Hotel and Grill

[Random]

I press fit the walls and ceiling to make sure they still fit after painting.

[Random]

Thank you John.

[Random]

So, no takers  on the lease?   

I've been working on this one a little each night for the last several days as each bit has been a glue and wait to dry moment.

First off, I was contemplating the function of the hotel and restaurant and decided that the restaurant is located in the lobby of the hotel so access to room floors would be from there.  So clearly there needs to be a staircase visible though the windows.  I decided to put it in the back right corner so that that one midlevel windows on the right looks into the stairs. I built up the lower half of the stairs with some balsa and a piece of bass wood cut to be the banister and outer wall.




After a night to dry we have this:




While that was drying I cut a ceiling from black card stock to close off the first level.  This took some trial and error to fit.




For now it press fits in place and will eventually provide the mounting surface for lighting for the restaurant.



Also that night I "painted" the restaurant walls with some scrapbooking paper.   It has a nice brushed texture that makes the walls look a little aged.  The paper is fairly heavy and gives a finished wall by covering the framing of the stiffening strip wood.




Getting back to the stairs, I cut another piece of basswood to form the outside of the second flight.  The stairs to up to a landing and then turn 90 degrees.  This took a little bit of creative clamping and weighting as the connection is very thin.




With the eraser removed you can see the temporary blocking that was used to hold things in place while they dried.




And here is the staircase in progress form the back side.  The actual stairs are Central Valley plastic stairs with the edge sanded a bit flat to make for a better glue connection. 




More to come in a few minutes.

[Random]

Next up is more work on the stairs.   The second flight is more of the Central Valley stairs. 




This took more creative blocking and a liberal dose of canopy glue.




In the end it came out good.  This is from the back side and will be against the wall.




I painted the wood with a gray that is a close match with the paper walls.  I also used the gray to prime the plastic stairs.




This is the side that will face the windows. 




While I was waiting for paint to dry I use some green scrapbooking paper to add a wainscoting around the walls of the restaurant.  I carried this up the first half of the stairs as well.







By the time the last picture was taken I had also glued in the wooden walls on the left section.  They had been darken with india ink which gave it a nice rich tone.  I left the ceiling lighter so that it would reflect more light into the scene. 


Another liberal application of canopy glue was used to attach the stairs to the wall.  I was careful to keep the glue off the bottom of the stairs as I did not want to attack the wall to the floor.  I also used a sheet of wax paper under the stairs while the glue set to keep the floor safe.  Note that the stairs have been painted a color similar to the flooring paper to imply the same carpeting runs up the stairs.




As soon as the canopy glue had grabbed (5 minutes or so) I lifted the building off the base and let it dry on its back.




Here is the view into the restaurant space with the stairs place.




Here is another view showing the left wall.  I made the "kitchen" door from more scrapbooking paper.  I used a plastic door to trace the shape and then cut it out.  I used a brown maker to color the white edges of the paper.  I let the wall color show though the opening to get the effect of glass so the servers don't run each other over coming and going.




And just to close things out there's a street level view of the left end space of the building.

[Rail and Tie]

Awesome interior build!  Really liking your details mate!

[Random]

Thanks Darryl.


I did some more work on the interior last night and this evening.  First I made a simple front desk counter for the hotel.  The gentleman checking in has clearly had too much too drink, that's why he's blurry.




Then I referred back to the awesome work of Troels Kirk on his Coast Line Railroad over on the "other forum" and used his chair making method.  His were in O scale  and these are HO but in a way these seem a little stronger owing to the smaller lengths of the legs, I suppose.  In any event, I think they worked out well. 

This photo shows the process from left to right.  The fold lines were laid out and the overall strip cut.  I then cut individual chairs.  Next the legs were cut out.  Then the chair is folded at the lines.  I did this by folding against the edge of a small metal ruler.  I pressed the entire chair flat between my fingers to get good creases on each fold.  Finally a smear of canopy glue to secure the back and you have a chair.  Thank's to Troels for this brilliant and cost saving idea.   (Have you priced 30 HO chairs?)




30 chairs.  US penny for scale.  (also the cutting mat has a 1 inch grid)




I balanced a seated figure in one chair to make sure they scaled well.  Looking good.  (he's had a bit to drink too - blurry    )




Next I needed some tables.  I decided to make 30" square tables for "2-top" seating.  This isn't really a family restaurant so I figured it would mostly be single guys eating alone or with a buddy.  The tops are cut from heavy card.  I cut strips with an X-acto knife and then made the cross cut with my NWSL Chopper.  The table bases are cut from some small dowel also using the Chopper and glued with canopy glue.  Most of them are straight.




So I wound up with 30 chairs, 13 tables and one slightly inebriated gentleman.




And finally we have the tables laid out in the restaurant.  The pool table makes 14.  Its a metal casting I picked up used.  There are a couple of pool players with cues to go with it.  I don't know who made it.



I just finished putting a coat of black paint on the table bases.  They should show well enough against the light floor and walls.  The pool table got a coat of brown paint.  From some research it appear for the time period the felt should be a natural tan or red in color.  It seems like green felt is more modern.  I'm not certain about that but I think I'll go with a nice red.  There's enough green in this building already.

Cheers!

[Janbouli]

Love the interior ideas , no wonder your little people have had too much to drink , you keep saying " cheers " 

[Random]

Thanks.  That big set of windows just demanded something.  Speaking of which, I glued in some tables and chairs this morning.  They clearly need table cloths.  I probably should have added those first.  Live and learn.  I think I'd also make some kind of table base, maybe just a circle of punched paper, but I don't think missing it will detract. 




The view though the windows is looking good.

[Random]

In a few interludes between other work today I made some tablecloths for the restaurant.  They are just printer paper cut a bit bigger than the table top then folded down around an extra top.




I applied a light coat of canopy glue to the top of each table and placed a cloth on it.  I gently pressed them down with my finger to make sure there were no bubbles and left them to dry.




After the glue had set I worked at the corners and edges with my fingers and a small stick to get the folds to lie down better.  This would all have been easier if the tables were still loose.   I could have glued the edges and gotten nicer corner folds.  But all in all they came out ok.



Word is the guy in the gray jacket is from out of town.  I hear his name is Han.  The guy in the hat is a local who's rumored to be with the mob.  His name is Guido.  I'm not sure I trust either one.  And I'm not sure where that guy Han's right hand is.  He looks a little shifty.  Hope he's not packing.  Leroy doesn't like trouble in his place.

Cheers!

[S&S RR]

Roger


Great looking scene. The table clothes are a real nice touch.  I hope they don't end up with blood on them.

[tom.boyd.125]

 Roger, really nice looking structure. The interior modeling is really nice.  Who's mold material did you use for the storefronts in this project ? 
Tommy

[Random]

Thanks John, if the kitchen will hurry up with their food I suspect everything will be ok.

Tommy, the storefront started life as the lower portion of two DPM Goodfellows Hall kits.  They were leftover from turning the Goodfellows Hall into a 4 story building years ago.  The kits can be had from Woodland Scenics.

Here is that old modification.  It got a bit beat up in the aftermath of the tornado but should make a solid background building one day.

[Random]

I've been away from the board for a bit but I have still managed to get a little bench time lately.   I started working on the roof.  I cut shingle strips from Cason Pastel paper using a pair of pinking shears.  I marked a line 5mm from the end of the sheet and cut along that line.  Then I flipped the cut piece over and marked a cut line so that both strips would be the same size.  Then repeat.  Many many times.   





I cut out a card roof panel to the with I wanted and a bit taller that needed.  Then I marked out some guide lines 5mm apart to help keep the rows straight.  I then laid out the shingles using canopy glue applied to the back of each strip with a toothpick.  I had tried using the 3m transfer tape but it didn't provide enough contact surface.  It went faster than I expected and I was able to straighten the rows with the edge of a ruler.





I ran the rows up until I was happy with the overhang and then trimmed the panel's height.   I made two panels like this and marked the better one for the front.


This will disappoint some, but I decided against fulling framing the roof in favor of making it a lift off piece.  I previously build a subroof from medium weight chipboard.  I made two panels a bit narrower than the final roof width and tall enough to run from the peak to the wall.  The chipboard is about 1/16 thick so I edge glued the ridge seam and reinforced it with several chipboard triangles.  I forgot to take a picture of it but I will add one later.  Right now the subroof is a bit buried.


I laminated one of the roof panels to the subroof using canopy glue.  Too ensure the panel glued on flat I used a few weights.




That's pretty well every blue weight I have.  I did not want to risk any warping.  The second panel is drying now. 


Cheers

[GPdemayo]

Great progress Roger.....

[Random]

The weights are off so I can share a few more pictures.  Here is a view of the subroof structure.




You can see how the final roof panels extend beyond the subroof.




I added a ridge cap using the same Canson pastel paper as the roofing strips.




The roof sits nicely in place and will allow me to access the interior to at least add lighting to the restaurant. 




That's it for now.

Cheers