Well... i am building an O scale 1:48 replica of the workshop santa walks out of when he first appears... its a building that was inspired from the pullman clocktower building. This is my attempt at Polex - 3 rail scale. I would be more than happy to discuss building with you.
here is an unpainted portion of the left side, it's also dry fit...so not fully glued together yet. This is over 100 seperate pieces glued together. this is just a proof of concept... as its missing a lot of the trim features (as you'll see in the screenshot from the movie below). i just want to first get the bones, then add the detail.
here is screenshot of the actual building
here are some pieces...for reference. It's a fair bit of work but the size allows for extreme customization.
i have a signature Polar express train that was just released... waiting on the cars. i contacted the pullman historical society and they straight up sent me schematics which i have used to make an extremely accurate 3d model on sketchup as a reference. I am using Hirst arts molds to cast portions of brick in resin and then fitting them together like legos. Hirst Arts molds are extremely versitile and i highly reccomend them if you are crafty. these are from his recent "ruined brick" and "above ground" brick molds. he has other brick molds coming in the future but it can take months before he releases new sets. that being said, i believe the clocktower workshop is completely buildable with just those two molds. it will however take considerable amount of time. i am using resin but you can also use dental stone (kind of like very hard porcelain) and its considerably cheaper especially if you can pick it up from a dental supply company so you dont have to pay shipping. Resin takes finesse so you don't ruin the molds but i have proven that you can pull resin from a mold a 100 times with my approach (dont spare the mold release!).
after i finish this one, i am going to do the large mansion across from the workshop, and then a bunch of smaller buildings and the arcade of arches that go around the large tree...
to my knowledge this will be the most ambitious and true to scale model of the north pole buildings ever attempted. once i finish i could make up some speed molds (make my own molds of already assembled faces of the building) so i could replicate a couple. keep in mind that i am only doing this in 1:48 scale. that means this building is just shy of 3 feet tall at the clock tower and it will be 15 lbs probably because its cast resin.
its such a large project that i'm also having it double as a dollhouse for my daughter... and casting christmas themed furniture to go with it... the furniture is a little larger than true o scale however, its something more akin to warhammer tabletop scale (if you're familiar with that) humanoid figures usually stand 30mm tall in that scale.
I would love to talk about this with anyone who is interested. i have thought about altering the model so it could be 3d printed at smaller scales, but thats a lot of work for something im not interested in myself... my models are only meant to keep very accurate measurement reference and ratios, the walls have no thickness and couldnt be printed out as i have created it... as well as the fact that the whole model would have to be broken into seperate parts because its so tall and large.
here is the model i made, only half of the front...
and just to give you an idea of the 2nd building im doing... which will be easier than this **** clock tower
circled in green
It will have interior LED lighting. I am still brainstorming ideas on how to accurately add the christmas lights. a lot of other folks use some very small string LED lights that are just too big... i think im going to drill a lot of small holes and back light from the inside. should give the most accurate effect for the trim christmas lights. i am trying to have the workshop done by christmas, and the mansion done by july 2019...
