I picked up this Chooch casting late last week. It was described as a knock-off and has some faults in the casting process. I think some creative painting will help hide the issues. I am going to create some windows and see what I come up with. Does anyone have a picture of what you did with this casting? Were there stairs intended to go up to the door? What did the windows look like? If you were putting it on your layout, would you have it as a flat, shadowbox or building?
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For you Doug... Replicate it and sell it since Chooch has stopped making tall O scale buildings! YEs I would install a staircase with side arches to "clear the basement door" or to have a false countersunk foundation in the front only showing the tops of those basement windows and door.
this could be a nice Dept Store, City hall, Federal Building, Bank even a modest train station.
Frank-
I would not replicate anyone else's work without their permission. This piece was a knockoff and does suffer a little bit from not being cast from an original master and mold making process. Thank you for the pictures. We have been working on our own brownstones project and have some of the same details prototyped. I know now that I can add window AC's to the list! Our brownstones are designed with the foyer/entrance at 3/4 of a story raised, and the building is planned to set flat on a train table. We have designed stairs that come straight down to the sidewalk and turn 90 degrees halfway down. It would be up to the buyer to create the below grade entrances.
i think this was part of Chooch’s Ultrascale II series. i thought i knew most of them (and made many) but, i don’t really recognize this one. I originally read the molds were being sold to Scenic Express but, I guess it didn't happen. Really a shame. Absolutely the best, most realistic fronts (probably because they were based on actual buildings from a well known turn of the century architect. I always added side walls, somewhat shortened (but not shadow box short) so the building would take up too much real estate. The ideas prrhorseshoecurve suggested seem exactly right. Seems too stately for a brownstone, though.
The building is the "front" for a building called "The Chamber of Commerce Building". There was a large side wall that could be paired with the front or used separately. I used two fronts and two sides and created a very nice Passenger Station. I will try to scare up a few pictures. I think Chooch's castings were some of the nicest, best detailed fronts I had seen. Sorry they are not longer produced.
Paul
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