Challenge #3 - Vintage Chemical & The Philadelphia Belt Line

[chuck geiger]

Tits

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Only thing I'm wondering is if there'd be overhead pipes and materials transfer bridges connecting buildings to each other --- especially the older ones that would have been modified with new technology and processes over time. Plus it would visually tie all the structures together.

Oh yeah, absolutely! They're in the plan. In fact I just got a whole bunch of plastruct in to make em.

[wm3798]

That's starting to look like you know what you're doing.  The trackwork is spot on.
Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Added a skyboard and painted the fascia.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I've redone the box to keep things a bit tighter. No need to be protecting all that air AND now the sky boards will fully protect it.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Since I'm working on the modules' neighbor I figured I should just keep it all in one thread.

This whole Covid thing has put me in the mood for some "comfort modeling" so I decided to do the next module in the set: Bridesburg.

For those of you who aren't from Philly, Bridesburg is a neighborhood in Northeast Philly, just north of Port Richmond and Fishtown. It was where I grew up.

This progress is not much to look at here, but I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to arrange everything here. I think I found an arrangement that works for me.





I'm trying to replicate this scene from my childhood. My grandfather worked at the Rohm & Haas plant across the street here and I have many happy memories of this area.



And this is ridiculuous, I know, but I like the idea of running Reading power (even though it was served by the PRR/PC) here because my other grandfather was a Reading man in Port Richmond.



Progress continues with a sheet of foamcore being laid down to bring ground level up to the height of the roadbed and everything has been drawn in.

I also started construction of a rough rendition of the Chinese restaurant on the corner here. I know a DPM building might've matched better, but I have an assload of the IHC Philly storefronts so I'm using one of those.

I wish the geometry of TTRAK allowed me to capture the weird angle it sits at, but I've got no such luck.



Pics as I get a little further along.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Well *****. I just realized something. I think I need to find a way to work this in there too. There are few things more Philly than a string band.



In case you're interested, this is what they're all about.

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[VonRyan]

I think you need to focus on doing justice to the Chinese joint.
That thing is screaming for a kitbash of some DPM parts and I bet @DKS would only need about 6 minutes to decide and tell you which parts to use.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think you need to focus on doing justice to the Chinese joint.
That thing is screaming for a kitbash of some DPM parts and I bet @DKS would only need about 6 minutes to decide and tell you which parts to use.

I'm hoping that the final model will be a good enough standin. I'm really aiming to capture the character of the place (including spending half an hour digging around for my Reading Green paint).

[Point353]

Well *****. I just realized something. I think I need to find a way to work this in there too. There are few things more Philly than a string band.

Check out the video for "When The Midnight Choo Choo Leaves For Alabam" and note the bandmembers' uniforms with railroad crossing crossbucks and lights:

[VonRyan]

I'm hoping that the final model will be a good enough standin. I'm really aiming to capture the character of the place (including spending half an hour digging around for my Reading Green paint).

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[chicken45]

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Amazing.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

(awesome DPM slices)

That's hot. However... the building itself has to be oriented facing Thompson St because there is no street leading off the edge of the module in that direction. I'm thinking there will just be an alley here.

So, for that reason, I put this together today. Not, by any means, done, but good enough as a stand in for me! Now to figure out the annex to the left and what I'm going to do for the Ferko building (which will be to the left of the building in this photo as opposed to the right).

[VonRyan]

That's hot. However... the building itself has to be oriented facing Thompson St because there is no street leading off the edge of the module in that direction. I'm thinking there will just be an alley here.

So, for that reason, I put this together today. Not, by any means, done, but good enough as a stand in for me! Now to figure out the annex to the left and what I'm going to do for the Ferko building (which will be to the left of the building in this photo as opposed to the right).

You lost me. Draw a map.
The building is facing Thompson street, which is the very street I grabbed the street view from, so I have no idea what the issue here is.

[DKS]

Wait... that's a corner building. It doesn't "face" one street. Besides, where it was originally, the more interesting side of the building would be facing the front of the layout.

The new arrangement below puts the less interesting side of the building facing front.