A Good Day for Modeling

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - With the exception that I currently have little scraps of foam core all over my floor (which my vacuum is too wimpy to pick up), today has been a great day for making my model. I had previously gotten a large sheet of green felt for the grass, and I quickly realized that maybe a deep mossy-green might be the wrong color. So today, I went down to the local puzzle and model train shop, which has been a very helpful resource so far (lakecityhobbies.com). There I was introduced to the magic that is Ready Grass's Vinyl Mats. For those of you who do not know what this is, it a sheet of vinyl (which has the texture of poster board, but does not tear by accident) with model grass already glued to it. You just roll it out and glue it down. With the felt, I was worried that I would have to put the road way on top of the felt, which would give it a strangely raised effect, but with Ready Grass you can easily scrape away excess grass to either paint on a road or glue one onto a flat surface. The company recommends using a plastic putty knife, but I will probably use something thinner, like a spoon. And the BEST part of Ready Grass, is that if you heat up the vinyl with a heat gun (or hopefully a hair-dryer), it stretches and I can get the grass to fit snugly over the topography I am currently working on. I'm very excited. Can you tell?

Speaking of the topography, it is officially half way done (see above photo). I think that it is coming out nicely, but I still cannot wait until I can work on something a bit smaller. Trying to draw even grids with a 40 inch straight edge is not as much fun as it sounds.

I had been a bit bummed that the thinnest dowels I could locate at hardware stores and the internet have been 1/16" of an inch in diameter. I wanted something to make posts out of, but 1/16" is 5 feet in my scale. At the model store (which has earned a lot of cool points today), I discovered that they have white plastic rods and tubes .015" in diameter (about 18 inches in my model, which may be perfect). They also have ultra-thin plastic cards with grooves engraved into them at what would be the equivalent of 2 feet apart (which will be perfect for making crude stairs or a white picket fence). I felt so hopeful about this project while leaving Lake City Hobbies.

I am currently looking for a summer job. As nice as it would be to get a job near my parents' house so I could have free room and food, it would be impossible for me to ship whatever progress I have and work on it without being on site. Keep in mind that - with the exception of the topographic map I got from city hall - my entire model will be based on my personal observations and whatever satellite imagery Google Earth and MSN maps has to offer. Thus, I am actively looking for a summer job in Geneva. I have talked with Architect Dan Long, who has an office here. He said an internship might work out, but I should come back when the summer gets closer.

Today, though, I was walking home from model shop with a roll of grass under my arm, when I passed an office building with several different architectural renderings of different buildings on display near their entrance. I timidly went inside, feeling bad that I had not called in advance to make an appointment or to make sure that they are, in fact, an architectural office. I heard a man's voice on my right that said, "You're in the right place, Jason." It was Eric Ameigh, the city planner who commissioned this project in the first place. He was there for another project, but he introduced me to the people who work there. By "there," I mean a new branch of an existing architecture firm just south of Rochester. The woman I spoke with said that her company and the Dan Long were considering getting one intern to share between them, a job which I am a good candidate for. That was exciting.

This week, after I do my homework, I am going to finish the topography. I am determined!