Hudson Life Building: Construction Resumes
After a long hiatus, work has begun again on my Hudson Life Building. On the last update of construction, I had finished most of the painting on the front and two side faces above the second floor. The bottom two floors is where I resumed work.
Gregor’s Haberdashery
I decided to begin with the first of the store fronts on the building. Along the front, there are seven openings, the middle one being the main entrance to the building. On the right three I decided by suggestion from contributor Greg Woolliscroft, to add a haberdashery (hence the name Gregor’s Haberdashery). Not being familiar with this type of establishment I did a little research. I discovered that they were primarily a mens accessory (hats, ties, belts and shoes) store, some sold suits and larger ones provided a barber in house. I liked the sound of this type of business mostly because it was a popular in the era I model in, but now most within the United States have disappeared.
Framing it in
I began by framing in the area that a “glass block” style of window would go in above each of the openings. I then added two posts on each side of the main columns made from various thicknesses of .040″ strip. After these were added I finished off the store front facade with a simple base across the bottom that was cut from some .010x .100″ and .010x .125″ strip.
For the entry, construction was the same until I added the two posts, I stopped temporarily so I could build the door. When making an entry to a building, I always start with the door, then I work out from it. The door is a standard seven scale feet tall and each door is a scale three feet wide. I built the doors from various widths of .020″ strip styrene, then I painted them with Tamya Red Brown. After the paint dried, I cut a few small pieces of .005″ brass sheet to act as the kick plates at the bottom of the doors. Then I added some .020″ brass wire for the door push bars. I then built some basic details around the doors and then glued them in place.
I then painted all of the store fronts a black. Once it dried, I had to dry brush a little white to accent the details, otherwise it all blended into a black mass. This also added a light weathered look that gave a light touch. As always, the dry brushed white looks more prevalent in the photos than it actually is.
Signs and Windows
For the windows I used the trusty digital craft cutter to etch in a grid into some .010″ acetate. Then to create that translucent look of glass block, I sprayed multiple coats of dullcote to the back. I spray the back because I still want that glossy reflective look on the face. I then added a few pre-painted strips of .010x .020″ strip to the windows to act as mullions.
For the sign on the front and side, I decided to use the transparency method. I printed the black signs on a copier on transparency sheets. I then cut the signs out and placed them over .005″ brass sheet so I would have a gold colored text. It looks good, but I feel I sized the text too small, because at certain angles, it looks like I have a blank black area on the building, I may redo them at a later time.
There is still quite a bit that needs to be done on the haberdashery, such as lights, awnings and interior, but those will wait until later.
The Front Door
Of all of the reference photos of the prototype Detroit Life Building I have, I don’t have a very clear view of the front door. So I had to do some guessing. The basic stone detailing I roughly could see what to do, so I started on that first.
I began by lining the inside of the opening with .010x .156″ styrene that was cut into short pieces so I could simulate cut stone. After these were down, I added a layer of .060x .125″ strip, this was slightly recessed from the first layer by about .030″. Then I added another layer of the .010x .156″ strip to the .060″ material. Lastly I added some .010x .020″ strip cut into .040″ lengths and glued to the face of the .060″ material to replicate the simple design that I could make out in the photos.
For the door, I was on my own. I thought of a design that mirrored the windows and ran with that. Like the store front doors, I did these first. I decided to make a larger door for the entrance to the building so I increased the height to nine feet and left the width to the standard three feet. The construction was fairly close to the haberdashery’s and was easy to build. I then framed the door in and built in the window area above the doors.
Before I glued the doors to the building I decided to paint first. I thought it would help to mimic the windows further and use the same color. So like the windows, I sprayed Testors Gunship grey and then added washes of Polly Scale Dirt and Tamyia Red Brown as I did on the windows.
Left Side Wall
I decided to hold off for awhile longer on the remaining store fronts so I could get some more critical and less fun jobs out of the way. One such job was filling in the openings on the left side. On the prototype two of them are cut stone that matches the rest of the building and one was cinder block that matched nothing. I decided to stick with the cinder block because I feel it gives the building a history and makes it feel less sterile and perfect. To fill in the voids I cut some .040″ sheet styrene to fit and glued them in.
For the two cut stone sections, I cut some .010x .187″ strip and glued them in. For the blocks I couldn’t find anything that looked right, so, I laid the blocks one by one with some .010x .060″ strip. The tricky part was to keep an even mortar joint around each block, and to keep each course level. I painted the blocks with some Reefer Grey and then added some thinner sludge to lighten and add “mortar” between the blocks.
Also on the prototype, there is a vent on the blocks. I thought about this for a bit on how to reproduce it, then I remember seeing someone use clapboard siding to make it work. So I cut a small square of .030″ spaced clapboard siding and added a frame of .010x .040″ strip around it. I then painted it a silver with a Prismacolor marker and painted the frame with UP Harbor Mist Grey. After all was dry I glued it into position with some CA. Lastly I weathered the vent with Polly Scale Rust and India ink/alcohol.
Conclusion
It feels great to finally be back to work on this building. I plan on moving into finishing of the few windows on the front of the building next and unfortunately, I cant promise when that update will come as I am still busy. But I do need to have the structure done in two months for a show.
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