Thanks for the site pic. I think Dave R is right about the tall windows on the one structure. But, as they’re appealing is it possible to switch the two fronts and have the shorter building with the round top windows. I do like it as two structures, and as two it gives a better view of the propossed structure that will be up and back. You do plan on locating the third structure on the flat stone somewhat, correct?
Yes, it’ll be up on the flat-ish area of stone. I’ll also have to chisel out a bit more rock to make room for it – or I may decide to put a water tank up there instead. That might fit in easier.
I’m beginning to lean more towards the two narrow buildings instead of the one wider building. Once I start adding buildings to the larger area on the right, I’ll have plenty of room for wider, larger buildings. So it might be nice to have a couple more small ones first.
If I do make the two small buildings, I might eliminate the arched windows on the brick structure and replace them with something that would be a little easier to make. That would also allow me to make the door and windows wider – the stone arches take up a lot of space on such a narrow building.
How about arched caps…not the whole frame?
My vote goes with the second building. From an engineering standpoint it eould be more stable although builders in the west weren’t concerned with stability.
Is Jerome still sliding downhill?
I really disike those tall arched windows. They make a tall skinny building look taller and skinnier.
Also what year are you imagining? It was not really feasible to make really large plates of glass till the 1880s/1890s, and you’d find big long spans of plate glass first in big cities in dept.stores. Those tall arches just don’t look like a 19th century mining town to me–they would have to have individual panes. The other windows are more plausible. Just my opinion.
mike omalley said:
I really disike those tall arched windows. They make a tall skinny building look taller and skinnier.Also what year are you imagining? It was not really feasible to make really large plates of glass till the 1880s/1890s, and you’d find big long spans of plate glass first in big cities in dept.stores. Those tall arches just don’t look like a 19th century mining town to me–they would have to have individual panes. The other windows are more plausible. Just my opinion.
I tend to agree.
I do like the 2 seperate buildings though. If you want the rounded look why not make your windows smaller and square then put flat porches on the top and bottom with railing. Now make aches between the posts like an arched spandrel with lattice. Space your posts to either side of the window trim. If you have 2 windows then you have 4 posts.
Follow me on that?
I think it should be the two separate buildings… And, like the others said, the arches need to be corrected somehow… Breaking up entire arch, with the doors, and an arch above it, and in the case of up stairs, just large windows, probably square…
The two smaller buildings would go well next to the two you actually have… The larget Building could be built, to be placed in the vacant space to the right… IF it need to have the front widened, then leave the two separate entrances, but if it fits using the same size as in the pitcure, made it one entrance, like stated by the others…
just my 2 cents worth… 
I didn’t bother modeling the fine details like doors and window mullions on these computer generated images. At this stage I’m just trying to get a feel for the size, shape, and overall look of the buildings. All the finer details will be added when I build the actual structures.
Ok, because my other thought was that You’d never find a brick building at a site like that–who’d be paying to haul bricks to a mining town? there’s all the stone you’d ever want. It’d be timber frame and local stone, I suspect
mike omalley said:Once again I agree and these were all original thought's that crossed my mind. I was thinking that the building on the right was built by one of the locals that had some scratch and this is why I suggested the fancy porch treatment with wood as opposed to the brick palladian windows. Yes they would have used materials on hand as opposed to being brought in especially in a situation that he's trying to create/model. Whatever you decide Ray I'm sure it will be a top notch build!
Ok, because my other thought was that You'd never find a brick building at a site like that--who'd be paying to haul bricks to a mining town? there's all the stone you'd ever want. It'd be timber frame and local stone, I suspect
You’d be surprised at the kind of buildings these old towns had! Most of the old mining towns I’ve seen have buildings consisting of a variety materials, often including brick and stone (both cut and rough). Sometimes the bricks were fired locally, other times they were hauled in. Of course you might see more brick buildings in one town, and more stone or wood buildings in another town. And they all had the usual wood and tin structures too. Here are a few examples from Eureka, NV. Most were built in the late 1870’s or 1880’s… This newpaper office was made of local brick and stone:
(http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Eureka_NV_files/Media/w9479_14/w9479_14.jpg)
This building has local, cut sandstone on the bottom, and brick on the top:
(http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Eureka_NV_files/Media/w9488_17Eureka/w9488_17Eureka.jpg)
This beautiful little house is made of brick, on a sandstone foundation:
(http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Eureka_NV_files/Media/w9488_23Eureka/w9488_23Eureka.jpg)
Tonopah NV had it’s boom at the turn of the century. Many of Tonopah’s buildings are made of brick, or cut stone blocks such as these:
(http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Tonopah_NV_files/Media/IMG_3654c/IMG_3654c.jpg)
(http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Tonopah_NV_files/Media/IMG_3665c/IMG_3665c.jpg)
Places like Goldfield, Rhyolite, and Randsburg all had brick buildings, cut stone buildings, field stone buildings, adobe, etc. Plus a few oddities like bottle houses. Stone and brick buildings in Goldfield, early 1900’s:
(http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Goldfield_NV_files/Media/4958_13GFCorner/4958_13GFCorner.jpg)
There are fewer examples of wood buildings still standing and in use at these old towns due to fires, rot, etc.
It’s your RR and your call sir…you asked for input and I hope my thoughts helped.
I’d just dig in and go with the flow Ray!
Oh, I do desire and appreciate all the input! Thanks!
Oh yeah. Take that newspaper office, add the railing…
Glad to see you’re doing your research!!
I went through Tonopah many years ago–looks like it hasn’t changed much!
Are your imaging in the Inkopah as a boom town, or as a small mining community running at a steady state?
Ric Golding told me once, and I think it’s true, that the first and most important thing on any layout is the story–what’s the story? When we did ours we didn’t have the story down as well as we should have
I agree–with your skills whatever you choose will turn out great. Also the technique of dropping the 3-d image into the scene is terrific.
Ray,
I guess I’ll muddy the waters and insert my 2 cents worth. hehe!
I like the size of the single second building better for that site and also like the brick building with the arch windows in the pair. I think I’d be inclined to simply enlarge the latter to fill the same space as the second single building. Also maybe do as suggested and make the windows with squared off tops and add arched caps above them.
Whatever you choose I’m sure it’ll turn out great though but hopefully I’ve “muddled” your thinking a bit. [:)]
Interesting us of the “bent RR Xing” cross on this building. What was the building’s original use, a bank? It has that flavor. .
(http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Goldfield_NV_files/Media/4958_13GFCorner/4958_13GFCorner.jpg)
. Of course, this building was erected before the bad guys co-opted that logo. Ray, are you going to build mockups first to test the waters, so to speak? I enjoy following your muse. You do great work.
Yeah, I think I’ll have to make some simple cardboard or foam-core mockups to help me make up my mind.
The “swastikas” are like big washers at the end of the “tie rods” that hold the building together. A lot of old brick or stone buildings have tie rods like that, with various shapes on the ends. Don’t see the swastika style very much but it used to be popular in the Southwest before the Nazis used it. In fact, in New Mexico there used to be a Swastika Railroad!
I don’t remember if this was a bank building or what, but it does look like one.
Richard Smith said:
Ray,I guess I’ll muddy the waters and insert my 2 cents worth. hehe!
I like the size of the single second building better for that site and also like the brick building with the arch windows in the pair. I think I’d be inclined to simply enlarge the latter to fill the same space as the second single building. Also maybe do as suggested and make the windows with squared off tops and add arched caps above them.
Whatever you choose I’m sure it’ll turn out great though but hopefully I’ve “muddled” your thinking a bit. [:)]
APPLE CART TIPPER!
I built a very simple mockup of the two smaller buildings. I didn’t bother mocking up the second floor of the building on the left…
(http://www.raydunakin.com/IRRWebfiles/DosBuildingsMockup1.jpg)
I determined that the second floor of both buildings could be extended back onto the rocks, giving each of them a good five inches of additional depth. So I reworked the 3D models. I eliminated the stairs, and replaced them with a wall and door – the stairs to the second floor are now “implied”, somewhere in the building. I also recessed the second floor on the wooden building a little; and I replaced the brick building’s arches with rectangular doors and windows. As before, I did not bother putting in all the fine details such as doors and window mullions; and the textures shown are not necessarily the materials that will be used on the final models.
(http://www.raydunakin.com/IRRWebfiles/DosBuildingsTest5.jpg)
Then I pasted the CG image into a photo of the town site:
(http://www.raydunakin.com/IRRWebfiles/wIMG_3880d.jpg)
I like this version for three reasons… 1. Extending the buildings back onto the hillside ties the town into the landscape and also breaks up the “row of boxes” look a little bit. 2. The added depth makes the narrow buildings seem a little more plausible. 3. Using two narrow buildings here, creates a nice transition to the larger buildings that will be added later. Any thoughts/comments?