Vintage Gas Station

[David King]

Actually these doors a different.  The two doors in the middle hinge off the center post.  The pairs of doors on either side hinge on the side posts and fold.  There is actually 3 different sections per side.  Remember, I'm only modeling the facade, not the interior, so I was confused by the "interior hardware" comment.

David

[mobilgas]

Yes..... what Gill is saying about inside hardware is there are latches  [TOP and BOTTOM ]to lock the top and bottom of the doors....if didnt have this stuff them BIG doors would be floping all over the place in the WIND.  but since David is not doing a interior he dont have to worry about it your lucky you dont have to model all this...... interior hardware.   Craig

[David King]

Any latches would have to be on the outside on this structure, there are no other doors!  In fact, it appears none of the windows open either!  If the doors latched from the inside there would be no way to get out and latch the doors.  It doesn't look like a sturdy setup now that I look at it closer, but I have no other explanation.  In fact, it looks like right now the doors on the right side might be nailed closed, there are no latches or locks over there, only one latch with a padlock on the left side.  Another confusing thing is the strip that seems to have no other purpose but to cover the gap between the middle doors and the outer pair.  Judging by the position of the nail holes it appears to be attached to the outer pair, I wonder if that strip accomodated some kind of latching mechanism in the past?

David

[RoughboyModelworks]

David:

It's a little hard to tell from the photo at the beginning of the thread, but given that the window areas are all covered and sheet metal has been put over the presumably damaged lower sections of two of the doors, is it possible that the building is locked up and abandoned? Perhaps the doors are nailed shut to keep out squatters. Since you're not modelling the interior, all you'll have to do is the necessary outside hardware to show that the doors are supposedly functional.

To make the model front more interesting visually, you could have the folding doors open slightly on one side with just the weathered front of a vehicle barely visible through the opening. You still wouldn't have to do any interior detail, but the illusion of an interior could be effective. Just a thought...

Paul

[finescalerr]

Please correct me if I am wrong but it appears as though you may not have an electric sanding disc at your disposal. Some years ago a very good modeler suggested I buy one (from Micro Mark). He told me it was his most used tool. I took his advice and he was correct. It would make fitting your butt-joints and diagonals go much more quickly with much better accuracy and repeatability.

Russ

[Chuck Doan]

THis should be a fun project! A good choice, this one shows up on Flickr often. I third the motion for disk sanders. I couldn't model without one.

[marc_reusser]

Okay Door Dudes.......

First off....Gil, WTF are those ugly doors you posted?....and twice nonetheless!

Here goes the assumption based on holes, marks, stains and astragal, shown in the images in Davids first post :

As the building stands, the three doors at right side of post are all fixed in place and nailed/screwed/blocked shut.
The first door to left of the post is operable and swings inward. The two most right-hand doors are joined as one, and are either fixed, or swing inward as one (hard to tell exactly as there is no close-up of these)
....however....the original way these doors once likely functioned was as follows:

The one door on either side of the post swung inward towards the post/center.  This is evidenced by the hinge bolt locations, at the post side of the doors, and the astragal strip affixed to the exterior of the adjacent two doors.
The two/pair of doors at far left and far right, each bi-folded inward, against the respective side walls. This is evidenced by the hinge bolt hole locations at the far right and far left doors, and by the marks of the old exterior surface mount locations of hinges between the two door panels.

...NOW...that said ...there is one more option that is possible re. the function of these doors, in which case, the above description could be the original way they were set-up...or at the very least a very old redo.  I have worked on structures from this period (1900-1930) that had three or four door/panel garage openings like this where the doors were sitting on/in a track at the top and bottom....this track ran along the front of the opening and did a very tight 90-degree turn at the corner and then ran down the side wall. All the doors were hinged together at the interior...so they all tracked around the corner and down the wall as one unit. ....SO..... that would be another option for your door system.

MR

[Chuck Doan]

David:

It's a little hard to tell from the photo at the beginning of the thread, but given that the window areas are all covered and sheet metal has been put over the presumably damaged lower sections of two of the doors, is it possible that the building is locked up and abandoned? Perhaps the doors are nailed shut to keep out squatters. Since you're not modelling the interior, all you'll have to do is the necessary outside hardware to show that the doors are supposedly functional.

To make the model front more interesting visually, you could have the folding doors open slightly on one side with just the weathered front of a vehicle barely visible through the opening. You still wouldn't have to do any interior detail, but the illusion of an interior could be effective. Just a thought...

Paul

Be afraid, be very afraid! My Red Oak garage was going to have closed doors, then just open a bit and a hint of interior (yeah right), then came a full garage interior! Only a six month detour.

[David King]

The two/pair of doors at far left and far right, each bi-folded inward, against the respective side walls. This is evidenced by the hinge bolt hole locations at the far right and far left doors, and by the marks of the old exterior surface mount locations of hinges between the two door panels.

This was my guess.

I'm thinking I might put barrell latches mounted on the strip that overlaps the gap between the doors, one at the top going into the top sill, and one at the bottom going into the floor.   I know it's unconventional to have the latches on the outside but this structure is unconventional since there are no doors other than these "carriage" doors.

then just open a bit and a hint of interior (yeah right), then came a full garage interior! Only a six month detour.

No worries here. This thing is 1/16 scale, I'm only modeling the facade, not the whole structure.  It will be very similar to Fordson Farm, just a facade with a vehicle parked out front. I don't have room for a full blown diorama of this thing in 1/16 scale!   I actually did do a mockup at one time with a complete interior in 1/16 scale, it was just waaaayyy too big!  I've considered 1/48 scale, 1/24 and 1/16 scale for this, even made sketches and mockups in all those scales, but finally settled on just a facade and foreground in 1/16.  This is a project that's been nearly two years in the making, before I settled on this format and finally got started a week or so ago.  Actually, I did do some work on it over a year ago, (but then got distracted over ideas to do it in other scales.). I started making the body for a Frye visible gas pump, but I'll show you that later.

David

[Chuck Doan]

Ooo. I might be doing one for mine using a Kit (cant think of the co.)

[David King]

You are thinking of Curbside Dioramics.  I actually have two of those kits, using one as a reference for scratchbuilding my 1/16 version.  I think I can get even more if you need one, (an LHS has had a bunch in stock for some reason.).  They've been out of production for quite some time I beleive, and are dang difficult to find.

David

[mobilgas]

Chuck,    If the kit you have is a R & D Unique.....Curbside Dioramics gas pump in 1/24 scale.....they made 2 kinds of pumps that i know of  Fry Model 117....and....Tokheim Cut 850...they are very nice kit's great detail... ....i bought 4 each when they first came out.            David, I dont know of a gas pump thats detailed enough as a curbside in your scale 1/16 Do you?? i think you got your work cut out for you to build one in a bigger scale than 1/24   Craig

[David King]

I dont know of a gas pump thats detailed enough as a curbside in your scale 1/16  Do you?? i think you got your work cut out for you to build one in a bigger scale than 1/24

No kits available that I'm aware of so I'm scratchbuilding it.  I'm modeling it after the Curbside Dioramics Fry 117 and from photos of real pumps. I turned the body of it on a cheapo toy wood lathe and have added some detail, but got a long ways to go, but I think getting that curved shape of the body was the worst of it.  There are a lot of 1/18 scale pumps out there, but they all look very toy-like to me.

David

[mobilgas]

I agree all the 1/18 scale gas pumps look like.....CRAP.....and toy like. Heres some info on The fry Visible model 117. It came out in 1924 "Mae West" pump is what the collectors call it and the company's name that made it was GUARANTEED. I bought and sold about 40 old pumps over the years...but was never able to buy a Fry....Knew were a couple were at, and both were the rare 5 gallon but was never able to get them    Craig

[Mr Potato Head]

Dear Door God!
"stick it up your astragal" ( door joke) 
They were carriage doors, and yes they originally ran on a track, and were hinged at the jamb, and hinged to swing into themselves, I have a reprint catalog that I can't find at the moment, but when I do, I'll show you,...............

Gil
Sash and door man of the 80's