Justice City Dioramish

[MartyO]

Doug/Jeff, Thanks for the comments. I believe one can learn more from someone else's mistakes so they can make their own.

A number of years ago, lost in the passage of time, I visited the Springfield Train Show. When one goes to a show it is a mortal sin to leave empty handed and not have bought a kit. Whether or not the kit will will ever be used or fit into your diorama/train layout. 

This was an expectation that year, I knew I wanted another Fos Scale waterfront model. It had a targeted place for the Justice City diorama, but never actual got there. after spending $250CDN, plus hotel, food and gas for the trip, I had purchased the most expensive kit I have purchased. It spent multiple years gathering dust and constantly in my way while rummaging for other stuff.

Well that time has come to include the Fos Scale Department of Docks (part 2) in the diorama. At the left most part of the diorama, just before the rocky shoreline, I needed a visual separation from the clapboard and boat docks and the larger stone buildings of the distillery and future large manufacturing building. In the previous post you can see the area that is bare and where it will go.

When I "test" fitted the walls in that area of the waterfront, it was too long. It is a 12" x 3" building and it was not going to be right. What a waste of money!

Hold on. When have I actually built a kit following the instructions? It was back in 2013. Why not mess with this kit to fit into the location, rather then throw out $250+ CDN away. Just maybe, I could turn this boring exterior only kit into a jaw dropping masterpiece? 

So I cut off 3" from the end of the kit wall.

As I usually do I will build a detailed interior with all sorts of stuff. I will leave off the waterside end wall and allow people to view the interior. The roof rafters will have period correct details, lighting if some sort, a second floor (of some sort) and a office area. The roof will not be coming off and interior post and studs will be include. Plus anything else I change my mind to add or delete.

It is going to be "fun"!

[ReadingBob]

Inspiring work! 

[ACL1504]

Marty,

Looking forward to this conversion. It will be a great addition to the area.

Tom 

[MartyO]

I hope I can do this build justice.

There is not much strip wood in the kit, so I will have to dig some up from the supply drawer.

I am mostly working from the hip here with only a guess of what I am going to do. I think I will need to put some supports on the bottom to attach a floor to.

The interior walls are scored to represent 1x12 boards for the building walls. The exterior siding would have bee nailed to these boards. The means I do not have to cut the cladding at studs when I detail the siding.

The "might" be a second floor or loft; I have not decided yet. Anyways, it can be the top plates for the lower stud walls.

Then vertical beams are add to support the main structure and keep the walls flat when staining.

In the next post I will frame the studs.

[MartyO]

Normally stud walls are on 16" or 24" spacing. I think that makes the walls look too busy, so spaced then between 30" to 36" evenly spaced between the beams when every possible. It looks better and when it is viewed from the end wall, the viewer will see 2"x8" studs, rather than a mess of wood.

The lower part of the side walls are done. The studding is symmetrical across both walls as it would have been built in the 1:1 world. Notice the king studs and beams above the garage doors.

I repeat this for the upper floor trying to align the studs to the bottom floor whenever possible. The upper windows does not make this possible.

So this is where I am so far. When you look done the building you get this feeling of a very long building. You can see the details of the stud work and how the second floor would split this view into two giving it more opportunity for added interest. I am even thinking about making the open end of the building slightly wider to add to the depth perception.  What do you think?

BTW: all this work still has me in Step 1 of the instructions.

Ok, back to work...

[tom.boyd.125]

 Marty. looking good ! What's not to like about a waterfront and building interiors...Tommy

[Zephyrus52246]

Looks pretty cool.  I think making the end wider will make the roof look odd when viewed from overhead.  Maybe try a mockup of the roof. 

Jeff

[MartyO]

Jeff,

You have a good point there.

[ACL1504]

I hope I can do this build justice.

Marty, 

Isn't this the Justice City Dioramish? So, how can you not do it justice? 

I think you are doing a fantastic job on it and I like the interior detail.

Looking forward to this build.

Tom 

[GPdemayo]

Looks like it has enough framing to stand up to a few gusts, nicely done Marty.....

[jerryrbeach]

Marty,

Great job thus far. I really like the scribed boards on the interior walls, and the modified post and beam construction with studs.  I'll be dropping in to catch your progress. 

[MartyO]

Thanks for dropping by.

The main reason for so many studs was was for something for the sub-wall boards to be nailed to. I did think about doing a "full" beam construction and decided that was a bit too much for the interior.

Ok, it was time to make a decision about the second floor, to have it or not. I was leaning to have a second floor, but where to put the stairs is the issue. If it is in the interior of the building, it would look a bit crowded and really not add any interest.

So I looked at adding the stairs on the exterior. This would add to the interest of the building and give the second floor more purpose. It could be a different business not related to the main floor thus giving an opportunity to show evolution of the old building.

A quick sketch confirmed that it was possible. 

But it would mean I had to eliminate a window. It was easy enough to cut out the door opening and fit  a similar door to the rest of the building.

It was time to do a HO scale diagram and see how the stairs could look like. With the height of the main floor to the second floor it would result in 16 or 17 steps. This is too much for an person to walk up without getting exhausted. Plus it would have been challenging for the builder to make them.

A mid-level landing is the solution to the long stairs.

The trouble is there is a window right at the landing location. So I filled it in with the off-cuts of shortening the building.

With that done, I used by dark Brown dye stain to give the interior walls a old wood look. 

I think the next thing to do is detail the exterior cladding and thinking how lighting and electric will go in the building. Or should I even do that?

Until the next post.