My winter project - Oakley Street Chicago

[bparrish]

James...

I have a brother-in-law who is an economist and routinely says, "torture the data until it confesses".  Translated... beat it up until you get what you want.

I put the photo in that I showed above in photo shop and worked with dither and sharpen and could read most of what is there.  The rear blue sign is H. Kalb and the bottom says Lager.  Kalb was a brewer that easily comes up on Google.  the next logical this after Lager is beer.   The only real fabrication was the top of the segmented sign.  Again Lager can be pulled out .  No amount of 'cooking" would bring up the upper part.  I made an executive decision on Dortmund as that was a common sign in Chicago when I grew up and also comes up on Google.

Thanx for looking in
Bob

[bparrish]

Did a bunch of detail work on the structures and got them "planted" into the base work and side walks.

Time for some upholstery.  Although none of it is visible around the foreground structures, it cannot be overlooked.

There is no precise date on the photo but mid to late September 1893 is pretty close.  Withing two to three weeks otta get it.  People in Chicago started to switch back to dark clothing during September, away from summer whites.  Also the leaves are coming off the trees by October.

So I chose colors that still showed the not completely yellowed out of shrubs and trees of mid September.

There is still a lot of detail stuff but it's starting to look like something.

see ya
Bob

[bparrish]

Having run out of structure stuff for a while I decided that I need to 'Plant' the scaffolding.

The source photo shows a poured concrete footing for each stilt.

I have done this before on other projects so it was no big deal.  I made up a crude form out of 1/4" foam board and pinned it together.  I then put common plaster Paris............... HOT hydrocal.  It gets too hard for this sort of stuff.

I then took it out of the form after about two hours.  I cut it into 3/16" sections sort of like slicing up salami. It cuts really easily with a small saw and does not hurt the blade.  I cut them into small squares and poked a hole in the middle.

The rigid foam has a /16" hole where each stilt is to be and a suitable wire crammed into each.  I then put the square footings on the wire and shaped them appropriately for each location.  I then glued them down and planted them also in the dirt.

see ya
Bob

[Janbouli]

Looking great Bob, wish you had enough room for a layout with this theme , would be awesome.

[Dave K.]

So  one of my RR cronies said I was getting too carried away.......  He might be right.

I am however, having too much fun with this whole thing.

And that's the ultimate point, isn't it? Wonderful craftsmanship and superb thread!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[jerryrbeach]

Bob,

I love the way you have captured a moment in time by incorporating the history of the area with lots of detective work.

[Jerry]

Excellent work Bob and a great thread to follow along with.

Jerry

[PRR Modeler]

Great craftsmanship.

[postalkarl]

Hi Bob:

This project is coming along quite nicely. Can't wait for more.

Karl

[bparrish]

So maybe I am getting obsessive here.............

I started working on people yesterday afternoon.  There are about 20 in the photo.  I selected ones that were close and then heated up the soldering iron.  Most of these are styrene Preiser figures so I warmed up some arms and legs and got them where they each need to be in the photo.

But wait ! ! !   There are a lot of straw hats.  I was going to make them out of styrene but I didn't have any rod that didn't have a hole in it for tubing.

So here they are in brass.  I can bend the brims and shape the crowns to get them right of each one. Some have Hamburgs so they are done.

see ya
Bob

[Jerry]

Great job Bob!

It must be "Margarita Time" so put down the iron and have a couple and relax!!

Jerry

[Bruce Oberleitner]

As always your work is awesome Bob.  Missed seeing you at the train meeting today but hope to see you next month (If not before) for the Spring Meet.

[GPdemayo]

The scene is really starting to come alive.....and the "little people".....no wonder you needed an adult beverage. 

[bparrish]

Got the little people done and the ones on the street mounted.

I also added a photographer.  Not shown in the source photo (pretty obvious reasons).

This was yelling at me really loud as my dad once asked me a question.  He had taught me to black ink pen sketching and I did a copy of Washington crossing the Delaware.  He asked, "Where is the guy that painted him?"

Seemingly an honest question but that always stuck with me.   Soooooooooooooo...........

Voila.......... a photographer.

see ya
Bob

[bparrish]

And a few more...