Connecting the Third to Eight Floor Module to the Base
Having completing the base module with the addition of a ceiling to the mezzanine floor, I now had to find out a way to connect the third to eight floor module on top of it. The cornice above the mezzanine is a good place to hide the seam between the two modules. I still had to decide if the cornice should be part of the lower or upper module. After some testing, I figured out it would be best to add the mezzanine cornice as the base plate of the upper module. Viewers of the the building will mostly see it from a viewpoint above the mezzanine. Therefore, a permanently connected cornice to the main body would make it easy to hide the seam above the cornice.
When I began working on it, I first played with a cornice designed as a collar. That collar would just frame the third story floor. I cut it of 1/8″ thick basswood (center image below) but turned out to be too weak. I determined that an entire board would be a better solution. Due to the length of the building I had to split that board into two pieces of 1/8″ basswood. I laser cut the board precisely so that it fitted flush with the MDF ceiling of the mezzanine floor (left image below). A also included grooves for the light channels I intended to use for the freight tracks below. So far, I’ve been happy with the chosen design.
Once I had all the four walls complete for the floors three to eight, I was able to assemble them onto the internal structure. Once all pieces fitted together, I made the internal walls and floors permanent by glueing them together. This allowed me then to press-fit the outside walls onto the internal structure.
Before I could permanently glue the walls, I had to do some touch up work. First, I lightly weathered the walls with a diluted mix of Vallejo dust wash and India ink. To tone it down, I gave it another pass of concrete/Raw Sienna mix with the paint brush. I also applied some putty on some of the seams between the rusticated and smooth wall sections. Once I had finish weathering and painting, I could add the window glazing.
As the last step, I also glued the outside walls onto the bracing. This gave me a very stable and strong block, especially when I fitted everything on the base plate. The intermediate and base module now fitted well and were easy to stack onto one another.
Ninth and Tenth Floor Construction
The ninth floor is again above a massive cornice that I had to take into account when designing it. This time I planned and built the cornice before even starting with the construction of the walls above. To do so, I covered the eight stories below with a precisely cut 1/8″ thick sheet of basswood (left photo below). On top of it I added a .024″ thick slightly wider sheet of laser board (center photo). This gives the cornice a nice ledge and a more sophisticated moulding than a simple piece of scale lumber glued over the walls would. In addition, it gives the structure and specifically the top floors above more strength.
When designing the ninth floor, I had to consider several architectural details. First of all, the building has four free-standing towers (“penthouses” on the tenth floor according to the original plans). I had to reduce the number from four to three in my compressed design. While those four penthouses are on the north side of the building, there is one more on the southern side. That one is more massive than its smaller siblings along the north facade. It was added a few years after the building was completed to carry the enormous water tower. I did integrate the smaller penthouses into the wall construction and only added the water tower structure separately later.
Other elements above the ninth floor were the pedimented parapets. Both the east and west face have a centered pediment. The north and south facade have one of the same size at the eastern end. The one on the west end is longer as it extends over five rather than four columns of windows. My compressed design only allowed for two pediments along the north and south facade, one less than the prototype. The rusticated sections below dictated the placements of the pediments. I also included certain decorative elements such as the moulding with integrated keystones above the windows that crowns the ninth floor. Another element I did not forget to include was the recessed circular detail at the center of each pediment.
The materials I used for the walls were the same as the one for the eight stories below. Mostly laser cut 1/16″ MDF and .024″ and .017′ thick laser board for the moulding and projected parts of the walls. As for the lower floors, I used additional internal walls across and along the building as bracing. A center wall supported a roof ridge. Laser board that covers the upper section of the wall hides the tabs that connect the interior and exterior walls. The moulding above the ninth floor required some creative design as again, I did not want to use strip lumber. Instead, I designed it as a narrow sill with tabs that would interlock with the walls.
With all the wall parts glued and painted, I added the window frames at the back and the glazing. Gluing the exterior and interior walls onto the laser board sheet on top of the eight floor cornice gave me a very stable module. Longitudinal interior walls and bracing would (hopefully) avoid warping of the almost 18″ long and flat structure.
Penthouse and Roof Construction
To avoid ugly looking seams at the corners of the penthouse towers I designed them with multiple layers where each of the layer is one complete part. I used a sequence of Basswood, MDF and laser board depending on the thickness of the layer. They sit precisely and flush on top of the tower walls and and function as a collar with a lid. The multiple layers (center photo below) would form the top moulding, the roof plate and the parapet of the penthouses.
The concept worked out well and after some testing and refinements I found a sequence of seven layers. Basswood, laser board (2), MDF, laser board, basswood, laser board are stacked such that they fit well and look good. I glued all layers, then primed and air-brushed them the same way as the walls. They press-fit so well that I didn’t even have to glue them down onto the MDF walls. Even though the basswood parts are less than 1 mm thick between the corners, the entire assembly is sufficiently strong when glued and painted. Best of all, the construction looks very prototypical.
Building the Roof
Understanding the roof construction without aerial images with sufficient resolution and/or without access to the top floors of the building is almost impossible. A current photo of the building on West 26th Street reveals a typical light gray painted New York City roof. It still says nothing about the material. At least, it shows the geometry of pitched roof with a very low angled slope. The orientation of the seams orthogonal to the ridge suggest a metal roof. An asphalt (or a coal tar pitch) roof would have seams parallel to the roof line. Almost certainly, the roof material had changed anyway since 1913, so I chose my own design.
I decided to go for a metal roof. As material I used .024″ laser board. Separately cut pieces for both sides of the pitched roof would simplify the design and installation of the sheets. To paint the roof I started with Tamiya gray primer over which I sprayed a light coat of Tamiya gun metal. To tone down the dark shiny metallic surface, I dusted it lightly with white spray.
Just like on the real West 26th Street Station, the structure that carries the water tower in my model is an add-on. Early photos show a water tower sitting right on the roof without a base. This suggests the structurewas added a few years after the building was completed. I had to guess position, size and shape based on photos and Google maps. My structure has a scale length of about 33′ and extends over half of the roof. The lower interior section has doors leading to the roof. A sloped roof covers it. The exterior section that carries the water tower is slightly higher and has a flat roof. It looks like the roof on the prototype can only be accessed from ladders mounted on the wall on the east and west side.
Details on that structure include a massive 30,000 Gallon water tower with a 16′ scale diameter and 26′ scale height. I scratch-built it with laser board and MDF pieces I cut and engraved on the laser cutter. The storage is placed on a low stand I also scratch built of laser board. The roof has an etched metal railing from Gold Medal Models. I will add some further roof details later, including air conditioning equipment that might have been used in the 1950s.
Wrapping Up and Loose Ends
A few remaining pieces of work will have to wait until I can install the building on the module base. This includes the loading docks on West 26th Street and on the rail yard side. I’ll cover the docks with corrugated awnings that the prototype also had. Other details to be added are the some moulding above the first floor. Lighting is an entirely different story. I developed some ideas and had to make some provisions when building the first and mezzanine floors. But adding lights will be definitely a bigger project.
