Modelling 122th Street - Part 3

As you can see, some of my projects are lagging a little bit. Mainly due to seasonal health issues but also because I'm in the process of building a new spray booth. It means many projects are stuck at the primer/paint step until the new device is up and running. It's why the Henri-Bourassa overpass project is now on hiatus.

Meanwhile, I continue assembling structures for 122th Street. So far, two garages and two houses are built. They are ready for paint and will require some additional detailing to bring life to them.

While they are quite mundane, I do take time to replicate as best as I can some features in a realistic manner. This is particularly true about roof. I probably won't surprise anybody, but flat roofs aren't flat, except if you want problems. They are generally shaped like a large rectangular funnel with a central drain. The roof slope about 2 degrees, generally more on older structures. When the roof is very large, multiple draining bassins are required.

That kind of detail is generally overlooked by most modellers and manufacturers. A flat slab being much easier to build than intricate facetted surfaces. However, since these small houses are low and their roofs are in plain sight when operating, I felt it was better to replicate this detail.

And don't believe it is hard to model. Here's how I do it. First, I glue a real "flat" roof about 2 mm lower than the walls top. This is for structural integrity. Then, I cut another piece of flat styrene and score it so it divide the rectangle in four triangles. Applying a light pressure on styrene, I bend each triangle to create the funnel shape. However, be careful, the goal isn't to separate the styrene parts, just bending them a little bit. You don't want them to break off. When this part is correctly shaped, I then glue it on the walls top making sure the middle touch the subroof. If required, I'll add some styrene supports along the wall perimeter to make sure the roof sits at the right height. For overhanging roofs, this isn't required.