After looking at the Company Store for the past couple of months, I've come to
the conclusion that I'm not happy with the look. It really doesn't fit the time period.
I came up with an idea for a more appropriate look but it would hinge on if i could
make the storefront that I wanted; so I decided to give it a shot:



This is from a file that I purchased online, so since I own it I saw no problem
with posting a printed copy. This is what I started with on 100# paper. After a new
blade in my knife and a lot of very precise and careful cutting, this is what I
came up with:



The original iron storefront was only the left hand window and door, so I printed two copies of the file and spliced the
second window to make the storefront a scale 18 ft long and it's 12 ft. high. the entire front was done in 3 layers and each
piece had the white edges colored with a pencil to match the color of the front. Everything was glued together using white
glue, toothpicks, and 2 different types of tweezers. After it was all glued together a piece of wax paper was laid over
the top and weighted until dry. I really like the look of the iron front and it has a nice 3D appearance. The door still needs to
be added as well as the glass for the windows.



The back had supports added to keep the storefront straight and these I'll use these to build the rest of the building off of
which will be a wood structure about the same footprint as the present store.

That's where I'm at with the new store so far and am looking forward to building something more time period correct. Any
comments or suggestions are always greatly appreciated. Until next time.

I'm not a big fan of paper but you may have just changed my mind!

That looks very 3d ish. Hmm

Philip

Philip the 100# paper that I used is actually more like a thin card stock which requires a very sharp blade to get
clean cuts. The layering is what gives the nice 3D effect and coloring all the edges helps to blend it all together.
Glad you like it and it is a different style of modeling which I like to dabble in. Hopefully when it's combined
with the rest of a wood structure it'll look really good.

Nice start Larry. Will see how this fits in with the rest of your layout. I'm sure you'll mange it!

Larry,
Nice store front and mod. I like Clever Models, I think they have a lot of interesting buildings.
I plan on using some on my trap rock quarry layout. I will be following to see how your build turns out and how you like the paper models.

Scott

Jerry thank you. Hopefully it will fit in fine. It has that late. 40's early 50's vibe that I'm looking for; but we'll see.

Scott thanks. I'm a fan of Clever Models; it's a different form of modeling. Thanks for following along and I'm
looking forward to see how this turns out as well. I'd be interested seeing how you build these "paper' models.

I would have not guessed that was paper.
Very impressive Larry.

Rick thank you. That type of modeling is fun to dabble in but it's very time consuming;
that was probably 6 hours worth of work.

That was six hours well spent, Larry. Your patience paid off. The results are excellent.

Mike

Michael thank you so much. It was something that I had wanted to try for some time now
and the store was the right opportunity to do so.

Larry, that front looks amazing. Looking forward to the rest of the build. ~mike

Mike thanks, much appreciated. Thought I would try mixing card and lumber
and see how it comes out.

Been able to get to the bench on and off lately so I thought an update was in order:



Here is the back of the store front with the door and glass installed. The base is constructed from scale 4x12's and the floor
from scale 2x12's. I laminated 2 6x6's together to form the beam which was glued to the floor and the front in turn glued to
the beam. The entire floor was stained with a maple stain and a coat of A&I applied over that. I wanted it to look like the floor
had seen some foot traffic but not as much as the Machine Shop or Garage. The foot print of the Store is 18 ft wide by 20 ft
deep and 12 ft high in the front; slightly smaller than the first Store.

When I was a kid I would go with my Dad to our local Hardware Store which had wide floor boards which would "creek" when
you walked on them....fond memories from days gone by. This was the memory that I wanted to try and recreate in the Store.



This is the front of the Store with the laminated door and glass installed. The front was set back 3 ft to allow for a porch on
the front leaving the actual Store at 18 x 17 ft. The sides will be built off of the front framed back area and probably with a
"shed style" roof; I hate doing peaked roofs with the rafters.

There will be one window on each of the side walls when construction starts. Also because of the large front windows, I've
decided to do somewhat of an interior as well as a table at each front window with items displayed for people to see who
walk by. Seeing Louis' Split Store gave me the inspiration to try my hand at an interior.

That's about it so far with more fun coming forthwith. Any comments/suggestions are always appreciated. Until next time,
thanks for looking.

Store font looks excellent.
Floor stain looks very realistic.
Nice work Larry.

Rick thank you for the nice compliment.