[Ray Dunakin]

I've been busy making lots of little interior details. Here's a quick look at a few of them...


I made a simple workbench stool out of styrene rod and a piece of 1mm Sintra. I don't have a shot of it painted yet:

I found some photos of various old radio repair manuals online. Then I fussed with them in Photoshop to create cover art. I printed out a bunch of them on self-adhesive vinyl, cut them out, and applied them to cores made of either Sintra or styrene, depending on the thickness required:

I also made a row of books, to be tucked away in the back. I used a shot of books on a shelf, applied it to 6mm Sintra, and cut it to shape. Then I painted the exposed Sintra to match the books:

And I just finished a radio chassis! The vacuum tubes were turned from acrylic rod, using a drill as a crude lathe:

Still have lots more to do.

 

[denray]

Wow Ray your mind really works in the most unusual artististic and creative way.
Your comparison penny is even old thanks for the ideas
Dennis

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks Dennis!

 

[Phippsburg Eric]

Ray,

I think you may need another another brick building cause this one will be in your house displayed at eye level! Too cool!

 

[Dave Meashey]

Ray;

That is all so neat. I remember when appliance stores had a sales rack of vacuum tubes on their sales floors. A lot of folks would open the radio cover and look for a tube that was not getting any power. Pull the tube, take it to the appliance store, find a match, and give the new tube a try. Most of the time that worked!

Some hearty souls even tried it for TVs, but one could get a good shock from a TV if care were not taken.

Best,
David Meashey

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Yeah, up until the early '70s there were tube testers, sometimes even in grocery stores. We used to take TV tubes in and test/replace them all the time.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

More interior details, more modeling madness…

Here are a pair of aerosol cans. To make them, I rounded the end of a 1/8" styrene tube, then glued in a piece of styrene rod. The can on the right has a cap, the one on the left does not. I sanded down the end of the rod to represent the spray nozzle. I didn't bother labeling them for specific products, but just used some leftover labels from when I was detailing my drugstore:

Still more details -- needle nose pliers and a pair of screwdrivers, all made from brass tubes and rod:

I wanted to have some of the radios plugged into outlets, so I came up with these simplified plugs made of brass tubes. They'll be inserted into holes drilled into the outlets:

Here are some shots of how the interior looks so far. There are more details needed but it's getting there. Note the stand for the soldering iron -- I made it from a tiny spring that I pulled out of an old camera:

The stool was painted to look like it had been repainted several times, with layers of old paint showing through where the paint was worn and chipped:

Here you can see two of the power cords from the console radios, plugged into the simulated outlets:

Enjoy!

 

[Naptowneng]

OH I just can't stand this! Wow. Amazing work Ray, just puts me back into the late 50s when I used to hang out at a radio repair shop in NYC . Thanks for sharing

Jerry

 

[up9018]

Wow, that is great work on the small parts Ray. Hope to live up to half of your standards some day.

Keep it up,

Chris

 

[hcampbell]

So real I can almost smell it. Thanks for the memories.

Harvey C.

 

[Rod Fearnley]

Harvey I understand exactly what you are saying about the smell. My Uncle was an ardent radio Ham, and had a radio workshop that smelled of hot flux, hot valves/tubes and warm bakerlite. The inside of Ray's store looks just like his.

 

[denray]

Ray be sure and place a little boy on the outside with his hands around his face looking in, that will help direct the people to see what he is looking at. maybe 2 boys peeking in the window, as long as it does not prevent visitors from looking in.
A thought, Ray ,I saw an HO model where a guy took a periscope mirror set up and made an area where the people could look into a box that was a view finder through mirrors that allowed them to look across a detailed room like yours and looking out the window in the front of the store. To proove it was real, you could see your self looking in the view finder from inside the room. It really made alot of people look in the view finder, then raise up with a frown or a puzzeled look, saying did I just see myself looking in the view finder from the inside of that little room.
And once they figured it was them, they said where is the camera, it was amazing.
Dennis

 

[Bob Pero]

Very nice Ray!!!

 

[Scott]

Ray, that is some superb work.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks!

 

[Stefan]

Hello Ray,

I don't like your buildings!!!
Just because:
I love them!!!!!!!!

Man, so much passion in detailing the interior and the ability
to "transform" them into 1:29 scale items is outstanding.

All the brickwork would drive me crazy.
Excellent, that's what it is.

Thank you for showing.

Stefan

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks Stefan! One small correction -- it's 1/24th scale.

For a newer building it would be possible to use commercially available brick sheet for the walls, and just scribe the trim pieces. But with an old, worn building like this, scribing all the bricks allows me to tear them up.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

I wanted the radio shop to have fluorescent lights, but of course there are no working fluorescent lights in 1/24th scale. However I had an idea for a way to possibly simulate the appearance of working fluorescents...

I started by using 1/16" acrylic rods to represent the tubes. Small rounded bits of styrene strip were glued to the ends:

The base of the fixture was made from a strip of .100" x .250" styrene. Three 1/8" holes were drilled through it:

I used thin sheet brass to make the reflectors:

After painting the fixture white, I glued on the tubes. To help disperse the light and to give the tubes a somewhat frosted look, I brushed on a very thin coat of fluorescent white paint that I had leftover from a Halloween project years ago:

I marked the positions of the three holes and drilled three larger holes in the ceiling. Then the fixture was glued in place. Three 3mm LEDs were inserted into the fixture, through the holes in the ceiling. You can just barely see the rounded ends of the LEDs showing through in this photo:

When I first connected a battery to the leads I was disappointed… the beam from the LEDs made three bright spots on the acrylic rods. However, when I tried photographing it, I found that it looks perfect in photos! Here are some test shots, looking through the windows of the building:

At this point I think I'm done with the radio shop. Next will be the barbershop details.

 

[placitassteam]

Very ingenious!!

 

[denray]

WOW Ray that is a great looking and a great way of making a flourecent light fixture.
Thanks for sharing the top end of modeling, You give us all inspiration, we know and only try
or only wish we can model close to your modeling abilities, thanks for sharing.
Dennis