Starting to mockup the supporting beams for the station ceiling.

Completed mockup of roof supports for center part of station, with holes drilled for ceiling lights.

Covering the ceiling beams with Victorian-style "plaster" ceiling decoration. The first IRT station ceilings were full of this kind of ceiling treatment (see photo link from www.nycsubway.org). I couldn't find O scale replicas of this so I cut up panels intended for 1/12" scale dollhouses.

Beams in center part of station covered in fake plaster decorations.

Starting to install station lighting.

Platform lighting completed. Next step, the streetscape above.

Joe,

I am sure you have heard about or seen this, but the story of Philip Coppola's 40 year life's work is amazing.

One-Track Mind: Drawing the New York Subway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtzX_t14uyg

John

Yes, indeed, I am aware of Phil Copp's work. In planning my layout I visited Phil at his home in New Jersey a few years ago and bought several of his books of drawings of NYC subway station details. I found him to be a very nice guy with an epic treasure trove of information in his head regarding the history of the system.

@West Side Joe posted:

Platform lighting completed. Next step, the streetscape above.

That is some amazing and realistic modeling, Joe… I swear I caught a Lex train on that platform!!!

Black and white makes it look more "real". 🙂

This photo had me do a double take.  Thought it was real until I caught the slight shine, not the right word for it, on the ripple of the shirt just below her hair.

A couple of videos of my Old San Juan subway station in operation. 🙂

https://youtu.be/yCCLbBA0Af0?si=0igKytyvuIRJz4CZ

https://youtu.be/JZMTjGW_1nA?si=cRcyVoKBnb84ksdV

Some better videos:

https://youtu.be/8tFVVmcUDlA?si=Xe69hlUJFu80cFXP

https://youtu.be/gaVK-371ipQ?si=3lMEmyDVqwzvi0bR

https://youtu.be/4JORdvqL48U?si=MqLE9ijPV4E4_F6a

https://youtu.be/Wx_99GLScMA?si=TNP7uh_AtH-sNA47

Aluminum structure in place to support streetscape over station. Structure pivots up to allow closer inspection of platform details.

Are you going to have enough room between the street scape and the ceiling for city buildings or will it be more like Old San Juan?

Old San Juan for sure. Buildings will probably be subtly compressed in height. I need to leave room for an acrylic dust cover over the module.

@West Side Joe posted:

Black and white makes it look more "real". 🙂

The platforms are too clean……lol.  Dead give away!

Foamcore boards cut and placed to support streetscape above the station.

Foam Core? That's gonna be a light weight Street scape, especially with an acrylic cover.

I used foam core for the street surface in my first module (see photo), and it has held up well. The foam core in the San Juan module is well supported by the station ceiling beams (which also contain the LED's for the station). And I hope to build all the city buildings from foam core as well to keep things as light as possible.

I forgot about the "steel" columns in the station adding support, I was just envisioning the folding frame with cantilevered foam core supporting the weight above.

@West Side Joe  I've used foam core for removable streets as well. When I coated/painted only one side there was a tendency over time for the board to warp.  I would coat both sides next time in anticipation of stopping the warp.  Jeff

BTW - thanks for sharing the subway modeling - really impressive.

Good point. I painted the underside white to better reflect the station lights, and I was going to leave the other side unpainted because I'm going to lay streets, sidewalks and buildings on that side. But maybe I should paint the other side, too, just to be safe.

Starting to lay out sidewalks and locations of buildings and the plaza.

The small turrets ("garitas") found along the ancient walls of Viejo San Juan are iconic and so I want to include one at each end of the streetscape. I suppose some day there will be 3D printed versions, but for now I am making do by drilling and grinding out the insides, a door and windows of Chinese-made souvenirs that just happen to be the right scale! Milliput is fixing the accidents that happen. A face mask and a vacuum cleaner nozzle near by are a necessity because of the clouds and piles of dust made up of who-knows-what that are emerging from the insides of these souvenirs as I grind, cut and drill.

Completed garitas ready for placement on the layout, compared to the original souvenir.

Creating the first Old San Juan residence.

First front done. Later it will get some interior details and lights.

A bit of interior detail.

The upstairs tenant has a Sanse (Fiesta de la Calle de San Sebastian) poster on their wall.

If you've ever explored the side atreets of Old San Juan, you may have encountered this colorful facade. It's no longer a soda factory. The second flat for my Viejo San Juan streetscape.

Next addition to the Viejo San Juan streetscape: our favorite restaurant for the last 30 years, Café Manolin.

Decks cleared for the next building...

Cut a hole in the foamcore street surface for the stairs leading up to the entrance kiosk from the platform.

Absolutely Beautiful Work (as usual) Joe.

John

Joe,

Are you using an Xacto knife to do the cutting or a scalpel?  I find a scalpel seems to work better for me although my skill level can't hold a candle to yours.

John

Two X-Acto (or Excel) knives and blades. First I traced the opening with a pencil. Then I used a straightedge and a #1 knife with a new #11 blade to pierce the board along the traced line in closely-spaced intervals, making sure there's space under the board for the knife point to go all the way through. Finally I used the straightedge with a #2 knife and a new  #18 chisel blade to cleanly push through the piercings in the board.

The cast plaster sidewalks were going to be too heavy for the pivoting foamcore street surface so I cut some out of foamcore instead and I'll be scribing joints and curbs and the like into it. Here's some pics showing where I am in this flight of obsessive fancy.

Experimenting with different shades for painting the foamcore sidewalks. In Old San Juan, sidewalks are every color between dark gray and cream.