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Anyone else who has tall buildings on their layout, I love to see them!

 

Here's an overview of the Manhattan part of my layout.

Tall Buildings 01

 

This is the view of Macy's Department Store on 34th St. from the top of the Empire State Building.

Tall Buildings Tuesday 10

 

Before the Pan Am Building (now Met Life) was built in 1960, the New York Central Building was what one would see directly behind Grand Central Terminal when looking north from Park Avenue.

Tall Buildings Tuesday 11

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I really appreciate your layout, Skip.

I always wanted to build a city complete with tall buildings...as a young man I'd ride by bike through downtown Philly on my way to school and to work - riding through man-made canyons. That, and riding the subway and suburban trains through underground tunnels influenced me in some way.

To date I've only been able to kit-bash mostly Railking buildings, taking them apart, applying mortar effect, and detailing the lobbies, and then stacking two or more buildings together. Very time-consuming and many I've done at night in hotels while away on business trips. Someday, I'd like to be able to get the custom buildings like Skip has...the Chrysler Building is my all-time favorite. I wish MTH or Lionel would come out with unique tall buildings made out of plastic, even if it was a couple hundred bucks it'd be a winner IMO. Maybe even a Lego-type building system, where a hobbyist could use components to build a variety of structures.

 

HPIM0646

HPIM0650city

 

 

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Last edited by Paul Kallus
Paul Kallus posted:

I really appreciate your layout, Skip.

I always wanted to build a city complete with tall buildings...as a young man I'd ride by bike through downtown Philly on my way to school and to work - riding through man-made canyons. That, and riding the subway and suburban trains through underground tunnels influenced me in some way.

To date I've only been able to kit-bash mostly Railking buildings, taking them apart, applying mortar effect, and detailing the lobbies, and then stacking two or more buildings together. Very time-consuming and many I've done at night in hotels while away on business trips. Someday, I'd like to be able to get the custom buildings like Skip has...the Chrysler Building is my all-time favorite. I wish MTH or Lionel would come out with unique tall buildings made out of plastic, even if it was a couple hundred bucks it'd be a winner IMO. Maybe even a Lego-type building system, where a hobbyist could use components to build a variety of structures.

 

HPIM0646

HPIM0650city

 

 

Paul, my Birthday Buddy, your layout looks fantastic! I would like to add that entire section to my layout if I could find the real estate! Really nice!!!!

W&W posted:

Custom built   MetLife,   South Fork Railroad headquarters,  large office complex buildings  & York Hotel etc. on the “SOUTH FORK RAILROAD” layout.

 

80E4EA68-DB73-4E78-AEE2-9C67B044EDE7

Very nice. Great Met Life Building. I see you measured twice 

Here's what the scene looked like before 1960 when they built the Pan Am Building, now Met Life. That's the New York Central Building.

Tall Buildings Tuesday 11

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NYC Fan posted:
OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

Another view of downtown:

579

Alan, 

You continue to be an inspiration to us urban modelers. I love the videos on youtube! 

Thanks Skip!  The pictures I posted above are a year or two old now so things have changed and new high rises have gone up...the "Golden Tower" is one example:

304 pic 3

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Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:
OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

Here is a view of the main downtown area with quite a few over 6 foot tall skyscrapers: if you right click on the picture and then choose "open link in new window" you will get a full page view...

20171002_222254

Alan, is the middle area here a walkway/access? It looks very narrow, about how big/small is the gap(22")?

Dave...it is 30 inches.  To help judge the dimensions, the train shed is 4 feet wide by 8 feet long...

NYC Fan posted:

Anyone else who has tall buildings on their layout, I love to see them!

 

Here's an overview of the Manhattan part of my layout.

Tall Buildings 01

 

This is the view of Macy's Department Store on 34th St. from the top of the Empire State Building.

Tall Buildings Tuesday 10

 

Before the Pan Am Building (now Met Life) was built in 1960, the New York Central Building was what one would see directly behind Grand Central Terminal when looking north from Park Avenue.

Tall Buildings Tuesday 11

Beautiful and original. Did you scratch build these or did a custom builder do them? Really outstanding. 

I use a semi quick and dirty way to do large buildings.  I start with 1/8th in plastic sheets, glued together to make a box.  I have a vinyl cutter like a Cricut and cut vinyl sheets for things like window openings, doors etc.  I take the ENTIRE sheet and stick to the building box.  I then do the rattle can bit to get some color.  Last thing I do is peel out the window panes (after allowing the paint to completely dry).  Russ

W&W posted:

Custom built   MetLife,   South Fork Railroad headquarters,  large office complex buildings  & York Hotel etc. on the “SOUTH FORK RAILROAD” layout.

 

80E4EA68-DB73-4E78-AEE2-9C67B044EDE7

Very nice Craig ... great placement of Grand Central Terminal ...are the concrete railings  a commercial product? 

I also have the GCT and have been searching for a similar railings 

Wow there are some incredible layouts out there ...a big thanks to everyone for posting images  

And I though GCT was tall...... 

Cheers Carey P_20180809_090107_vHDR_On

 

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Carey Williams posted:
W&W posted:

Custom built   MetLife,   South Fork Railroad headquarters,  large office complex buildings  & York Hotel etc. on the “SOUTH FORK RAILROAD” layout.

 

80E4EA68-DB73-4E78-AEE2-9C67B044EDE7

Very nice Craig ... great placement of Grand Central Terminal ...are the concrete railings  a commercial product? 

I also have the GCT and have been searching for a similar railings 

Wow there are some incredible layouts out there ...a big thanks to everyone for posting images  

And I though GCT was tall...... 

Cheers Carey P_20180809_090107_vHDR_On

 

Carey,

Concrete railings were made for me by Stan at East Coast Enterprises.  He also made the MetLife and the other taller buildings.

Just a random comment:

I have always thought that even really good models of large, modern buildings tend to look less realistic than equivalent models of more traditional buildings. But then I started to actually look at real modern skyscrapers. The fact is that the REAL ones look fake, too!

Looking at real architecture with a modeler's eye is revealing in many ways.

Avanti posted:

Just a random comment:

I have always thought that even really good models of large, modern buildings tend to look less realistic than equivalent models of more traditional buildings. But then I started to actually look at real modern skyscrapers. The fact is that the REAL ones look fake, too!

Looking at real architecture with a modeler's eye is revealing in many ways.

I agree 100%. I like to model the buildings of the Art Deco era of the early 20th century, but could have saved a bundle of money going with the modern.

coach joe posted:

Skip your representation of the real "Downtown" is fantastic.

Paul you've got some of your own man made canyons going on there.

Alan you are the master of the skyscraper.  I always like seeing the "Bridge" building.

Thanks Joe....that bridge building has an interesting story and was my wife's idea as to what to do about two bridges I had no room for on the layout...

OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:
coach joe posted:

Skip your representation of the real "Downtown" is fantastic.

Paul you've got some of your own man made canyons going on there.

Alan you are the master of the skyscraper.  I always like seeing the "Bridge" building.

Thanks Joe....that bridge building has an interesting story and was my wife's idea as to what to do about two bridges I had no room for on the layout...

There was that big river to cross.

Really impressive! Stunning actually! I had the fun of seeing Bill Bramlage's layout in person north of Cincy. It too had a city scape that was almost beyond belief… almost.

If you have a chance to get to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, check out the HO railroad the emulates the route of the BNSF (sponsored by them) which goes from Chicago to Seattle. Chicago is done in full scale with the Willis (nee Sears) tower extending up at least 15 feet. You need high ceilings when you want to do these things.

IMG_3882

Above the tower is the underside of a the wing of a Boeing 727 in 1:1 scale. Impressive space!

IMG_3893

Amazing what you can do with an almost unlimited budget and lots and lots of room… Kind of humbling, ain't it.

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