In-ko-pah Railroad: Hotel Torgo

[Ray Dunakin]

I've made a little progress on the construction my next building, the Hotel Torgo...

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!

 

[steinz]

Many many thanks for sharing such detailed info with the rest of us ...
... really appreciated !!

 

[tramcar trev]

Very nice job!!!

 

[lgbmad]

Hi there
seen your video........amazing, I think I will give up even planning mine after seeing yours.
All the best for the New Year
Kev

 

[mike]

brillent, keep it up

 

[Richie]

Fantastic work Ray Really enjoyed reading about your line in this months Garden Railways that is one wonderful rockery and those bridges loved them puts my rockery to shame .

 

[lgbmad]

Hi Ray
would I be correct in saying that it was your railway in the Garden Railways magazine dated December 2011?
I am unable to PM to you as I have not been a member long enough as yet (90 days membership as of 20 Jan 12).
I do not actually subscribe to Garden Railways (yet) but saw the December copy on the web and became very interested because it contained details of a railway located on a steep bank setting......turns out it could be yours. My railway to be is to be located on a steep bank, hence my great interest in the magazine artical.(brilliant railway by the way)
I did think maybe I was asking too much to build a railway in such a location, but on seeing the artical in the mag....may be not after all.
All the best
Kev

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Yes, that was my layout in the December 2011 issue.

Looks like your slope is a bit less steep than I had, so you should have less trouble adapting it for railway use.

 

[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!

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Here's my latest progress report...

First, I applied a thin coat of Bondo to the surface and roughed it up a little:

Later I sanded it down, leaving just a bit of uneven texture on the surface. Next, I built ledges to go under the two large windows in the middle of the front wall. These were built up from various strips of rectangular styrene and styrene quarter-rounds:

I attached the sidewalk to the building. Then I decided that it would be best to paint the lower half of the front wall before adding the arches over the sidewalk. First I gave it a coat of "concrete gray" color. I wanted to give this structure a a little Mexican flavor, so I painted a strip of blue along the bottom of the wall:

My first choice of color for the rest of the wall was a pale yellow, but that was much too bright. So I mixed in some terra cotta and came up with this sort of pinkish tan:

That color looked pretty good with the blue, but I felt it was still too bright, especially for such a large building. So I tried using some paint that I had mixed to match some of the rocks on the layout. Here's how that turned out:

I'm still not sure how I feel about these colors, but for now I'm pressing ahead. I painted the arches to match, and installed them on the building:

I also added the rear wall to the building, and have started cutting out pieces for the roof. That's it for now, more later!

 

[Tony]

Thats fantastic.... Im allready hearing the shrill mexican trumpet blowing as a cigar chewing clint eastward steps out of the dusty shadows while frightended towns folk scurry for shelter.....

 

[CoggesRailway]

Brilliant!

 

[Netty]

Thats fantastic.... Im allready hearing the shrill mexican trumpet blowing as a cigar chewing clint eastward steps out of the dusty shadows while frightended towns folk scurry for shelter.....

WOW! That's almost exactly what I was thinking except for the dusky maiden leaning on her arms out of the top window. Very atmospheric already

 

[Richie]

Looking fantastic Ray love the paint work on the side walk

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Here's my latest progress report...

I built the removable roof for the hotel. I began by building a channel out of rectangular styrene strips and installed it on the inside of the front wall. This will be used to support the roof, and also to catch any rainwater that seeps in between the wall and the roof. A styrene "lip" on the underside of the roof will fit into this channel:

I drilled a hole through the side walls at each end of the channel, to allow the water to drain out:

I glued a short piece of styrene tube into each of the drainage holes. These will be painted to represent terra cotta pipes:

The roof is made from a sheet of PVC and slopes down toward the rear of the building. Short walls were added on each side, along with some brackets, to support the angled "false roof" above the sides of the hotel:

I also built some small structures such as this, to detail the roof:

Here's how the roof turned out. I still have to add the Spanish tiles on the angled structures on each sides:

Here's the underside of the roof. You can see the styrene strips at the front and rear -- one fits into the channel on the front wall, the other fits over the top of the rear wall:

A closer view of the underside of the eaves on one side of the roof:

Here's a close up of the roof installed on the building. Under the eaves there is a trim board that fits over the top of the side wall:

I also built the doors for the main entrance. I started with two doors from Grandt Line. Since they were not intended for use as double doors, I had to remove the molded doorknob hardware by carving and sanding. I glued the two doors together and built up a new door frame around them, using various sizes of rectangular styrene strip. The arched window had to be cut from sheets of styrene:

Here the doors are test fitted into the door opening. I still have to make custom door handles:

I made a louvered vent for this arch at the top of the hotel, using Evergreen styrene clapboard and styrene strips:

And here's how the whole thing looks so far:

That's all for now, more to come!

 

[Ray Dunakin]

I started work on the Spanish tile roofing...
I decided to make individual tiles by splitting 3/8" styrene tubing lengthwise. To do this, I first built a simple jig out of various sizes of styrene strip. It has a narrow slit across the top. When the tube is inserted, I can run the blade of a hobby knife through the slit to score the tube, then turn the tube over and score the other side:

I don't cut the tube all the way through, just most of the way. Then I slice the tube into 3/4" segments. Each segment is then split into two halves, each one representing a tile. I can get 36 tiles from a single 14" tube. Each tile is then sanded to reduce it to a shallower arc, and also to taper it slightly at one end. Here's one of the completed tiles, next to a penny for scale:

I started on the left side of the roof covering the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Originally I was not sanding the tiles down as much, and as I worked on this side of the roof I realized they needed to have a shallower profile. So the left side tiles look slightly different than the ones on the right side, but it's not really noticeable. Anyway, here's a photo of the right side, as I was gluing down the first layer of tiles:

I glued the tiles down with copious amounts of Liquid Nails, to simulate the mortar that was typically used to fill the gaps. Here's another shot of the right side roof, with most of the second layer of tiles added:

Here's a shot of the completed left side of the roof, which was made using mostly the earlier tiles that had a more semi-circular profile:

And here's how it all looks so far. I still have to add the last three rows of tiles to the right side, and then I can paint them:

That's all for now, more to come as time allows... Cris just started chemo yesterday.

 

[trammayo]

Brilliant Ray - you have tremendous patience - looking great

 

[Tony]

There are some seriously tallented people on this forum

 

[tramcar trev]

WOW...Impressive... love the tiles....

 

[mike]

outstanding, i take my hat off to you sir:love: