Help with PRR interlocking tower

[unittrain]

I'm in the process of starting scenery on one of my modules and was wanting to build a model of the PRR's MV tower or what became known as Rave tower. Of course it is unfortunatley already demolished  :-[ So I'm trying to get as much info as possible my question is however is what kind of siding did they use? In this picture http://thecrhs.org/image/view/7915/_original it appears to be brick but if you look at the later picture here http://ohiorr.railfan.net/images/mv6.jpg notice how on the front of the tower to the left you see wood? ??? and brick dosent peel off!! Does anyone know what this siding is I want to look it up to try and figure out an individual sheet dimension so I can arrive at fairly accurate dimensions of the towers height and width ect.

[chessie system fan]

Don't know the name of it, but I've seen it before on old run-down buildings.  It's basically shingles that came painted so they would look semi-normal looking.  In the later picture, the shingles' color has just faded away.  You would probably want something smooth like card stock to simulate this.

[Dave V]

It's called Insulbrick.  Very commonly applied in the 30s through 50s.

[Big4Man]

That siding is what was then called "Insulbrick". It came in various collors with tan/brown being the most common. By the pics, you may get the best luck using "Clever Models" sheet paper. It appears the buildings siding had been painted and was fading badly in the photo with it all boarded up. The earlier photo with the Conrail  3232 looks brownish or red. Depends on the exposure and lighting. As far as the crown molding at the roof facia, your on your own. But it could be done. The stairs are steel and you could easily apply any of the etched Industrial stairs available today. Cut up some styrene, add a couple Grandt Line windows and doors and your well on your way.

http://www.clevermodels.net/

Good Luck and keep us informed on your progress.......and take some pics!  ;D


N-Joy!

Dan

[asciibaron]

insulbrick is better known as ghetto brick

http://www.lestercat.net/house_03/archives/2005/08/ghetto_brick.php

[unittrain]

Thanks for the info! It will definatley help someone had told me that it was brick vaneer but there is no way veneer is still pretty thick this ghetto brick is definatley the stuff by looking at the pictures. I'll be posting pictures of this module soon. As far as the ornamentation along the roof edge that will be a challange.

[wm3798]

Maryland Junction's tower had a similar treatment, which I modeled using Plastruct 1:200 brick sheet.  I sprayed it with a brownish red, then hit it with a wash of black acrylic.



It lacks the seams, but from 3' away it looks good to my eye.

Lee