Large Scale Central

Size matters, sometimes too much

Modeling
#1

It looked like a neat old water mill I spotted on a 2015 calendar. Kind of small. Could make a good factory, even without the mill pond. So I sent it to Lightroom, figured out the size I might need for large scale, based on the dimensions of the 1/24 scale, Grandt Line 12-pane window I had on hand. Well sir and madam, after cutting and pasting, I came up with a “small” building that’s 18 inches wide and 22-in. tall. Now maybe if you’re Marty Cozad with all of the great outdoors at his disposal, this baby would fit right in. But in suburbia, or in the living room, wow!

That’s where selective compression comes in and while I hate to resort to that because it adds another complication to the modeling process, I’ll have to do it if I decide I need this building. Meanwhile, here’s what we’re talkin’ about.

shttp://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/joerusz915/Redmillshopped.jpg

#2

That is a really cool building. Buildings especially mills and factories come in all sizes so don’t worry about it being too big. you could add a one story addition to take away from the feeling of height and don’t forget a loading dock.

If not you could simply cut out a few inches in middle to lower the height.

#3

Yep, Todd, cutting a few inches out here and there is what I think I’ll do. Like all of my building projects, I let the cardboard mockups sit around a while so I can study them and try to visualize what if anything I need to do to make 'em look right. Coicidentally, this mill is right near my hotel, which is based on plans in an old Model Railroader. The hotel has been sectioned in every dimension and I think I’ll apply the same process to the mill, provided I decide to build it rather than my car repair garage (already a year in conception) and that house I just posted elsewhere on our site. Or I could just spend all of my leisure time posting to LSC. BTW, in the uncropped image of that mill you can see the millpond, but no sign of a waterwheel–unless it was located under the floor and positioned horizontally or something (I’m not an expert on water mills).

#4

After much Photoshopping, cutting and pasting, I resized that puppy to where it doesn’t overwhelm every other structure in my little town. Basically, I reduced both dimensions by 20 percent. That is, the height from 40 scale feet to 32 ft. in 1:22.5 (I don’t know why I stick to that scale) and the width from 30 ft. to 24 ft. I could fib and say printed in black & white so you could see the difference, but the real reason is printing in color eats up ink like crazy–at $15.99 for each color, in this case, mostly magenta.

In the actual model I’ll turn that top window into a freight door, 'cause I have a clever reason for having a door up there. And maybe, I’ll put back a couple of feet of height, because right now the building looks too squatty. Or not. Hey, it’s a model!

#5

Joe, in the past I have tried to scale down structures, but I always seam to loose the character of them in the process. We don’t realize just how massive some buildings are until we try to model them in scale.

Hay, if 1:22.5 scale works for you, then use it. I am lazy, I use 1:24 scale.

#6

Yeah, David, 1:24 would be easy. There’s so much doll house stuff out there just waitin’ for the picking. I blame LGB, 'cause they decided that a meter and a yard were the same and designed their American style 3-foot narrow gauge locos and rolling stock to use track that wasn’t really 3 scale feet wide, but 39-plus inches wide. Bachmann jumped on and away we went. I dipped my toe in the “real” 3-foot narrow gauge, which is F-scale, like Bachmann’s Spectrum stuff. Bought two locos and four cars, which have yet to turn a wheel and even built a station in F. But none of those trains have turned a wheel because the stuff is pretty big and I don’t have the room.

#7

Looks pretty similar to this one:

http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/20589/a-grist-mill-part-2/view/page/1

#8

Joe yea. to model a 40 inch gauge line I should be somewhere around 1:22. I chose 1:24 because I am lazy. There is some dollhouse stuff available n 1:24, but since the big dollhouse shop near me has gone out of business, I make most of my stuff.

#9

Ken, yes, “my” mill looks similar to yours (Nice work, btw). But that’s because a mill is a mill is a mill. Or a factory, which is what my building will be. I spent a couple of hours cutting and pasting windows and making a freight door for the top floor. I know that prototypically there would be no reason for a door that big on the top floor, but as I said, I have an ulterior motive for it being that way–if I follow through with my clever and humorous theme for the factory. Anyway, the plan is to make one end wall with a window, the other with a freight door. Meanwhile, I’m trying to decide on either Precision Plastic siding or planking or something more rustic looking.

FYI: While Googling around looking for mill and factory photos, I stumbled across the prototype red mill in the first photo of my post. It is Starr’s Mill in Fayetteville, GA.