An Ugly Old Lady

[BKLN]

Last summer I started a little project called "Hot Bird". The building is a ugly old tenement, but it got its name from the big yellow ads for a BBQ joint called "Hot Bird". The original building stood on Vanderbilt Ave in Brooklyn and has been torn down in early 2011 to make room for a parking lot for the controversial new "Atlantic Yards" arena for the "Brooklyn Nets".

The building was not pretty, but it's fate is symbolic for the recent developments in the neighborhood. Because of the bright yellow ads it was an odd landmark in the neighborhood. Long after the other houses on the block were knocked down, "Hot Bird" stood tall and lonely in a field of rubble.

I am on the finishing stretch with this project, but I will post a couple of SBS pictures to illustrate the process. (Please excuse the image quality, I just don't have the room and light to set up for perfect photos)

The north side wall was built from the wonderful Walthers Parkview kit. I shortened the length of the wall by about 20ft. - I am not a nut counter, my main goal is to capture the feel and mood of a building).

[BKLN]

The seams in the brick were filled and re-carved in the correct brick pattern. A coat of rust colored primer is the foundation for the brick painting. And then the fun of painting bricks began.

[BKLN]

Here you can see the walls finally together. I the front wall was lasercut by Dave of VectorCut. As usual he did an outstanding job. Without his help, a project like this would have been impossible to do.

[Mobilgas]

Christian,    The colors on the one wall your showing painted looks good could you show a better shot of the painted wall?

[finescalerr]

It's HO, right? -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

Cool project. That "Hot Bird" sign is eye-catching.

[Ken Hamilton]

Great looking building, Christian.  The brick work is terrific.

[BKLN]

Thank you for the compliments. It is indeed HO scale, and yes - it is an eye catcher (of the "special" kind). For a graphic designer it's more of an eye sore: the type design is just terrible. Today, I printed the decals for the side walls and they look just weird, but not because I messed them up - no, they were wrong to begin with, hehe.

[okiecrip]

that is really goin to be a cool bldg.

[marc_reusser]

That is really neat. I love that you tackle these large structures, especially with your attention to detail and workmanship.

M

[Junior]

This will be a fantastic building and I know that for a fact as I have seen your previous dioramas. Great to see you back here Christian!

Anders