Scratch Built IRT Kiosk: Part 4

Continuing from part 3 of this article series, we’ll complete the IRT subway kiosk, scratch built in N scale.

I would consider this portion of the build optional. We’ll add a descending stairwell, interior signs and some railing.  These are not all prototypical details and I would only entertain this if the kiosk will sit in a location that layout visitors would otherwise be able to tell that the kiosk sits on a solid surface and leads to no where. Or, if you just like knowing that the kiosk has an interior.

Note: These details were created during the main subway kiosk build but I opted to same them for the end since they’re not necessary.  Therefore, some of the photos will appear to be out of order. Others are smaller than I would typically use in articles because they were taken some time ago.

Materials Needed (for Part 4)

• .020″ x .060″ strip styrene
• .060″ x .080″ strip styrene
• Tiled sheet styrene
• Scrap styrene
• Photo-etched brass railing
• IRT signage
• Miscellaneous signage
• Paint (Polyscale Reefer White and Concrete used)
• Bragdon Enterprises FF-161 weathering powder set
• Brass wire (future enhancement)

Building the Kiosk Stairwell

Stairs

For the descending stairs, I very simply built these by stacking .060″ x .080″ strip styrene. I cut the lengths of these fairly rough, and stacked them to form the staircase.

Once I had what looked to be a decent “rise” for the stairs, I sanded the sides with relatively coarse sandpaper, evening all of the rough cuts to a nice flight of stairs. I made sure that the sanded stairs were about as wide as the width of the kiosk opening. I also sanded the stair treds and risers to clean up any excess glue and “crud”.

Kiosk steps, in process. Top framing used to help stairs straight.

Stairwell Walls

For the walls of the stairwell, I used Evergreen tiled sheet syrene. This isn’t exactly prototypical or to scale in this case. But, given that this entire portion will be below the surface of the layout, I wasn’t really concerned with exact deal and was aiming for an overall illusion.

Titled walls and side strips are added to the stairs.

Once piece was cut for each side wall.  These are simple rectangles. Since the portion that extends “under” the stairs won’t be seen, it doesn’t need to be cut down to follow the stairs.

I glued these to the two sides of the stairs so that the side walls would meet the bottom of the kiosk at the top of the stairs. Use the title lines to keep the stairway at the same angle on both pieces.

Kiosk sitting on constructed stairwell.

To hide imprefections where the side walls and stairs meet and to add a little more visual interest, I added two .020″ x .060″ strips standing on edge.  These create the illusion that the stairway was a  concrete area before the tilework begins.

Concrete Footing

The prototype has a concrete slab or footing that spans the stairway directly under the rear wall of the kiosk.  This wall is where the destination signs are placed for subway riders undering the kiosk.

This looks to be about 2-3 feet tall and mine is around 2.5′.  To create this, I simply cut a scrap piece of styrene to size.  Thickness doesn’t matter in this case because it will be impossible for anyone to ever view its thickness.  I think the piece I used is only .030″ thick.  The width is just whatever is needed to span the stairs from wall to wall.

Painting, Weathering and Signage for the Stairwell

Paint

To paint this portion of the kiosk, I painted the tile walls Reefer White and the stairs, stair edging strips and the spanning sign area Concrete.

Weathering

Once dry, I applied a liberal coats of Bragdon Enterprises weathering powders from their FF-161 set. I used a coat of the color Ash for everything and a second coat of Grimy Gray for the concrete areas.

The weathering powders add a grainy, dirty texture to completed models so keep that in mind in you do a lot of up-close photography.  They look great in person, but the powders definitely stand out in photos.

Stairwell, painted and weathered.

Signage

At the bottom of the stairwell, on the tile wall, I place a Texaco ad.  This adds a little detail in the stairwell itself and any sign you have on hand can work.  This would likely be a relatively small, poster-style ad in this location.

The Texaco ad I used here is from a sheet of City Classics gas station signs. I used the smallest Texaco sign on the sheet and then cut it even smaller than intended to fit here.  This particular sign has a band of color that could be easier removed to make it smaller without looking like it was cut down.

Stairwell with City Classics Texaco sign

On the concrete span across the stairwell (what I was calling the concrete footer), I added an Interborough Rapid Transit destination sign.  I found one of these on the Internet and simply matched that sign.

This sign includes a large “Downtown” destination (which matches the location in the kiosk window) as well as some New York City boroughs like Brooklyn. I don’t actually intend to model NYC itself, but these other names are so small that I didn’t bother changing them.

Right click and save this image to print it for your own kiosk.

I used a marker to hide the white edges of the destination sign.  Unfortunately this doesn’t translate well to photos.

Kiosk stairwell completed.

Adding Railing

I added railing to the inside of the kiosk itself.  This isn’t at all prototypical for this style of subway entrance. It really more of what you’d expect from a modern entrance which is often just an opening in the ground surrounded by railing.  I decided to use this railing anyway because I wanted something to cover the irregularly cut bottom edges of the window glazing and add a little more detail to the interior.

For this I used 1:350 photo-etched brass model ship railing.  This particular railing is made by Gold Medal Models for a 1:350 Tinanic model.  I happen to have this on hand, so I used it. I did not paint the railing and instead opted to leave it the raw brass.

1:350 ship railing added kiosk interior.

At this point, I decided not to attache the kiosk to the stairwell in case I need to make adjustments when I finalize use it on a layout.  When I do, I also plan to add two thin pieces of brass wire to create hand rails descending into the stairwell.

Kiosk on stairwell.

Kiosk Paint Change

The very last thing I did before calling this scratch build completed was change the color of the “step” at the front of the kiosk entrance.  This is the piece that spans the bottom of main entrance.

Originally this piece was painted the same as the kiosk but should actually match your sidewalk color.  For now, I’ve painted it Polyscale Concrete to match the steps of the stairwell.

Completion

That brings us to the end of this scratch building series. Hope you enjoyed it and will considering building an IRT subway kiosk (or several) for your own layout.

This project was certainly challenging but don’t let it be intimidating.  Even if you have to scrap the project half-way through, there are very few pieces and therefore very little cost.  So give it a try and let us know if you do.

• Scratch Built IRT Kiosk: Part 3 (7)
• Scratch Built IRT Kiosk: Part 2 (7)
• Scratch Built IRT Kiosk: Part 1 (13)
• Scratch Building 101: Section House (11)
• Scratch Build a Pushcart Fruit Vendor (8)

About the Author

Frank Giacobbe — Co-founder of N Scale Limited, Frank has been building models since childhood and modeling in N scale since 2oo3. He is the former author of the blog, N Scale Modeling and a member of the Riverside Historic Society in Riverside, NJ. Frank has a passion for big city modeling, the 1940s and the Pennsylvania Railroad.