"Junior" is in the process of building a wonderful diorama of an auto repair shop:
http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1227.0
His work is excellent and very inspiring to me. I have been building similar kit and little scratchbbuilt pieces for a while, but I never really had a home for all the tools. After following Junior's progress I got very really inspired to "put it all together". So thanks to Anders / Junior for his great inspiration.
My project will have two components, the building which is based on a prototype here in New York and a fictional interior. I really liked that Junior is honoring Dave, so how could I not name this project after Mr.Krakow, too. Dave has been extremely helpful with small projects. He has a great eye for detail and is a true master with his tool, the lasercutter.
My work focuses mostly on local structures here in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. I am very attracted to the post-industrial landscape. Most industry has vanished, but the neighborhood is still home to a lot of small, family run businesses. The prototype for this building is a perfect example for the gentrification that can be witnessed right now. The auto shop has been closed for years and set empty ever since. After a complete renovation, which left barely anything of the old decaying charm, this building turned into a fancy restaurant and a laundromat next door. Oh, well. The building has two storefronts. The right one used to be a tire fixing place. Since I don't know what exactly was on the left it makes perfect sense to have Mr.Krakow set business in there.
So here is the first step at the front facade. Build from Walthers brick sheet.
The facade is pretty boring, so here are a few more, mostly scratch built pieces for the shop. I have no clue about machines and cars, so it is pretty interesting to learn what kind of equipment a typical auto shop needs to have.
So from left to right we have:
Battery charger,
Work bench with shelf,
Oil collector ( or what ever that thing is called)
two engine blocks
a brake disc grinder ( is that right?)
a box with spare parts
work bench with small drill press and car parts custom made by VectorCut
tool carts with VectorCut tools
It is really amazing how most contemporary shop equipment is red these days. Oh, I forgot to say that unlike Junior's project, which is set in the 30's, mine will represent a contemporary shop.
Here is a industrial shelving unit with spare parts by parts and tire rack.
Finally! From what I have seen of Christian´s work this will be some kind of a New York garage. Why don´t you post a few pics. of the Parkview Terraces or Gino´s Autobody for those who are not familiar with your work. That shelf in the second pic. is outstanding. Could just as well be 1/35 scale in my opinion.
Anders ;D
I just hope this Krakow guy is legit and doesn't chop stolen Jordans! ;D
Looks great, amazing how much detail you can get in HO scale.
QuoteI just hope this Krakow guy is legit...
Actually, looking at the structure, he might be running some shady business. However, he will give you good deals on parts.
That Krakow guy is slightly crazy but perfectly legit. He is helping me on some projects, helping to make them better especially.
Goodness that is some fine and interesting HO work. You're gonna need to make a Snap-On tool truck to park outside the shop so your mechanics can fill the tool benches.
John
I actually found an image online. For discussion only.
I hope the white stuff I'm seeing in the doors on your facade are just temporary filler ... PLEASE model the doors in the OPEN position so we can see all the goodies inside! (Great looking details!) ;)
Cheers,
Dallas
Yes, I will turn the left part into Krakow's Auto Repair. Originally I was planning a retractable roof, but now that I choose a building with a second floor, I will just allow a peak thru the open rolling gate. But I think I will build the interior as separate slide-in element.
Christian
Looking good so far! Dave is doing some franchising I see.
Finally I found I little time to work on this project again. In quick sessions after dinner I was able to put together the four main walls and develop a general concept.
The second floor and the shop on the right will not have any interior detail to focus the attention on the left shop. My biggest concern was the limited viewing angle thru the left gate into the shop. Since I can't raise the roof because of the second floor, I decided to build a drawer for the interior that can be pulled out from the back wall. More on that later.
The green section shows the area that can be pulled out.
Here is the overall view.
But here is my cry for help. In shops like this, most of the electrical lines and pipes for the shop and the second floor would be exposed on the wall. I have absolutely no idea what kind of stuff would run along the wall, but after Anders' situation with the meter, I'd rather ask the crew here.
So if anybody can help out with some general information of what could / should be found on the walls, I would really appreciate it!
Edit: Wow, that bold font looks like I am yelling. :) ;D
With the help of some NPR and some mexican beers I was able to make some good progress on the front wall.
I have to admit that I simplified the structure a little, so it's not worth counting bricks. But I think it captures the prototype. I also glued the side walls and back walls. Usually I prefer painting them first, but I changed my approach because of the "drawer interior". I had to make sure that all walls (except of the front wall) are in place before starting construction of the drawer element.
I also decided to simplify the side walls and the back wall. The left side wall and the back wall will have some light stucco with the brick showing in certain areas. The right will will be full brick. The front wall and the interior will be the eye catchers, so I think it is important that the rest of the building doesn't draw too much attention.
I am moving on to the interior now.
The first floor looks very good. -- Russ
This wall has a lot of character, Christian.
Very nice paint job. Looks very close to the prototype on page 1. This will be a great building.
Anders ;D
Quote from: BKLN on January 28, 2011, 06:11:03 PM
But here is my cry for help. In shops like this, most of the electrical lines and pipes for the shop and the second floor would be exposed on the wall. I have absolutely no idea what kind of stuff would run along the wall, but after Anders' situation with the meter, I'd rather ask the crew here.
So if anybody can help out with some general information of what could / should be found on the walls, I would really appreciate it!
The facade looks great ... lots of character. I think the key word your looking for above is "electrical conduit" ... image search for that produces limited success. Couple examples:
http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Electrical/Electrical-Wiring/how-to-install-surface-mounted-wiring-and-conduit
http://www.rd.com/images/tfhimport/2004/20040501_Electrical_Conduit_page002img001_size2.jpg
Might be worth repeating the search on some of the photo sites like Photo Bucket, Fotki, etc ... also look for workshop and factory interiors to see if you can spot the features you want.
Many possible arrangements ... depending largely on how organized the original installation was. Conduit could be run around the walls at belt level ... or closer to the ceiling. Some installations quite neat ... some quite haphazard.
Cheers,
Dallas
Thanks for the "electrical input" and the nice compliments. everybody.
I have been studying a lot shop photos, but it's hard to distinguish between all the lines. So let's start with the basics. My questions might sound ridiculous to some of you, but I really have no clue. :-\
I need fresh and waste water for the first and second floor. I guess those would be bigger pipes like the blue one in my sketch below, right? How many? On both walls?
The electric conduits: I guess one fat cable comes out of the ground to a box and what then?
Air compressor: I guess I want a stationary, electrically powered. How would that set up look like? Where do the pipes go? What is the compressed air used for? How do the hook ups look like?
Nice. I like the mismatched bricks on the second floor.
Quote from: BKLN on January 30, 2011, 02:01:20 PM
Thanks for the "electrical input" and the nice compliments. everybody.
I have been studying a lot shop photos, but it's hard to distinguish between all the lines. So let's start with the basics. My questions might sound ridiculous to some of you, but I really have no clue. :-\
I need fresh and waste water for the first and second floor. I guess those would be bigger pipes like the blue one in my sketch below, right? How many? On both walls?
The electric conduits: I guess one fat cable comes out of the ground to a box and what then?
Air compressor: I guess I want a stationary, electrically powered. How would that set up look like? Where do the pipes go? What is the compressed air used for? How do the hook ups look like?
.
Waste water pipes, here in UK if its soil pipe coming down from upstairs toilet it would be 4" diam pipe,
used to be cast iron with spigots, but is now plastic with smaller spigots or shoulders, Usually such would be routed out through the wall & down the outside, but I have seen them on the inside of industrial buildings
if its just waste water from a hand or kitchen sink then the pipe would be about 1.25" diam. with an S bend just below the sink bowl.
fresh water in, you might have 3/4" or 1/2"pipe coming up from the floor to the tap, could be 3/4 copper, or earlier it may have been galv steel pipes about 7/8" outside diam. ( I know plumbers use inside diam dimensions, but as a modeller I find it easier to think what the OUTSIDE diam is when visuallising material choice).
Earlier again it could have been lead pipe, but due to health concerns, & scrap values very few places have any of that left unless it is a protected hertitage building. More modern could be alkathene water pipe, which as it came off a reel could be quite characteristicly wavy instead of dead straight.
Off course if its 2 floors & similar to a domestic arrangement it might even have a rising main up to the top floor or attic header tank, with the feed pipes coming DOWN from the header tank to the taps & appliances.
EDIT, of course as your are into 1/87 with this, probably pipe dimensions are not going to be that noticable.
And although I am modelling in 1/12th, I am following these garage threads with great interest, even if I dont comment much, great inspiration 8)
I think I have a good idea regarding water pipes and electrical lines.
I found two neat illustrations online for the air compression system. I am gonna use those as a general concept.
That would be just incredible..................... ??? ;D
Anders
That pneumatic air system is way overkill, especially for a small rural shop 60+ years ago.
The basic set up is applicable but all the driers & regulators would not be the norm.
Just run a hose from the compressor to some hard lines, then some quick disconnects at the work areas.
-Marty
In our small shop, a pipe comes from the compressor and runs along the 30' or so wall about 4 feet up. As Marty said, there are several tee fittings with quick disconnect fittings. In an adjoining building the same setup is used, but the pipe runs along a low cieling and we have to reach up to connect the hoses.
There are a couple of fittings towards the end that are excellent showers.
Chuck, Marty,
that's all I needed to hear. On a second look, I realized, that one of the set ups was for a full paint shop, which is obviously why too much of an overkill. I'll just put a small stationary compressor with a pipe around the shop and a few connects.
Time for a little post-weekend update:
I spent most of time to prepare the walls for the interior box. Shown here is the left side wall with the compressor for the air system and a couple of electric lines. I also built a little office box that will sit right behind the window of the left gate, but without any interior detail. Mr. Krakow tries to keep a low profile, so the doors to his office are usually closed.
Low profile...aha! Very nice wall with great details - love the color combination.
Anders ;D
Yeah, low profile like this--> (https://www.finescalerr.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-sleep027.gif&hash=63e68a56bd610badb21bf0e85057bd68559bc464) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
Christian --
The pipes add a lot of interest to the wall ... and it's interesting to see the contrast between Anders' older garage and your modern one.
One nit-picky critique regarding the fan belts: Dave's parts set includes some with the paper/cardboard sleeve cut in place and some without -- presumably so you can add your own. If you take a real fan belt out of the sleeve, it will spring out into an "O" or oval shape. The curvy, figure-8 shape occurs when the belt is squished into those paper sleeves. (So, the laser-cut belts without sleeves have an unnatural shape by themselves.)
Again, this is a VERY picky little item. If the belts are NOT glued in place, you might consider adding some little sleeves to those without, or rearranging them to have the belts with sleeves in front. If they are glued in place, please IGNORE what I've said:
a) It's very obvious that this is an assortment of fan belts, and it makes an interesting detail ...
b) As you add more stuff to the center of the shop, all of the items on the wall become "background" details!
Shaping up rather nicely!
Cheers,
Dallas
Thanks, Dallas. I am open to critique, and I know this is how Russ wants this forum to be. If I want some praise I'll go somewhere else, but I am seeking inspiration and expertise.
I had no idea about the fan belts. I drew the initial file for Dave, but honestly I have no clue how most machines work. So I really appreciate the advice. Speaking of fan belts, mine still need to have the paper wrap painted.
That wall looks great, nice detail with the pipes and tank, and I love the colors. Looks very much like some of the real auto shops I've been in.
On the fan belts I did, I used a three sided sleeve. You couldn't see the missing back.
How about a clean-out at the bottom of the waste pipe? It's just a little stubby capped-off piece coming out from the waste pipe at an angle.
Did I send you any hypo tubing? It's the stuff I use for making gooseneck lights. Generally you would just use some solid wire for conduit but if you wanted to have a length of abandoned conduit coming out of a junction box with a couple of little wires coming out from the end of the conduit it makes for a neat effect.
-slim
Bill,
that's a neat idea. I want to add a sink in the workshop anyway. I won't go as far as Anders and show a full bathroom; just a dirty little sink to wash hands and brushes.
It's been over two years, since I last showed you any progress on this project. Job and family have left me with little time to work, but I owe you guys some progress update. I visit this forum on a daily basis and every day I am inspired by the great work shown here.
Anyway, I consider this thing done. I still see a lot of things that could use improvement and that are missing, but I just have to draw a line here. This project was a little too ambitious for me. In the process, I have dropped the idea of the interior detailing. Maybe this will follow later, but I have left the "drawer" to pull out the main work area.
So here is Krakow's Garage, based on 66/68 Bergen Street in Brooklyn:
Detail of 68 Bergen Street. The folding gate was lasercut by David Krakow. The car in the garage is from Busch, detailed with the VectorCut auto part detail kit. The car jacks and some of the tools are from Preiser, the tires are from Busch and Auhagen.
Amazing work! For a second I thought the first pic was a prototype shot.
Detail of 66 Bergen St.
The dumpster is by VectorCut. I was always intrigued by the handpainted shop sign. The business is now home to a fancy restaurant and the building has lost all it's morbid charme, after the facade was redone in clean brick.
The business to the right is fictional. But I had a lot of fun building the knocked out neon sign.
Now, the back is also made up. I just couldn't find any reference material, so I tried to incorporate a couple of impressions of similar businesses. The oil drums are excellent new castings from Tichy, the tire rack and most of the tires are scratch built. I always hated that the tires in HO model cars were solid, meaning not hollow, so these are made from two lasercut discs (for the tire walls) sandwiched around a piece of styrene tube. The smaller car parts are also from VectorCut and the bigger parts came from cut up Busch cars.
The side wall was an earlier experiment inspired by Marc Reusser's paper bricks. The cinderblocks were individually cut from thin cardboard in a similar fashion.
I wanted to keep the sides rather neutral to keep the focus the viewers attention on the front and the back of the building.
And one last shot with a bit of New York skyline...
Thanks to everybody here for great inspiration, in particular Anders, who has mastered the art of "authentic overloading", Marc for his endless experiments and David Krakow for the never ending supply of custom laser jobs. And thanks to Russ, who hasn't sent me into the corner yet or kicked me out due to lack of contribution. ;D
Most satisfactory. HO scale? -- Russ
P.S.: Go stand in the corner.
Quote from: Ray Dunakin on September 07, 2013, 06:48:56 PM
Amazing work! For a second I thought the first pic was a prototype shot.
Wow! Same first impression here ... that is some really beautiful work! All sorts of great surfaces, textures, finishes ... and, well, I gotta come back and study those pix a few more times to really digest it ... but definitely "wow!" :o
Quote from: BKLN on September 07, 2013, 06:39:49 PM
It's been over two years, since I last showed you any progress on this project ...
That part really lifted my spirits for some reason! ;D I'm all too familiar with the forum coming back with that red message that says (more or less): "Are you sure you want to post in this thread ... it's like really, really old and no-one has posted here in ages." 8)
Fantastic work! Congrats on completing the long haul ...
Cheers,
Dallas
happy little neighborhood just waiting for the developers love the single tube in the old sign
kind regards kim
Wonderful work in any scale.
I suggest going to auto repair shops and ask if you can look around because you are building a model of one. Most shops I know would be happy to let you take pictures and ask stupid questions (auto and airplane mechanics know it all).
Probably conduit going to and from boxes to switches near doors and outlets over work benches and lights. Some conduit may run exposed to overhead lights from switches and boxes on the walls.
Air lines from a compressor to along the walls with water traps and quick connect fittings for air hoses with air chucks (the thing that goes on the tire valve) and blow guns, spray guns, rivet guns, etc.
Sometimes an overhead grease line hangs down from a centralized grease pot set-up.
Water to a hot water heater then both hot and cold to a restroom (toilet/wash basin/sink/eyewash station) upstairs or downstairs. A drain from the upstairs restroom toilet/sink. Most shops I have worked in have a wash basin/sink for the mechanics and it is always filthy dirty with dirty towels or rags around and often a soap dispenser.
Girly calendars on the walls. Oh, getting ahead of myself.
Max wanting to see more.
Wow. I too thought that that first pic was of the real thing, when I opened it. This is truly a beautiful piece. It really captures all the subtle and layered nuances and character that occur over time and use. The attention to the common/mundane details that so make a scene "real" and come to life, has been great. So glad to see this build having moved forward and completed. It was well worth the wait.
This is shockingly good.
What else would you expect from these guys, Narayan? And you ain't so bad yourself. -- Russ
Amazing.
The fact that it is in H0 scale makes it even more impressive !
I first saw it on the Finescale FB page. Just beautifully done! I'm glad you finished it!
Thank you, guys! I appreciate all the nice compliments and the advice.
I learned a lot while working on this project and there a some things that I would change if I did it again:
A) Composition
I think there is still an overload of visuals on this diorama. Looking back at my references, I could have built this as a shadowbox style diorama, maybe 2" or 3" deep. I fell into the "modeltrain trap" of the expected presentation, showing the full building and parts of the neighboring plots.
My current projects are a lot more reduced to the actual focus points, something I learned from Marc Reusser's vignettes.
B) Complexity
I was very impressed by Anders HO-scale work of his "Krakow Garage" and his train shed, which are wonderfully overloaded with details, so I really wanted to build something similar. I built this building with a "drawer" in the back wall, so that the actual workshop could be pulled out to show the inside detail. Building the inside details was a lot of fun, but at some point the whole thing became too complex. Right now there is nothing inside except of the car to block the view. I might come back to this later.
The high expectations that I had set for myself were just too much for the actual time that I can currently devote to model building. That let to great frustration - to the point where this felt like annoying work. But it's meant to be fun, a break-away from the 9to5 drill!
So I am approaching my new model projects with a much more manageable level of complexity. I am still trying to keep the bar high for detail quality, but I hope that smaller projects will provide more fun than these mega projects.
C) I like the corner. So many funny guys here! Thanks, Russ!
Christian
While you are in the corner, maybe you can see if Dave Krakow is there. He used to post here and we even spoke on the phone. I miss his input. I'm sure he is busy with a variety of projects but can you tell us what he's spending most of his time on? -- Russ
He cut some shingles for me recently, so he's still breathin'.
Fantastic work Christian :o :o! The broken sign is a great idea and as somebody already said this diorama would be great in any scale. Let´s hope for some really neat interior work as well.
About Dave Krakow he is very much around, he just made some custom work for me for my new diorama which I will show here real soon.
Anders
Fantastic work, has just great atmosphere ...... It's hard to beleive it's the scale it is
Quote from: Junior on September 13, 2013, 09:53:03 AM
for my new diorama which I will show here real soon.
Anders
Promises, promises. ;)
The return of Christian and Anders...nice!
Anders just sent me an e-mail. He promises to post photos of his new project soon. And, if he wants, I will do a digital article about his motorcycle shop diorama.
So far two excellent modelers have contacted me about digital publishing. That's already more work than I can handle!
Russ