Quanah, Acme and Pacific (QA&P) - West Texas - Fictitious Model Railroad Layout Agriculture Industry

Paul,
You might look at microscope slide covers. They are thin glass, about 0.13mm thickness. Being glass they won't "cloud up" when glue is applied. Available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/LAKWAR-Micro...prefix=glass+slide+covers,aps,142&sr=8-8&th=1

Dave

 

Thanks, David. I've used them before, but they're tons of work.

The current plan is to carefully measure the window opening and make a digital file of the window opening plus about four scale inches all around. I will print 40 individual windows on a clear sheet of acetate. The extra 4" will be printed on a laser printer. Then just cut out each window, paint the surrounding 4" green or brown, and glue it in place. It won't look perfect, but it will be better than it is now.

 

It's amazing how long it takes to paint individual window frames. But it's getting there.

The other attached image is the window glass template. It worked out pretty good. After carefully measuring and building rectangles in photoshop, I printed them on a sheet of clear acetate and am now cutting them out. Actually, I built one and duplicated it 35 times. Hopefully, they will give the appearance of real, individual windows on the inside. The edges and the black perimeter strip will be touched with dark green.

 

Yes, but I count 24 windows on those two sides that show. (Plus more on the sides that don't show.) That's a LOT of windows to hand paint!

 

Andre, you are absolutely correct. 24 done, 17 to go!!! But at least I'm past the halfway point. There are a few that need some touchup...

Tonight I cut out a couple of the window glass inserts. It looks like they may actually work fairly well. The printed edges give them the appearance of an interior frame around the glass.

 

With the wind WSW at 50 G 70, there's not much to do outside, so the building got a little attention today. The elevator now has poles and cable for a guardrail on the sides. This is pre OSHA, so there won't be any gate on the front.

Nearly all of the windows are installed. They need a tiny bit of touch on the green trim. That is something I hope to never do again...Talk about time consuming. Between painting all 41 exterior windows, cutting out each individual window for the interior, and doing the interior window frame, there's no telling how many hours it took.

The lower and upper floors now have a little bit of weathering, and will get a little more.

Now to figure out how to do the overhead pulley and cable system for the elevator...

 

Built and painted a floor safe for the corner office next to the stairway; added handrails around the stairwell opening; scratch built some work tables, installed the conduit for electrical power from the box on the wall to the winch for the elevator.

Does anyone know if electric meters on the exterior of a building looked like they do now back in the 1950's? I've got a soft metal casting of an electric meter that could go on the outside, but I can't find much online regarding 1940 / 1950 vintage electric meters.

 

OK...some input is needed. Attached are a handful of photos of where the building stands. The secretary and table and chairs in the background are just images of detail parts that I ordered to use. They are in the proposed location, but not real detail parts.

Anyone have any ideas on the layout of the upstairs room? The arrangement of the work tables may not be ideal, but it's all I've come up with. The back work table could be turned 90 degrees.

The downstairs is probably ok. There will be a little more clutter, but it's close to done. The upstairs work room is the problem. After doing a bunch of measuring and looking online at older office desks, the office desk with the secretary will probably be between 50 and 60 scale inches long. It will easily fit where it is proposed to go. The break room table and chairs will fit where they are currently situated. The difficulty is the work tables.

Any input is appreciated.

 

Wow, this is really coming together. I think the proposed floor plan looks fine. There's plenty of room for workers to maneuver in there.

 

Each warehouse or industry would have a layout that would meet the needs of the company. I think your layout looks really good and serves the needs of the interior detail very well.

Tony LaLuma

 

Thanks Tony and Ethan. Once the table, chairs and secretary desk get here, I'll be able to finish this thing.

Forgot to post an image of the exterior where the electrical supply comes into the building, so here it is.

 

The building is nearly done. There's no way to know, but I've probably got 150-200 hours in this silly thing. A friend said it needs downspouts. So that will be the final project for the building...that and paint and install two roof vents.

The break room table and chairs and secretary and desk really came out good. Anytime an order of detail parts comes in--especially if it has people-- I keep my expectations pretty low, but these look good. The break room table set was real plastic looking, so it got painted light tan and colored with an art pen to make it look more like a finished table and chairs.

Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas. They are all appreciated.

 

It is almost a shame to put a wall in place or a roof. Would look really great open for viewing.

Tony Laluma

 

The front wall and roof will both be removable. There is a small tab on each side that the front wall rests against. The roof will also be removable.

 

I can see the tabs. Great idea

 

That makes it much easier to put the wall back in the right place. The roof is done, and it is easily removed, but our illustrious member Tom Holley told me the company is going out of business unless there is more product in the building. There are some pieces of a detail kit I bought several years ago that has simulated cardboard boxes of stuff that can go on a pallet. After I clean and repair the Hallmark FT AB set that a ham fisted previous owner cobbled up (noboby on this forum), the building will get some more stuff to sell!!

 

Added two pallets of stuff for the industry to sell: a pallet of bagged goods on the elevator and a pallet of boxed goods in the downstairs shipping and receiving area. Also attached an external shot of the building nearing completion. There might be enough leftover parts to put one more pallet of something in the shipping and receiving area.

 

Looks great Paul.
Handrail at the open end of the bottom floor?
Water fountain?

DG

 

This is incredible work. Is there some sort of competition you can enter this in? Should easily win 1st place

 

The handrails on the lower floor are something I meant to install but forgot. It may be difficult now that the second floor is glued in. I'll scratch my head and think about it.