I got carried away.
I added some roof top entrances. They were scratch built from Plastruct brick and Grandt Line D&RG RPO doors. I made a pattern using Microsoft Power Point, printed it on cardboard, and then folded a mock up to make sure it fit:
I then taped the Power Point drawing on some .040” styrene sheet, scored it with a #11 blade, then glued the plastic brick with 3M 77 adhesive. I used Tenax 7R to prevent delamination at the edges. All three took about three hours:
And of course I had to add that pigeon coop. Here was my prototype:
I made mine from scale lumber, bridal veil, styrene sheet, and some black construction paper. It took about a day. The pigeons are from Artista. The figure is a kitbashed soldier from a Tamiya German Infantry men kit, and is an homage to the late Kenneth Mars (aka Franz Liebkind) from “The Producers”:
Bird droppings were made by simply loading up a tooth brush with white acrylic paint, and then flicking the paint off by rubbing my thumb over the ends of the bristles.
The building is fully lit with a number of shadow boxes (we will get to that in a moment) as well as some outside lights. I used all LED's this time. I like their effect, but they are a bit more cumbersome than incandescents as sometimes it takes multiple circuits to tailor the current for individual LEDs:
Of course as long as the train is going by the back of the tenement, the passengers just can’t help but look into everyone’s Rear Window. So without further delay, here are the characters they see:
Sir Alfred winding the clock, while the composer (Ross Bagdasarian, aka David Seville of Chipmunk fame) plays the piano:
The Newlyweds:
Miss Lonely Hearts
The Dog Lady and her husband:
Miss Torso:
And, last but not least, the ill fated Anna Thorwald, and her husband Lars:
All in all a fun project. Although one could argue it strays pretty far from model railroading. So my next project will be two rail an ABBA set of Lionel Sharks. In the meantime, enjoy the scenery!
