Historical Resource Reminder...

[W.P. Rayner]

This has been mentioned here before and I know I posted here on the collection a few years back, but for the benefit of the new members who may not be aware of the resource, check out the HABS/HAER/HALS (Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey) collections at the Library of Congress. There you will find thousands of high-quality documentary photographs and drawings available for free download as reference material to American Architecture and Engineering. Anything from Twenty Mule Team Borax Wagon trains, to historic buildings, covered bridges, steam engines.... the list goes on and on. It can take time to search and find the information you're after, but it's well worth the effort. For a CAD junky like myself it's a veritable candy store.

In addition to my regular day-job as Law Librarian to the local Sheriff's Dept., I've also been recently assigned to the Government Documents Library. We are one of three Government Documents Depositories in California and we receive everything that the Federal and State governments publish in either print or microfiche format and have done so since the 1920s. As you may imagine the collection is massive and beyond the Presidential, Senate and Congressional documents there are huge collections from all the major government agencies. The Interior Dept. is one that may be of particular interest to modelers as there is a great deal of documentation on historical landmarks and preservation. These collections are reference only of course. Most people are completely unaware that such collections exist. Check with your local library to find out where the Depository is in your state... it's well worth investigating.

Paul

[finescalerr]

Paul, how do you apply the photos to CAD? Estimate dimensions and draw them? Or do you have a more sophisticated approach? -- Russ

[Les]

Using CAD to produce scale drawings (as close as possible) is very easy. To CAD copy and paste a jpg file of the photo. Other file types may work but I have always used jpg and it works. In CAD rotate the photo to a level orientation to make it easy to draw around. If you have measurements of the article in the photo rescale the photo suit. With photograph distortion occurs so a bit of intelligent guess work is required and multiple photos may be required. With CAD it is a matter of drawing around the photo using known measurements. I have also taken pdf drawings of buildings similar to what is shown on this site, scanned them at high resolution  filed them as a jpg, copied to Cad, rescaled  and drawn around them based on measurements. Even if measurements are not known look at the photo in detail for standard materials to use as a base. Steel channels, chain links or similar can be a good start. I must admit I have started drawings and end up being frustrated by the lack of measurements to complete. I attach a part of a drawing I have been working on,
Les

[W.P. Rayner]

Russ:

I don't do anything magical. I use the same method demonstrated by Les below. I import the image onto a background layer in the CAD application then draw over it, at least to get the general proportions correct. There are software applications that will do this, but it's so simple I see no reason to utilize them. The advantage of the HABS/HAER photos is they are purposefully shot as structural documents, generally in large format. With the view cameras, the photographers are able to correct distortion in the photograph so you can end up with very clean, relatively distortion-free profile shots. Occasionally they will include a measuring stick in one of the shots making it a simple matter to extrapolate dimensions. Some of the projects they've documented have both complete drawings and a series of photographs which is of course, the best resource of all.

Paul