Here’s some of what I’ve been up to. I’m modeling DT&I (1980ish). Enjoy, Brian B.
Niiiiiiiiiiiiice…
Whats the warehouse wall made out of? Some neat corrugated stuff.
I’m with Bob, I like that warehouse. I need something similar to that on my layout. Bob, Evergreen makes a corrigated sheet. That’s what I plant to use on mine. My question is what was used for the AC units on the roof?
And welcome aboard!!
Warren
Thanks Guys, The warehouse is made out of Plastruct corrugated sheet. Tha A/C units I made out of acrylic (lexan) sheets I ripped on a table saw and added styrene ribs and styrene ribbed sheet to imitate the vent screen. Here’s a picture I took after finishing them…the one on the right was my prototype…the other 5 look like the left side one - there are subtle differences. The figures in the picture are ‘O’ scale guys. Brian
Very nice. Now I have a good idea how I will build my AC units.
Thanks for sharing.
Warren
Brian -
Those AC Units and your warehouse look great. Someday I might actually get around to scenicing my indoor track 
Warren - If you would like detail pictures of some real rooftop units from the 70’s I happen to have a bunch that I took for an eBay auction.
JR
That would be really appreciated. I’ve got a lot of buildings that need to be built and that’s going to be a lot of rooftops.
Warren
OK Warren, here are the prototype photos for you. Brian - don’t take this as a poke at your work. The units you fabricated are very believable in both shape and color. These are Trane units on the roof of a building built in the 60’s or 70’s that we demolished in 2005. When looking over the documentation for the units, they are more modern than the building. Built in 1997-2001. They are the second generation of units on this roof. The ones with black pipe are gas fired combo heat/cool units.
JR
Thank you very much Jon. Roof details for flat roofed buildings are hard to come by. Get lots of pictures of the sides of buildings but it’s rare that someone can get access to the roofs. These are much appreciated.
Warren
I see rooftops all the time, let me know what your looking for maybe I can help or at least point you in the right direction.
Vic, I’m interested in any eye catching detail on flat roofs that can make them more interesting models rather than just a lot of flat empty real estate.
Warren
My son takes all sorts of shots , here’s an example from California , some odd little place called Hollywood .
Now that’s an interesting roof. One could spend quite some time looking at that detail if it were on a model.
Thanks,
Warren
No problem , Warren .
On the original , it can be enlarged so’s the individual units fill the screen , maybe it will if you download it .
Mike
The architect is crying in his bheer. What a pity to have his clean lines cluttered up with junk.
madwolf
yeah thats a pretty typical roof.
the vertical cylinders ar blower fans from exhaust fans
the horizontal tubes are HVAC (Heating Ventilation And Cooling) duct from the HVAC unit to the roof penetration. This kind of ducting should be minimum or not done at all for effeciency and weather sealing.
Most HVAC units ductwork drops straight out of the bottom of the unit and thru the roof under them. What looks like an outhouse is likely a water heater enclosure for a big 150 gallon unit.
The handrail is there because the roof parapet wall is less than 30inches high, its set back for visual purposes so its not visiable from the street.
220 grit sandpaper makes excellent scale roofing for a flat roof.
If the architect had had any sense , he would have made allowance for air con in his original plans , like a housing to hide it all . Some of the architects don’t seem to be able to design a fully functioning unit .
I am sure that Ken Brunt will agree with me when I say that architects ought to spend one year minimum tied to the front bumper of an 18 wheeler to see just what daft places loading bays are put . 18 wheeler 8’6" wide ? Good , that’ll make the road 9’ . Including the bends . Well , that’s what the driver’s paid for , innit ? 53’ box ? Er , whaddya mean ?
Mike
Waa’ll, when that building was designed, air-conditioning was opening the windows and hoping for a Santa Anna so there would be cross ventilation. Or, perhaps a sea breeze, if they were lucky enough to be close to the beach.
Still, Mike make a good point. A lot of architects and other designers really do not have a clue how their designs will be used. And an ugly box to hide the mechanicals is poor design.
madwolf
Mike, Steve, Its not that simple in the real world
Designing a building from scratch is a balancing act of so many components if you tried to do it your head would hurt if you came into it cold.
The building in the pic is an older one that as you said, air conditioning was an open window. 70 years later here we are with more codes and energy regulations than you can shake a stick at, and we have to accomodate all these requirements in a building never designed for such systems. Theres no duct chases, no adequete sized electrical service, and no insuilation whatsoever.
So we end up using things like Split Systems, with the chiller on the roof and a coolant line running down whatever vertical chase exists or can be made to a blower in the unit. This in itself can get very complicated when you start getting into double digit lease units, each of which is required to have individual HVAC and controls. So all this junk goes where ever we can put it on the roofd and then we often use a sheild wall to visually mask the units from the passerby on the street. It can like the picture, get very crowded up there just to meet the code requirements.
Its often similar in new construction, where budget constraints often, very often, limits us to how much of the architectural shell we can use to mask rooftop equipement. Most owners and particularly developers dont give a rats ass about the buildings architectural appearance, all they want is maximum lease space for the minimal dollar. So its often a fight to get any kind of a silk purse out of the sow’s ear of what the owner is willing to pay for. Our hands are often tied by these developers, who dont want to pay for a larger perimeter wall when instead they can pay for a cheap masking screen on the roof.
Its often the city planning departments that force changes to the buildings appearance, very much against some developers will. These boards were formed because it became obvious that relying on the developers to produce a building designs that wasnt an eyesore was like asking a blind man to fly a plane. So while we as architects often dont like these boards more often than not were on the same side, trying to get a good building squeezed from the turnip pursestrings of our client developer.
If you see a butt ugly building, dont blame us, its not the architects fault. 99.9% of bad butt ugly design is the fault of the owner/developer who wont pay for good architecture. Our powers are very limited. Spoken from direct experience.
Yes , Victor , you are quite right , a lot of idiocy is foisted on property owners which I feel deliberately sets out to cause upset . I say this because some of the rules they come up with are chapter and verse the very opposite of what the original architect had in mind . So it’s a sort of “let’s ruin this one , then .”
I notice , however , you missed the bit about the access roads . I mention this for good reason : many peoples’ layouts seem to follow the same logic .
Thus a loading bay has an 18 wheeler backed up to it , and it is impossible for it to have done so given the layout presented . A minor niggle ?
Maybe .
What’s your pet niggle , or no no on a layout ?
I know I have made some dreadful do do’s on some of mine . Oh , yes indeedy .
Mike