Need ideas for a building.


M

Myowngod

Pennsy Tuscan Red Blood
I'm starting a new kit for my Dad's layout. The original kit is a HELJAN 1910 Era Brewery. I like the kit but I would like to make something completely different out of it.
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The kit is made up of 3 separate structures. The left side of the building I was thinking of using for a large hotel. Sort of like that hard to get (and pricey) Bachmann Ambassador Hotel.
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Here's a quick configuration I came up with tonight.
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The sides are not that important because you won't see them that much. But this front shot is completely right there in your face. Actually part of it will be behind a raised city viaduct by micro Engineering. If you happen to have this months MRR (Aug 2008), on page 39 "Big on steam and scenery", this is the feel I'm going for in this area of the layout.
I sketched this drawing about a month ago, before I even had this kit in hand, and the crude drawn depicts this look.
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I hope you can make it out. The hotel would be to the left side, left of the domed building in the top middle of the picture.

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The lower large windows would be a restaurant adjacent to the lobby. And then the various windows above are the rooms and sweets. The center section roof could even contain a roof top garden or something.


My question is...
Does this mock up look good?
Does it make sense?
Any other ideas for this building?
Have any of you guys built this one before?

This kit has a lot of potential. The leftover parts I have from the building I could make a 4 story retail store/bank. The center section could be a tall office building in another part of the layout. And the right side, with the slotted cloister could be a warehouse building .

I'm getting swamped in possibilities.

Honest feedback... I would expect nothing else from you guys.

Thanks
 
Ron, I think it would make a neat kitbash but not as a hotel. The large windows on the bottom are fine for the lobby and retail space but a hotel needs to sell rooms to stay in business. That means lots of smaller windows for the room, like the Bachmann kit. How about something like a municipal building or Federal building with a post office on the ground floor. It would also make a good headquarters for your PRR division. It just has the look of some kind of office type building to me rather than a hotel. Walther has the Design Preservation M.T. Arms Hotel on sale right now at $25. See http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/243-119 for details. I think this would be a better starting point for a hotel kitbash.
 
Good luck with the build Ron . I would have left it as a brewrey not enough of them around nowadays !!!!!
 
I think Jim is right about the windows being too tall.....if you look at the box for this kit you'll notice it says HO/N. So a lot of stuff is on the large side for N. I use mine as a brewery, but it's hidden against a back wall so you can't see some of the oversize details (like the 20ft tall front door) and the large windows aren't too out of place in a large manufacturing building.
 
Hey, Ron I really like the idea you have for taking a picture of your layout and drawing where evreyhting will be.... it would give me an idea of what my layout will look like. Thanks so much!
 
If you don't mind buying another kit, go to; Faller, Kibri or Vollmer. That's where I get most of my odd buildings. They have super details in them.
It's a shame Bachmann stopped making their large kits back in the late 80's.

Larry
 
Here's a newer version of the hotel project. I got a couple of ideas off of another forum. They got me thinking about Reading Terminal in Philadelphia. So I searched for images on the net. Here's a couple I found that would fit the pieces I have and the look I'm going for.

This first one is the Hotel Vancouver. I really like the look of this hotel, but I just don't have enough piece to pull this on e off well.
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This next one is Reading Terminal. I could make a scaled down version of this with the available pieces in the kit.
This looks like its from 1915.
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This is a little more modern picture.
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Here's What I came up with from the kit parts. It's kind of a mix between Reading Terminal and the Hotel Vancouver. The red boxed area is going to be recessed back. Similar to Reading. But the tall arched windows are reminiscent of Vancouver.
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I would create the arches that are used in the Reading terminal. They would go across the recessed area.

This is just a starting point.

What do you guys think?
 
I think the idea of a terminal building is much better than a hotel. The walls would be a good fit for something like the Reading Terminal. One point, though. The ornate overhanging cornices and monumental conrete railings on the top really make that building. I'd plan on including an approxiamtion of something along those lines. That inset section with the curved office and triangular overhang would look really nice if you can find a way to pull it off.
 
Resurrection of the thread and project.

I started getting back to working on this Reading terminal kit-bash. Here's a quick video of how it stands now. I plan on putting quite a few hours on this one. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy this one a lot.
VIDEO: Reading Terminal
 
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