In-ko-pah RR -- Designing the Hotel Torgo

[Ray Dunakin]

Work on the railroad has been quite limited lately due to Cris' health issues, however I have managed to get a little bit done. Here's what I've got so far...

First up, I decided that the next building in the town of Dos Manos would be a hotel. I'm still working on the design, but here's a simple drawing of the front. It will be a "Mission Revival" type building, with Spanish tile roofing, arches supporting the roof over the sidewalk, etc. I still have to work out all the details but I'm open to suggestions:

 


I wanted it to be three stories tall, but I wanted to make sure it wouldn't overwhelm the other buildings too much. So today I knocked out a very crude mockup and placed it on the layout. I think it may need to be a little bit taller but I think it will still fit in ok. What do you think? I also need to raise the roof over the sidewalk a bit, and add a few more features to the mockup:

 

 

I'm still trying to figure out what material to make the hotel out of. I'd like something about a half inch thick that is totally weatherproof -- maybe some expanded PVC board? Whatever I end up using, it will be textured and painted to look like stucco.


The other project I've been working on a little is the site for the town of Mineral Ridge. Back in July and August I started preparing the site by building a miniature concrete retaining wall, supporting a short road up the slope. Now I've started creating foundations for the buildings that will eventually line the roadside. Here's a couple shots of the first two foundations under construction. I made forms out of foam core board...

 

 

Here's a shot of the townsite under construction. As you can see, I've also been building a miniature stone retaining wall on the cliff above the town. This will eventually support a small mining tram that will run between the mines and a future mill:

 

Not exactly a "finescale" project but thought some of you might enjoy seeing these shots.

BTW, my layout is featured on the cover, and inside, the December issue of Garden Railways!

[darrylhuffman]

Ray,

I am always interested in your work and look forward to your hotel being completed.

As I looked at the first photo of your existing building along side your other buildings, I realized you have the scene composed differently that I would have designed it.

You have your smallest building closest to the viewer and your tallest, your new building, the furthest from the viewer.

I like to have the tallest building closest to the viewer and have the sizes of the buildings step down as they get further away.

This gives the scene some forced perspective.

I am sure your scene can be viewed from both directions but this is the view you chose for us to see so it may be the one you will see most often.

And thanks again for all the great ghost town photos you have shared with us.

I am moving to Idaho this winter and hope to do some exploring of my own instead of just living vicariously though the efforts of people such as yourself.

Darryl Huffman

[Ray Dunakin]

I've made some more progress in designing the next building for the town of Dos Manos, a three-story "Mission Revival" style hotel. I've completed the mockup, which is made of foam core art board. Here are some shots of the mockup in place on the layout:








The actual model will be made of pvc foam board. This is a material I've never used for modeling before, so I'm curious to see how it works out. I have some 6mm sheets ordered, which should arrive in a few days.

I'm still looking into my options for creating individual Spanish tiles in 1/24th scale.

[jacq01]

Hi Ray,

read about the storm that hit southwest US. Hope your garden layout is not too much affected.

Jacq

[Ray Dunakin]

Nope, we missed out on all that, there was little more than a breeze here.

Had a pretty bad scare last night though when our furnace tried to blow up the house! Instead of a soft "woosh" when it came on, there was a huge "WHOOMP!" that shook the whole house and blew open the door to the furnace, and left a sooty exhaust smell.   

[michael mott]

Hi Ray I am really impressed with the model work that you do that stays outdoors, you must live in a very stable climate area. here the freeze thaw cycle would destroy anything that was not made of nailed together 2x4s.

michael

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks! Yes we are blessed with a very mild climate here. Nothing more than a little frost in the winter, only rarely getting below freezing. No snow, and only small hail on occasion. Gets hot sometimes but nowhere near as bad as the desert, and usually much less humidity than other parts of the country.

[Bexley]

Okay, maybe I'm a little slow, but I just now put together "town of Dos Manos" and "Hotel Torgo."

[Ray Dunakin]

Heheh! Yep, it's a little nod to my favorite defunct TV show. 

[Ray Dunakin]

I've made a little progress on the actual construction...

The main structural components (walls, etc.) were cut from white 6mm PVC foam board. A few parts were made from a piece of black, 1/2" thick PVC board that I picked up a while back from the local plastics dealer.

I printed out drawings of the windows onto cardstock, and cut them out to use as templates for laying out the window openings on the walls:



Here's a shot of the front and side wall pieces:

 

I had to cut a separate piece to go behind the middle section of the front wall, where it extends above the rest of the wall:

 

The corners and the window openings were rounded off by sanding:



Here's the front wall put together. There is a half-inch gap in the middle section, just above the doorway arch. This is where the balcony will be attached:

 

Here are some of the parts for the sidewalk and arches:

 

The window frames are made from strip styrene and are built up in two layers. They are designed to be inserted into the window openings from behind:

 

 

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[Malachi Constant]

Nice to see the Torgo taking shape!  -- Dallas

[finescalerr]

Won't the sun and moisture soon disintegrate those beautiful styrene windows? -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

Moisture isn't an issue, but UV from the sun is. Fortunately, the paint protects it pretty well, and I also top it with Krylon UV resistant matte finish. And in the case of the window frames, they'll also be supported by the glass.

[Ray Dunakin]

I've made some more progress...

First off, I made the sidewalk out of black, 1/2" thick PVC foam board. I sanded it and scribed joints and cracks into it. Then I sprayed it with a light coat of white primer. The color coats were done with Apple Barrel paints, starting with a mixture of "Sandstone" and "Granite Gray". This was topped with various other colors -- some were applied by flicking them off of an old toothbrush, to give it a speckled look. Others were applied as very thin washes. I also did a "pin wash", which is using a very fine paint brush to apply a thin, black wash into the lines and cracks. Last of all was a bit of Krylon UV matte. Here's some shots of the finished sidewalk:



 

 

 


Next, I added decorative trim to the top of the front walls. This was made from .080" square styrene rod, which was bent to shape and glued in place with Weld-On 16:

 

 
Then I attached the side walls:

 


I also sanded and assembled the arch pieces. Bondo was used to fill the joints and to create a bevel on the top of the arch to match the slope of the roof:

 

 
And here's how it all looks so far. The sidewalk and arches are only temporarily in place and have not yet been permanently attached:

 


That's it for now!

[Malachi Constant]

Nice!  Coloring on the sidewalk looks great and the curly trim on top is a nice touch.  -- Dallas