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Quick dio for photo shoots


GTMust

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A while back I built (but never completely finished) a 1/32 scale early 1900's dio to photograph the brass era cars. It was basically a Blacksmith shop converted to an early repair garage with an attached store.

As the 1930's and later cars and trucks look a little out of place on it, I thought I should do something similar for later years. In fact, something that could even be appropriate in today's world as a leftover from a previous era, but still functioning.

So....... here we go.......

I started by cutting the front walls out of foamboard using my architect's scale of 3/8" = 1'-0" (1/32 scale). I made the basic building walls a scale 8'-0" high, the garage section 22' wide and the storefont 20' wide.

basics.jpg

The garage wall was raised by 3' to allow for a rough stone base. The garage doors then became 8' wide x 10' high.

raisedgarage.jpg

Next I added coffee stir stick siding to the garage section..... and Evergreen horizontal siding to the storefront.

sidingandstoneapplied.jpg

storefrontsiding.jpg

I then built a porch roof and glued it to the top of the storefront wall. The picture is just a quick mockup with a diecast truck to get an idea of the effect.

porchroofadded.jpg

I still have to add the porch supports,door and windows, etc. and paint, but it's coming along.

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  • 2 months later...

What started as a "quickie" dio has taken on a life of it's own......!

It's become the main street of "Thomasville", a small but thriving community founded by immigrant Thomas Ratclffe in the mid 1800's. Thomas opened a General Store in 1895, and then a Bank and now is building the hotel, which should be completed soon.

It's Sunday morning and the townsfolk are all at church. The town is still and quiet. Time to snap a few pictures of the progress...........

layout+6.jpg

layout+4.jpg

layout+5.jpg

Tomorrow the carpenters, roofers and painters will be back at work........

(Just noticed the time traveller from the '50's dropped by, while no one was around....... back to the future....... Where are Marty and the Doc?)

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I was originally planning that the hotel would be a brick structure.... but I can't find any 1/32 scale brick stryrene sheets. They are available in other scales... but not 1/32.

So instead, I decided to give the hotel a fancy wooden facade...... in keeping with it's stature in the town.

Here's the main floor exterior mocked up:

000_0002.jpg

And the bank now has a shingled porch roof that needs a little more detail dry brush painting.

000_0003.jpg

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Just to let you know the crews have been working in Thomasville, trying to get the town ready for the seasonal celebrations. It's been a little slow going with Christmas shopping taking so much time.... but they've made a little progress.

A new sidewalk has been built in front of the hotel and the second floor windows and door openings have been prepared. The windows are here, waiting for the clapboard siding crew to finish (or even start!) their work. The side entrance door is also being prepared for access to the service entrance to the hotel at the back.

(Oh, Oh.... that time traveller is back again. And in a Duesenberg, no less!)

e1216.jpg

That's more like it. The town Doctor's 1983 Duryea is parked on the main street.

d1216.jpg

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Thanks for the comments guys.

James:...... It is an 1893 Duryea. It's built from an rare early Highway Pioneers (later Revell) kit from the 1950's. I did confirm it as the 1893 vehicle when I built it........ as I thought it should have been 1895 as well. If you do some further research, I think you'll find that Wikipedia is not quite correct....... or at least, misleading.

Check out "America on the Move" from the Smithsonian.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_1272.html

Tony

Edited by GTMust
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More progress today. It's Monday and the crews have been back at work on the hotel. They've got the second floor windows and door installed and the clapboard siding is nearing completion. Still lots of trim to add.

The main floor walls have been completed, painted and the double main door and large windows are in place.

It's now Monday afternoon, the crews have finished for the day and the local townsfolk are checking out the progress. Farmer Fred has parked his Sears Autobuggy outside the bank while he's inside making a deposit. Jim Farley of Farley Feeds is being driven back to his home, but the driver is paying more attention to the new hotel than looking where he's going! He almost hits the Model A Ford pulling away from the curb.

Model+T+bw.jpg

Now Mr. Farley's driver has returned for a closer look at the hotel. The couple in the Model A Ford are also heading back home after a visit with relatives further down Main Street.

passing+bw.jpg

If the crews return tomorrow, hopefully they'll get started on the balcony posts and handrail before someone falls off.....!

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Mike.... I think you may be right. In focus black and white does look a little like a scene from a 1940's Jimmy Stewart movie like "It's a wonderful life"!

I'll try the sepia effect with the next round of photos. Thanks for the suggestion.

Tony... thanks for the comments.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So now the festivities of the Christmas and New Year celebrations are behind us.... it's time to get back to the dio and a couple of 1/32 scale builds.

Here's today's dio progress on the hotel: Balcony and supports are painted and the trim around the top of the walls is in place.

First in my camera's only "sepia" setting......

hotel+sepia.jpg

and the same thing in black and white.....

hotel+bw.jpg

Not sure which I prefer.......? I'm also not sure if the camera's of the time (1900's) would have produced sepias....... I'm thinking this would have occured as the prints aged..... so that pictures of the time would have actually been in black and white. Anyone know?

Tony

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I did a Google search on "Early Photography" and found some interesting stuff.

The first recorded photos were taken in the 1820's (surprise!) but by the late 1800's, black and white photography was the norm. I can't find a definite date when b/w became normal....... but certainly by the time Thomasville was being built.

For anyone interested, do the Google search that I did and you'll also find some very interesting early images, including some black and white street scenes taken in Schenectady, New York around 1902.

Based on this, I'm going to stick with the black and white.

Hopefully.... I interpreted the information correctly?

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Thanks Jim and Terry....

I'm just waiting for the second floor balcony railings to come in the mail and then the basic structures will be pretty well complete. Now to look for some more 1900's townspeople figures that are in scale. Plus some streetscape accessories of the period.

Tony

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