The Fields Hotel

[Rick_Marty]

I have been working on developing the small town of Fields Landing on my RR since last Fall. The MIK this year gave me an opportunity to add a small industry, Humboldt OIl, and now that MIK 24 is in the bag we are working on a hotel.

Back in the day, my RR is 1939, almost all small towns had a fairly good size hotel, normally with a bar and dinning room. These establishments were usually a focal point for socializing and business dealings. This type of substantial structure was quite often bankrolled by the most prominent and wealthy man or men in the community.

In this case the Fields Hotel was built and is owned by Mr. Waterman Fields the town founder and wealthy land owner and farmer in the area. Mr. Fields was also almost single handedly responsible for the town becoming the terminal point of the Shasta Pacific railroad on the coast and it’s interchange connection with the Western Pacific Railroad and its route to the city of San Francisco.

Another words he was a big frog in a small pond.

The build.

The CAD (cardboard assisted design) workup of the Fields Hotel with Baldies Barbershop hanging on the side. This has been in the development stage for quite a while, in fact Craig spotted it lurking in the background of one of the early shots of my MIK project this year.

The walls were cut from Sintra so that the stone patterns could be embossed on them. Here all the doors and window openings are laid out and the stone courses are marked for embossing.

The windows are quite an assortment of sizes because I used what I had in the parts boxes. The 2 doors are a little narrow but I used a couple of windows that I modified so they would match the main front ground floor windows.

To emboss the horizontal block lines I used an old window rescreening tool that I modified by sharpening the edge of the roller and removing the roller on the other end. By clamping a straight edge on the work and rolling slowly over the surface 2-3 times it pressed in a very good grout line.

More as I get to it.

[ctown2 (Craig Townsend)]

Are these cinder block dimensions or free hand cut blocks?

That tool looks useful for embossing a brick building as well. Maybe in a few years I come back to this idea when I get to my brick structure.

[Rick_Marty]

Craig,
They represent quarry cut stone similar to these. Size 16 X 36 X 24 deep.

Only with mortared joints not free stacked.

[Devon_Sinsley]

that will be a nice look. Looks like a good place for some of those Taylor Quarry stones. . .

[Cliff_Jennings]

Cardboard Assisted Design, love it!!

Great work as always Rick, this will be fun to watch.

[Rick_Marty]

A small update.

Embossing the cut stone texture into the Sintra was kind of a long process but the specialized tool that I developed for this made it simple if time consuming.

After the walls were embossed I glued all the interior bracing in place to hold the walls straight. If you have ever embossed the PVC foam board before you know how it has a tendency to stretch the embossed surface causing a cupped effect on the panel.

Test fitting the finished panels to see if I got them right side up and right side out

Gluing up the corners to form the building. I started by screwing the first panels base support to the plywood deck then used squares and clamps as well as holding pins to maintain square. I used a tube adhesive made for gluing plastics etc. to wood and a regular PVC cement along the very edges to hold them true and straight, and lots of clamps.

This is starting to take shape, hafta go buy a sheet of cement board to form the base and sidewalks for the buildings.

Should be more coming soon.

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

@Rick_Marty

Embossing the cut stone texture into the Sintra was kind of a long process but the specialized tool that I developed for this made it simple if time consuming.

That tool is impressive, but the pattern even more so. How hard do you need press the tool to get that nice impression? I’ve done lines, so I know that doesn’t take a ton of pressure even without tour fancy roller!

[Rick_Marty]

Jon,
That stone had 2-3 small surfaces (maybe 1/4 by 1/2 inch) that were flat and rough enough for the embossing. No pressing just light hammer blows with the stone, I rotate the work piece every so often and change strike points on the stone to try to keep from developing a visible pattern.

[Rooster]

That “specialized tool” is one hell of an idea Rick!!!
I just love simplicity and how many folks overlook it quite often.

[Rick_Marty]

Thanks David and I agree.

A little progress.

All the trim work around the roof edges is complete.

Baldies Barbershop sitting in it’s future location at the hotel side.

[WaverlySouthern (Dan Hilyer)]

What a great looking hotel, Rick. Your embossing tool did a fantastic job, you need to patent that tool Looking forward to continued updates on your progress.

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

That looks great. What stands out to me is the lack of seams one would get using purchased embossed sheets. Looks pretty easy too, just time consuming. Great job!

[Devon_Sinsley]

That’s coming out great

[Rick_Marty]

Thanks guys.

Started the front and back canopy overhangs and decided they needed recessed lights so came up with this. A wire nut and finish washer makes a great can and finish trim, some hot melt glue and they will be good to go.
I’m thinking the yellow inside the nut will give a nice warm glow to the lights, at least that’s my hope.

[Hines (Bill)]

If not

Stained glass paint? might be an option

[Devon_Sinsley]

Rick,

That’s brilliant. You might have some sort of disorder. You think outside the box like no one I know. What a great idea.

[Rick_Marty]

Devon,
Thanks, I think

[Devon_Sinsley]

@Rick_Marty

Devon,

Take it how ever works for you but time and again you have given me ideas on how to take hardware store items and turn them into hobby projects.

[Devon_Sinsley]

I could see a happy marriage with the wire nut and my fiber optic light engine.