November 28, 2008 • 10:41 pm
I just noticed that the Astor Place subway kiosk in New York City has some dimensional differences from the blue prints I have.
The Astor Place entrance has an elongated “mid-section” with an extra window. Because of this, the angle of the middle is different. The width is also doubled from the original blue prints to accomodate a double stairway (up and down). Some of the molding on the Astor Place version is also modified.
The Astor Place entrance is a replica, build to match the style of the originals. Because of this, I’ve opted to follow the blueprints more closely, but because I also need to reference Astor Place photos, I will likely need to take some creative license to make this work as well as possible.
Filed under: Scratchbuilding, Structures , Astor Place, kiosk, model, model railroad, model railroading, N Scale, New York, NYC, subway
3D model in progress.
It seems that my years of architecture classes have paid off for something after all! Sitting down in front of a friend’s CAD workstation seemed to be like getting back onto a bike after 10 years. You just don’t forget.
After just a short time, the 3D model of the subway entrance is coming together nicely. Obviously, there’s a lot more work to do and I have to walk a fine line between detail and not-possible-to-produce.
If nothing else, it’s been nice to see this rotating around in 3D on the screen. We’ll have to see where this can go.
Filed under: Scratchbuilding, Structures , 3D, 3D modeling, kiosk, model, model railroad, model railroading, N Scale, subway
November 27, 2008 • 12:30 am
Astor Place station kiosk
In the absense of having a place to work on actual modeling — and not yet having a layout built, I’ve been focusing my model railroading energy in other ways.
I’ve done a bit of research on ways that would allow me to produce my own kits. I’ve actually discovered a possibility that looks fairly promising.
Using CAD software, I’ve started modeling (in 3D) a vintage New York City subway entrance kiosk — I suppose you could consider this a form of scratchbuilding. I am basing this on blueprints available from New York Transit Museum as well photos of the replica Astor Place station entrance.
Once the 3D model is completed, I am going to have a test version fabricated. If all goes well, I hope to offer this to other N-scalers via a separate Web site.
I’ll keep you posted.
Filed under: Products, Scratchbuilding, Structures , Astor Place, kiosk, model, model railroad, model railroading, N Scale, New York, subway, subway entrance
