manitouguy Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 hi all, was going to post a couple of pics in trygmaya's recent post on buildings in 1/32 and 1/29 post but rather than hi-jack that one i will start another i am an architect by trade and to relieve the boredom of the 'real world' projects, i like to work in scale on my future garden diorama 'plans' i dabbled a bit in toy design assisting a chap with a 1/32 slot car venture (electric road racing) and had a wonderful 10 year collection of 1/32 slot cars from the '60s (i have since sold off 90% of it ... to buy more vintage pinball machines, but that is another story ) at any rate the diorama i have worked on and off planning for many years will hopefully someday be realized so some grand kids can enjoy it with me it is a bit off of the beaten path ... i grew up in Manitoba on the North Dakota border, and loved the 'exchange district' in Winnipeg (often called the Chicago of the North) ... also have a love for boats, planes and trains and decided to challenge myself to do a 'mid 60s' small city core with outlying elements - of course peppered with plenty of 'tongue and cheek' and scaled down 'toyish' distillation too it is meant not only to be a world for my trains to run through but as a backdrop (or series of backdrop models) for displaying my remaining collection of vintage slot cars, trains, boats, people etc that i have collected over the years, all near 1/32 at any rate - here are some photos of the buildings i have been working on a 'four view' of the city core the train station (with hotel rooms on top ... i know not typical ... but hey 'Smallville' is my world to build as i please LOL) this is the earlier 'tower' - across from the station - the railroad tycoon's offices this is a bit over at the 'industrial area' - the vw factory was an idea for a toy display for the slot car company i was assisting ... as was the street car, which i have already built one of in 1/32 this is 'Smallville' airport (did i say i loved planes..!) - i actually have a 1/32 727 from the '60s, its huge but i LOve it and it needed a place to live and be displayed too oh .. and i love rockets and early space race stuff too .. so out at the airport will be a 1/32 launchpad to displace some vintage space toys (i have a mercury capsule and the vostok / osoyuz .. but need to build their rockets .. oh boy!) at any rate - some of you may find this entertaining or give you ideas to build more of your own buildings etc etc cheers, Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike1083 Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Man that is some serious work you are going to be undertaking. Looks fantastic and definitely has a very interesting feel to it. So i am kind of curious. What process do you use to get from computer to 1/32 models? Do you use a 3d printer? Is there some sort of technique? Definitely would love to see the progress being made on this through time. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitouguy Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 hi Mike, most of the ideas start as messy hand sketches (i have a very over active imagination sometimes!) and then get worked and re-worked or 'distilled' month after month ... these ideas have been worked on over many years (i work slow!) i then do up a model of an idea in google sketchup - simple and fast to use but helps me visualize the 'building' of the 'toy' or in this case building (all these buildings have planned interiors - quite simple but believable like the outsides ... the magic for me of toys is taking the actual toy just far enough to let the imagination or a child's wonder do the rest ... marx and others were excellent at this back in the day ... you can tell i am no 'rivet counter' in need of full scale realism by any means .. ) once i have the model worked out in google sketchup i can then set up a sheet of pieces in 2d and have sent off to have laster cut outs so i can put all together and start detailing etc ( my 1/32 street car worked out well that way - maybe i will do another post on that one later) sometimes i also just then use a scale ruler (architect scales have on them as one of the typ scales, 3/8"=1'-0" so it is easy to measure the parts on the screen and mark them up on cardboard to cut out by hand .... experimenting with some card board right now - might try coating with plastic spray primer and then i can finish then up however i want with various paints etc .. this may be cheaper than bass wood! this is a pretty grand and LONG term project which will span a couple more decades yet if all goes well as hoped - so as a grandpa i can share it whith some grand kids i'll dig up some photos of some of the vintage toys and entourage i have amassed over the last two decades, as well as a few more sketchup renders that better explain how the downtown core was designed as a series of stand alone display models that plug together to become the 'city' too cheers, Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoles Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Ron, DId I spy a compressed "Hell Gate Bridge" in there? Looks like a lot of fun! You should make that launch pad a working pad and fire off some estes or even stomp rockets! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitouguy Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 yes that is my version of the hell gate bridge i always liked it as done by Lionel in tin plate ... i have a few tricks planned for mine estes rockets ... i launched one a bit overzealously with my son in a 'too small' school yard a few years back ... it landed nearby 'hot' on a nearby house - we ran and didn't look back ... so i think we will stick to non operating rockets for now!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Nice concepts! That'll keep you busy making those structures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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