Large Scale Central

MIK 2023, Petes Bank of?


here is the official napkin drawing of my potential bank building. I have decided it will be about 7X7X7 to match the building near it.Height and depth may vary but it will be a small bank. I ordered some sheets of brick that if they are what ebay says they are should work out just fine Each pair if 7x12 sheets were $6.25 so I might get away with 1 package, but I purchased 3 of them so $30-6.25 for 2 sheets that drops me down to $23.75 left. Time to work up lans and decide on building core, mught go with 1/2" foam insulation from my abandoned warehouse, one side wall will probably make my whole building. So that should count as not a already started project. Good Luck to all and Happy New Year!!
Also I have not decided of a name for the town , So that is why the bBank of ??? Thought about Florence for my grandma, but there is the town of Florence here in AZ, so I’m not sure I want to confuse locals with that name. Railkroad name has been Babs River Railway, and ther is the Babs River close by so It may get that name. Still working on it.

How about the “Bailey Building and Loan” or the “Bab’s River Savings and Loan” ?

Corsair savings and loan (big loan) :rofl:

Foam core insulation for a bank? Jesse James could get in that place with a butter knife :laughing:

Glad you’re not sitting on the bench this year, Pete, I always enjoy your builds. Look forward to watching you construct the First National Bank of Bab’s, Bab’s Bank, Bab’s National, etc, etc.

Nice thought on the naming. Florence can have a branch office in town, and/or you could use your Grandmas’ maiden name to limit the confusion :sunglasses:

Her Maiden name was Herman , then Lassen then Emler. I was thinking Herman but that brings up Munsters thoughts to me. Probably Babs River bank .
Devon, Corsair would be your bank. mine would have to be Bearcat ( F8F-1) Savings and Loan. Or Pratt and Whitney Bank.

Pete I did mine for my sister because we were both told growing up that if we gave our money to our mother it would be save and we could have it any time we wanted, I did get a hefty sum when I moved out to become married but until then it was like the hotel California, checked in but couldn’t check out. so I made her the bank of Barnwell (our last name) copied a friends bird house that was coming apart using pieces of an old pola, polystyrene sheet, and scan line roofing, great fun

The Babs River Bank Building The BRBB as its called has broken ground on main street in the town of Florence, The bank gave themselves a great deal on a loan and purchased a plot of land next to the main st building complex. The town requires a brick building so PO’s were sent out, products ordered and shipped after the Challenge began.
So, to get started I dug out a old campaign sign from several years ago and commenced cutting




The building looks short because there are short people in my layout< see below for explanation
I had this door on hand from a Colorado Structures kit I built last summer , so I drilled holes and attacked it with a coping saw and made a lot of dust, but the end result looks pretty good to me. I am on the fence about sanding it further or leaving the wood look to it. Got to get some wire to bend for door handles, but thats later
After pictures of the door with widows
Finger is holding test piece for block was at base of building to get to wanted height
I ordered online 3 packages of 2 sheets in each package of scale brick, stamped styrene from JTT scenery Products $7.00 per package. I will probably use only 2 packages since the building will be small footprint 8"w x7.5"d x 8"h. the sheets are 7.5x12, so that is the reason for the block short wall at the base. Anyway , moving along with things so far.

1 Like

Great progress, Pete. You did a fine job cutting the window openings in the doors. I like the wood grain myself, but its your bank. How thick are the brick sheets? Those look like they would come in handy sometime.

Dan the sheet is …02" or .7mm so like thick cardstockI was searching on Ebay and found this , so I am testing with it as far as what to use to glue it to the coroplast and next to see how well it takes and hold paint.I was really expecting it to be a little thicker, but the price was telling me it wasn’t a stand on its own , solid product. So I am kind of pushing my boundaries a little with this and we will see how things go.

Very nice start Pete. And I second the notion that the door came out quite well. So far you are very much in the “Spirit of MIK” in that you have repurposed a campaign sign (love that stuff) and a door from your junk bin.

don’t forget very cheap brick styrene, $6.25 for 2 7.5"x12" sheetsplus shippping.I rounded up to $7.00 a package guessing shipping , but its probably more than that. When total come up I will get a exact price on shipping to make sure I do not go over the $30.00

Thanks, Pete. I will be following closely to see how the brick sheets work for you.

Well, it’s surprising how much life gets in the way when you do NOT have to go to work! Granddaughter had 3 basketball games 1 very hard 1 point loss, 1 very hard fought overtime win where she fouled out with 15 sec. left in the game ( very upset, but the foul actually saved the tie) and finally a blowout win! Anyway here are some progress pictures

base frame from AZtek composite wood made. While pin nailing it together a errant pin or 2 decided that the doorway should stay in place , look on left side for 1 of them. trying to get ideas on how things will look. I tried scoring the corners so I could just bend them , but the stuff is so thin it snaps in two, so I will come up with some angle to help hide the corners.
Some USA Trains extra step/hand hold bars work perfectly as door handles, I will paint them , silver or brass color , depending on what my paint box has in it, I know it has silver, hoping there is brass too.


this is the packages of the embossed sheets I am using, I had to dig into package # 2 so that is around $14-15.00 of my budget, do not remember the shipping cost, so I will look at that and revise my actual numbers to date on next post.

Looking good, Pete. I am very impressed with the doors. The grab bars made nice door handles.

Dan you should have (well maybe not) heard the words that flew when I drilled the holes, then discovered the other grab handle was a different smaller size. a small panic set in until I found another one nearby I had covered up with a piece of brick sheet!!!

side question, if I am not going to model an interior, I have some stuff to work as shades for the windows, but would it be better to paint the interior a lighter color for interior lighting purposes or darker paint? I will probably put a couple of small LED inside to light the building , and maybe a light on the outside over the door.
Also thinking the bank could use some sort of awning porch covering to let customers get inwithout getting wet or here is Arizona burnt to a crisp!

Pete, I can imagine the feeling after all that work on the doors. Glad it turned out the way you planned. I’ll let someone smarter than me help you with the paint. I like the idea of a cover over the front door to help folks get in out of the weather.

Your bank is coming right along. The front doors are just right.

Looking great, Pete.

Thanks for the tip on JTT Scenery Products. I just hunted around, seems like there’s a lot of US vendors, but made in India or Nepal or China, can’t tell. Interesting.

Wherever it’s made, they can sheet a brick.

:crazy_face: