Hudson Life Building: Rooftops & Windows
Unfortunately another short diversion came about to stall the Hudson Life Building. The last two weeks have been extremely productive, this is most of what was done.
Construction
For this update I finish off all windows, the back and rooftop of the Hudson.
Floors 9 & 10
To make the windows in the arches and on the 10th floor I came up with using a tool that has made this whole building possible, the digital craft cutter. I followed the design of the windows in the prototype as close as I could and scribed the designed pattern into .010″ acetate. The cutter cant cut though stock thicker than.005″ but will scribe other thicknesses. To color the scribe lines, I quickly and liberally brush on some paint, then immediately wipe it off. I have found that you need to go a few shades darker to match the rest of the details. If you have paint left on the acetate and it wont wipe off, try using a little rubbing alcohol or thinner to get it off.
I then cut the windows from the sheet and glued them into place with Elmers Stix All.
I also had to do a little minor work on the little square windows that are above the 10th floor windows. I had to add a little blocking on the sides of the windows to finish them off by adding a little bit of .060″ strip styrene. After all were glued in, I added a little paint to the unfinished surfaces. Lastly I added a some acetate for the glass.
Floors 2 & 3
These two floors had very unique windows to themselves, just like 9 & 10. To begin with I determined what sizes and amount of strip styrene I would need to build the frames for the windows. I then sprayed the windows the appropriate color to match the other frames. I have found that I like this method of painting the strips prior to assembly, I feel it speeds the process up and I get better results than if I had hand brushed everything. I cut the strips to length and glued them in using plastic cement with great caution.
On these floors I needed to add some more to the frame then on other floors. I came up with the idea of adding in the acetate first and then adding the rest of the frame. I started with the easier of the two and did the 3rd floor first. It worked out very well, all I needed was a simple vertical and horizontal piece. On the 2nd floor, I began to add the acetate and when I was finished I realized I jumped the gun. I needed to have come lines scribed in for additional detail, so I had to rip it all out. I was angery with it so I decided to come back to the second floor later. Its construction at a later date was basically the same as the 3rd floor windows, just with more parts.
Floors 4 – 8
For these floors, all of the hard work had been done awhile ago. This was going to be an easy but very monotonous step. Like the arched windows and tenth floor windows, I used the digital craft cutter and scribed some .010″ acetate with the pattern I needed. I also scribed the pattern for the 2nd floor windows as well. Also guide lines as to where to cut the windows out were scribed, this removed any guess work. I then glued in all of the pieces of acetate in with Stix All.
Window Shades
When the prototype Detroit Life Building was built, every window had awnings on them, quite common in the 20’s & 30’s. However a photo of the building that I have in either the late 40’s of early 50’s show the awnings were gone and all that is visible are simple shades. This was good because shades are a walk in the park compared to awnings. The shades were simply cut from a light grey card stock. They were cut at various heights to add some variety and to match the prototype. These were again glued in with Stix All.
Moving on Back
The back of the Hudson has remained in a built but unpainted status for sometime now. I largely waited until it was time to finish the roof off and finish the windows on the back. I went ahead and painted the back in the same mixtures of paint as the rest of the building, the brick I gave a good three coats.
I then began to build the frames for the windows using more of the pre-painted strip styrene. After the styrene was in place I glued in some extra scribed acetate then finished off with some shades.
The Roof
To add to the ease of construction, I left the roof off as long as possible, this way I had access from both ends (lesson learned from the nightmare I had on the Dominion Building). From looking at images on Google Earth of the rooftop on the prototype, I learned that roof was going to be very basic. I had a small mechanical / access building to make, a flag pole, and a little chimney, thats all. Most of the other details will wait till very last to be added so I don’t risk breaking them off.
I first had to add a piece of .040″ sheet styrene in for the roof its self. Then I began work on the mechanical building. It is a very simple structure made from brick sheet, and strip styrene, nothing special but this is exactly how the one on the prototype one is built. I then painted the roof and the little building, one dry I glued the two to each other. I then had to build a little stone cap and finish off the last few bits of the cornice off.
Conclusion
The work I have done the past few weeks completes all major work on the Hudson. All that is left are details and then the store fronts on the main floor. She is almost there.
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