I have started a new topic as you suggested - Scratchbuild a tavern I think I called it. Thankyou - I look forward to your suggestions and help.

Angela

I just fixed the photos on my earlier post that were missing as a result of the ISP change, I am fixing these as soon as I find them and when it is brought to attetion that a phot is missing in an older post.

regards Michael

A large project so let's break it down to something more manageable that can be explained and then the ideas will work for the other sides as well. Let me look at the second pic for example. It looks like a pretty well maintained building as they have put new siding on. Vinyl, possibly steel. Neither of these are on the scale model market that I know about. Others may know of a source. Either way I would be willing to backdate it slightly and go with the original siding which probably would have been wooden clapboard. There is quite a wide range of that available and only the trained eye will know the difference. For size and amount there will need to be quite a lot of measuring and planning. If you have measurements of the actual structure on hand, good. Let's assume not and go with it. The right front door looks larger than the left. Three foot width for the right, two foot eight inches for the left would be standard sizes. That will give you a scale to use for measuring the photos and quessimating the rest. On my screen the right door measures 1/2 inch. The left 3/8. I would use 1/2 inch equals 3 feet as a scale to measure the rest. For height the doors can be assumed to be six foot eight inches. Count the siding laps next to the door, maybe eleven plus a bit and use that to work out a size for the siding. Don't be surprised if the lap siding is eight inches high. Somewhat standard size there. From there you are off and running. Don't trust measurements from one photo to be the same on the others. The distance from camera to subject changes the size. Would you like to move this over to make a separate subject for a scratch project of it's own? That way it is less apt to get lost in the clutter and you can get all the help quicker.

:erm: :erm: didn't do it right the first time sorry for the duplicate posting. I'll try again....

I found the tutorial on how to upload photos so here goes - here are a few of the photos I took of the tavern I want to replicate in O scale.









these are views from back, front and the two sides. One side I couldn't get it all in as there was a huge tree in the way and then the neighbor's house!

I look forward to your advice and comments.

Angela

Ahhh I found the tutorial on how to upload photos so here goes - here are a few of the photos I took of the tavern I want to replicate in O scale.

https://www.railroad-line.com/data/a...051191139_Back View email.jpg[/img]

https://www.railroad-line.com/data/a...11911515_front view email.jpg[/img]

https://www.railroad-line.com/data/a...511911640_side view.jpg[/img]

https://www.railroad-line.com/data/a...511911736_side view email.jpg[/img]

these are views from back, front and the two sides. One side I couldn't get it all in as there was a huge tree in the way and then the neighbor's house!

I look forward to your advice and comments.

Angela

Thank you for your reply about my tavern project. I have the photos ready to post but when I try to put them in the email they don't show up. how do I post them please?

Angela

Since taverns can be some really interesting places it might be a great place to start. For info we are short some vital info as to what wood to have on hand. A picture and some ideas as to what size you are planning to build would be great for starting. If digital pictures are out, a description of what the outside is made of would help. Clapboard, stone, brick? Lots of possibilities there. If the original building is too large to model and fit into a layout perhaps we could offer some ideas as to how you can shrink it some and still keep the feel. More info, please?

I have just joined your forum as I am interested in building a tavern from scratch. I found this great looking building and stopped and took lots of photos from all around the building and even a few inside at the request of the owner. Anyway, I have only built a small shed from scratch before and I'm eager to learn how to build this structure from the photos that I have taken. I have read the messages so far and am taking notes. I model in O scale and would like to know what wood should I get and what sort of quantity should I order to have on hand to begin this project. I would like to put an interior in at least the bar part of the tavern building. I know this is pretty ambitious but...

I look forward to your comments.

Angela

I can only second that!

Here is how I do it when building complicated wooden parts like ladders:

I draw templates on the PC, and tapes down the templates using DST. Then I put clear DST on the templates and tape down wooden pieces. The DST can be a little too aggressive, so often i dust the tape with fine sawdust befor putting down the wooden parts. I often use regular tape in addition to DSP to hold the next "layer" of parts.

These railing and ladder for my linecar was built with this technique:

A couple of comments

I find that if you use a bit of the double sided carpet tape and cover the backs of several different sheets of wet and dry paper say 240, 360,400, 600 you can cut it into strips to suit whatever you need to make files up. I have made more files from wet and dry than you can shake a stick at. some as big as this a scrap of plastic with 240 grit wet and dry stuck on with carpet tape, The advantage of using wet and dry on plastic is that you can use it wet.



Someone mentioned tossing away #11 blades when they are dull.

A small stick of wet and dry,600 say on a popsickle stick will keep the point of a number 11 sharper than factory new. I have #11's by the hundreds from my commercial modelbuilding days I used to by them by the hundreds as well. I havent bought a number 11 in 20 years, Im still using all those that were put into a small drawer called "used exacto blades".

The other tool that I find is the most useful and the greatest tool for trimming sheet to size very quickly and with an absolutely sqaure edge is a small adjustable mouth block plane, I use this on the plastic shooting board




The shooting board also doubles up as a sanding station like this





Just a couple of things that make my life easier when scratch building.

regards Michael

Another tool for scratchbuilding is a well scaled figure. This is handy for making quick checks to see if structural elements appear proportional and realistic or for making quick estimates of things like "how many steps are required to get up to an entrance way" or "how high do I put the windows on this wall?"....stuff like that.

PB

It's when I'm doing trackwork that I had the most trouble with breaking the disk. I use the mini a lot for track and the disk is the most common item so I usually leave one in the chuck. That's where I had to come up with a holder to move from place to place. Richard

I keep an empty pill container to store the disk on it's mandrel. Not as fast as your method but fast (and cheaper) than finding and replacing a "buggered" disk.

John,

A couple of quick comments re your questions. Instead of using a stick/pole, which can be a pain to transport/carry around with you, you can do the same thing with the old style wooden folding rulers..the added benefit that you can get from these is that you can bend them, and get two dimension directions (ie. horiz & vert.) in one photo if necessary.

When looking at buildings, there are some general rules of thumb that you can often make, as there are certain architectural and material standarrds that you can often use/employ, depending on the type of structure. IE:

Door Heights: 6'-8" 7'-0" 8'-0"

Window heads are often at the same height as the door head.

Framing material is typically in 2" increments.

Siding and board thicknesses are in 1/4" increments; 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1-1/4"

Roof slopes are usually cut in ratios of rise to run, 3 to 12, 4 to 12, 5:12, 6:12...etc.

Piers and girders under homes and other structures are often at 4'-0" oc. in both directions.

Typical general wall plate heights are 7'-6", 8', 8'-6", 9'-0" etc.

Brick modules vary but one typical standard size of bricks c.1920 was 2-1/4"h x 3-3/4"w x 8"l....(that gives you 1/2" grout lines)

Period window sizes (widths & heights) were generally sized in 2" increments

There are many other refernce markers that you can use to extrapolate/interpret a photo....but as you can see there are things that you can use to help...and once you have one tied down, you can use it as a reference/scale for other items in the photo.

Marc

Pat,

Speed is the real advantage, especially if you were doing a factory wall or something with a lot of openings.