L.A. MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE Building

[Cajonpassfan]

On we go to the next L.A. Manufacturing District project, the Maxwell Coffee House building. It's another shallow background building, intended to create a scenic divider between two major yards. It's unfortunately only 1.75" deep, but has presence at 7.5" wide and 5" tall, with five stories of concrete structure and brick infill, a very modern industrial design for 1924. The prototype is still there today, behind the 4th Street ramp, although looking a bit forlorn... See pics.

I need to model it around 1950 and so I cheated and used the Roberts Printing Co. kit  by Walthers to cobble together the basic form.  I had to narrow the windows with brick insets, and didn't care much for the large "brick" of the kit, so I used Paper Creek overlays to get the right look. (Too bad Paper Creek is out of business; they made some wonderful paper products).

There is still some detail work to be done, but what I *really need*is a set of black decals (or transfers) for the building. The upper band facing the viewer reads "PACIFIC COAST HOME", and the band below says "MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE". The concrete bands are 30 scale inches wide, for typeface, see pics below. Any ideas about what to use, or if nothing commercially available, would anyone be interested (please) in making decals for me? I'd be happy to compensate you for your trouble...have too many other projects to take it on on my own.
Thanks, suggestions appreciated.
Otto K.

[nkalanaga]

If you have access to a good printer, you might be interested in this site:
[url]http://www.paperbrick.co.uk/[.url]

Paperbrick has multiple brick patterns and colors, as well as model scale options, and can probably match almost any brick you need.  Since they come as PDF files, you can also scale them to odd sizes, such as matching a particular model's bricks.  So far, the site is free to use, so generate as many brick sheets as you need.

[central.vermont]

Link fixed.
Jon
http://www.paperbrick.co.uk/

I've used these as well Otto, real easy and they look great. Don' have any pics to show but I used them to make some bricks for a foundation of a station I did. You would never know that it was printed from three feet away.

[peteski]

I've used these as well Otto, real easy and they look great. Don' have any pics to show but I used them to make some bricks for a foundation of a station I did. You would never know that it was printed from three feet away.

Ah, he is invoking the old three foot rule!  Some modelers use, others don't.  How will it look in eye-level photos (like for a magazine article)?

[Lemosteam]

Ah, he is invoking the old three foot rule!  Some modelers use, others don't.  How will it look in eye-level photos (like for a magazine article)?

Said the man who invokes the 3mm rule on a regular basis.   

[Cajonpassfan]

Ah, Peteski, I don't subscribe to the three foot rule either, but the reality is that when building a large home layout such as mine, one has to be very smart about how to use time and energy. I have some "in your face" foreground scenes that require a LOT of modeling time, and some background models that frankly don't rate the same level of attention. Some even have have plain back walls

As it happens the Maxwell Coffee building sits just about exactly 3' from the viewer's eyeballs. Having said that, the printed Paper Creek brick is good enough for close up models (and I still have some), see below. I'm not familiar with the other product (thanks for the link!) but it looks promising also.

I think the key to making this building feel right is getting the signage right.
Otto

[JMaurer1]

If only there was some kind of scanning device and printing unit that could replicate these...

Also for the decals, just print black on white decal paper using the above mentioned miracle device.

[peteski]

If only there was some kind of scanning device and printing unit that could replicate these...

Also for the decals, just print black on white decal paper using the above mentioned miracle device.

Um, even if such setup is not available at home, there are often color copiers at work, or in office-supply stores (like Staples, Office Max or Kinkos - if they are  still around). 

[Chris333]

I scanned that Paper Creek sheet many years ago for use later. Have no idea if I still have it, might be on one of my many back up CDs. Or I just lost it 

[peteski]

Ah, Peteski, I don't subscribe to the three foot rule either, but the reality is that when building a large home layout such as mine, one has to be very smart about how to use time and energy. I have some "in your face" foreground scenes that require a LOT of modeling time, and some background models that frankly don't rate the same level of attention. Some even have have plain back walls

As it happens the Maxwell Coffee building sits just about exactly 3' from the viewer's eyeballs. Having said that, the printed Paper Creek brick is good enough for close up models (and I still have some), see below. I'm not familiar with the other product (thanks for the link!) but it looks promising also.

I think the key to making this building feel right is getting the signage right.
Otto

Oh, I understand your priorities (quantity vs. level-of-detail). That is why you need to befriend people who enjoy spending weeks building and super-detailing a kit for you layout. My friends have good-size, but not super-detailed layouts, where in few places you can find little gems like this:





I doubt I'll even have a layout myself, but my hand-prints are all over other people's layout. I like this arrangement - I build kits and they do all the grunt-work like building bench-work or layout maintenance. 

[Cajonpassfan]

Oh, I understand your priorities (quantity vs. level-of-detail). That is why you need to befriend people who enjoy spending weeks building and super-detailing a kit for you layout. My friends have good-size, but not super-detailed layouts, where in few places you can find little gems like this....

I doubt I'll even have a layout myself, but my hand-prints are all over other people's layout. I like this arrangement - I build kits and they do all the grunt-work like building bench-work or layout maintenance. 

Peteski, my dear friend, lol, did you just volunteer to build me some superdetailed kits?  Thank you!!
All in good fun, I do love your work.

Problem is I don't need kits, no matter how nicely detailed they are (and the ones you posted are truly very nice) they are what everybody else has, small town Geneamerica. No disrespect meant, but trying to recreate specific urban locations and buildings at a specific time takes a lot more effort then buying and assembling kits, as others going this route will attest. So when I stumble on something in kit form that can be modified into a reasonable facsimile of an actual building, like the case here with Roberts Printing/Maxwell Coffee, I'm all over it. It can be superdetailed or not, depending on its location on the layout, but as long as it conveys the feel of the actual structure, I'm good. So it's not actually "quantity over the level of detail", it's what looks and feels right vs. a super detailed building that's wrong. Makes any sense?
Fun stuff...
Otto

[peteski]

Peteski, my dear friend, lol, did you just volunteer to build me some superdetailed kits?  Thank you!!
All in good fun, I do love your work.

Problem is I don't need kits, no matter how nicely detailed they are (and the ones you posted are truly very nice) they are what everybody else has, small town Geneamerica. No disrespect meant, but trying to recreate specific urban locations and buildings at a specific time takes a lot more effort then buying and assembling kits, as others going this route will attest. So when I stumble on something in kit form that can be modified into a reasonable facsimile of an actual building, like the case here with Roberts Printing/Maxwell Coffee, I'm all over it. It can be superdetailed or not, depending on its location on the layout, but as long as it conveys the feel of the actual structure, I'm good. So it's not actually "quantity over the level of detail", it's what looks and feels right vs. a super detailed building that's wrong. Makes any sense?
Fun stuff...
Otto

No  worries Otto, I wasn't really trying to toot my own horn or suggest that you need some nicely-built unmodified kits with detailed interiors.
The point I was trying to make was that if you can manage to round up a group of helpers to assist in building your layout (even one night a week), then the construction will go much faster. And if one in that group of modelers happens to enjoy something specific (like in your example kitbashing kits to make them look close to the prototype buildings) then you can delegate some of those projects to that person and they will gladly build them for you, and maybe even make them more detailed than you would have on your limited "time budget".  I realize that you might not have such a group of people available and willing. I was just poking a bit of fun at your 3-foot rule statement.  Your, your "close enough" is pretty close, and you do capture the "flavor" of the real building! 

I better stop now before getting in deeper . . .