Revised posting. I thank you for your comments and assistance in getting the text and photographs together.
My new project: A row of 5 stand alone 3 story houses that date back to the late 1800, early 1900’s ’
Introduction:
I was checking out my traction layout for a new project and discovered I had only one unused space on the layout that was not covered. It is 30” wide and only 12”deep 
The challenge of this space is that it is between two of the control panels and flanked by the grand union and a half grand union. The purpose of keeping the space open was to allow operators to easily monitor operations and reset trolley pole wire derailments that occasionally occur.
I started my search of several architectural books looking for one story structures of interest that would not block the operators view or access to the overhead and work together to make an interesting scene. I did however find five standalone residential buildings that I think would be interesting and a challenge to create and would fit the space. My source was "Designs for Street Front, Suburban Houses and Cottages" by M.F.Cummings and C. C. Miller.
Each house is 3 stories high and dates back to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Unfortunately drawings are available for only the building’s front face. My plan is to construct one building at a time. The side and rear walls will be created based on designs from other sources but not to any prototype based on the restrictions of the buildings width being determined by the front and the depth of the available site.
The published plans were in 1/8” scale so I began by creating a set of ¼” scale plans.
Plan for building #1 was copied on to a sheet of 1/8”styrene. Masters were created for items to be casts such as the cornice, windows, window caps and sills, doors and front steps.
When I modeled each window and door I included a mounting flange on its back side which may be easily cut or filed off or modified for your projects requirements. I then marked the window and back of the wall panel enabling me to easily pop-in and pop-out. Windows for this building are cast in 3 parts. They are the window body, the window header and the window sill. These are currently available on my Westport Model Works web site for those who would like to try creating their own structures using this buildings architecture. In addition I will be posting a more detailed description of the development process with multiple photos.
Construction:
For building #1 I will follow construction practices I successfully used in the past. The structural walls will be 1/8” styrene. Windows and doors will be popped into appropriate cutouts in the structural face. Other details such as window headers and sills, cornice and steps, etc will be cemented onto the wall face.
Photo 1
Step 1- I marked out all of the window and door openings. For all the window openings and door openings I was able to use a ¾” Forstner bit in the drill press to remove the bulk of unwanted material from the window opening as marked. I then filed each window opening for a fit to the windows casting I was using at that position. When I achieved a near perfect pop-in fit I marked the back of the face and the window frame with a letter to enable me to position the same window in and out at the same wall position. Hint: I do not cement the windows etc into place until I have finished the interior and exterior.
Photo 1 Front side of front wall with all opening cut out.
This step concludes when I have test fit all the windows and doors for a wall panel.
Photo 2-
For this house I make one more test and adjustments as required. Since the headers and sills are applied separately from the windows I lay the side panel down and loosely position the headers and sill over the windows.
Photo 3-
Step 2-
Wall covering with paper overlay, plastic sheets, or what ever and exterior painting. Different building will require different details that I hope to experience in creating all five structures. For common brick work my preference is to apply individual bricks. Yes its very time consuming but I find the results very rewarding. The material I use is Evergreen #123 plastic strips which I chop into brick size pieces. I apply these with tweezers and a #0 brush using styrene cement The following photo shows the siding prepared with measurements marks and partial brick work applied.
I mark my siding with level horizontal pencil lines at 1” intervals and use with a straight edge to keep the bricks aligned. The following photo shows stone work added to the bottom of the wall along with a mounting bracket for the front steps.
The next step is painting the exterior. Again each building will require different treatment. For brick work I prefer to use Rustolium textured spray paint. For this house I used Adobe, Brown and red rust primer and black. Very, Very light light coats to give me a textured brick. The photo below shows the Adobe coat. After it cures for several days I wipe the side with regular premixed wall patch tainted with a little black. I wash it off after about five minutes with a dry cloth and the bricks loose their gloss.
Photo 4-
Photo 4-
This photo shows the front face brick work painted.
Note the overlapping bricks on the front wall edges have not been trimmed off.
They will be used when the sides are attached.
Photo 5-- enlargement shows the reason why I prefer to use individual bricks in my modeling. By
Figure 6- Shows a finished front wall with the sides attached. Note how the brick work color has changed and toned down.
Figure 7 - Shows the partially completed model posed with scale drawings of how the block will should look. My next phase is to detail the interior add figures, and complete the lighting.
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Please view my web site for updates and the details for finishing the interior of building #1. I will then proceed to building #2. I hope by this time this you will be inspired to go out and acquire a sheet of styrene and using available components attempt to scratch build a structure from plans or your individual creation.
Les Lewis
Your comments and suggestions are welcome on the forum or email at wsptmdlwks@gmail.com or 203-226-2798 9am:-11
m EST
