My NYC Foam Board Models

[Jrobinson84]

Hello, everyone. I've been a longtime lurker and this is my first time posting. As a hobby, I plan out and construct NYC skyscrapers, with my main construction material being 2/16 or 3/16 foam board. I try to make them as close to scale as possible, but they're not always 100% accurate.

Here is a my first model of the former World Trade Center. As it was my first model, its lacking a lot of detail, but it looks ok. The camera lens on my iphone got scratched up, so my photos are sh*tty.











I just finished retrofitting it with LEDs and some greenery on the street level so I'll try to get some pics of that soon.

[ManhattanBuilder]

Cool! I hope you upload more photos soon.

[Piepmatz]

That's the right word: Cool

Its not totally photorealistic, but it has a very special charme. And its seems to be big...

I would like to see more of that, too.

[Jrobinson84]

Originally Posted by Piepmatz

That's the right word: Cool

Its not totally photorealistic, but it has a very special charme. And its seems to be big...

I would like to see more of that, too.

I just saw your Trade Center model. I was stunned. I kept saying: "there's no way that's a paper/cardstock model." Then I checked out your facebook albums. Holy smokes, your models are unbelievable.

Like I said before, they're definitely lacking details. My Empire State and Chrysler Buildings are much more detailed, and I'm learning new tricks with each project. Maybe one day I'll go back and redo these, but they're ok by me for now.

The Twins measure about 2 feet in height, not including the North Tower antenna. Luckily I've got high ceilings, so these fit very nicely on top of my tv cabinet.

[Piepmatz]

That's very nice of you saying that.

I thinks its great to have another approach to modeling here. Foam board is a material that we aren't very used to. It allows for bigger scales, and in this bigger scale, you can do as much details as in paper designs. Can't wait to see your Empire State Building! (I love that building since I was 8...)

[Jrobinson84]

Originally Posted by Piepmatz

(I love that building since I was 8...)

The Empire State is my absolute favourite building of all time. Growing up in 90's New York, I was in constant awe of it. I remember finding out that the Trade Center towers were taller, but I didn't care.

I will definitely try to get some pics this weekend. I'm going to try and get some good pics of the Trade Center all lit up tonight also.

[Piepmatz]

Really? You grew up in NY? Nice!
I first heard about the ESB in a childrens' radio play. And I first heard about the Twin Towers in the King Kong remake...

[Jrobinson84]

Here are a couple of quick pics I took with the LEDs installed. I know there were no spotlights in the real plaza uplighting the towers, but I felt it would be a nice touch.

I'm interested in making a Tribute In Light with LEDs. Anybody know if it would be possible to recreate those visible beams of light?

[ManhattanBuilder]

I think it's possible, but you need to have a lot of them to make it visible

[Jrobinson84]

Just noticed you're in Los Angeles, ManhattanBuilder. I've been in exile in LA for the past 13 years.

[Jrobinson84]

Here is my Empire State Building model. Measurements about 22 inches tall, an inch or two shorter than the Twins. The Observation Deck floors aren't very accurate, and neither is the cone at the 102 floor, I'm afraid. I recently went back and installed blue and white leds, which required the complete deconstruction of the upper floors and an entirely new mooring mast. But it looks really great at night.









That's my American Radiator Building in the forefront there.

[Piepmatz]

Very nice. How did you do all the windows/cladding?

[Jrobinson84]

To get the limestone colour, I just painted the foam board structure. For the windows, I cut strips of poster board, drew the windows/spandrels, and lined them with silver sharpie to act as the steel mullions. The windows took forever.

[Piepmatz]

I know, I had to draw all the windows myself in 1997... ^ ^

[MHX]

Wow this looks really cool. I like the LED's.

[Jrobinson84]

Originally Posted by MHX

Wow this looks really cool. I like the LED's.

Many thanks. I took a look at some of your models, and they are top notch.

[Jrobinson84]

Here is my Chrysler Building, which took almost a month to complete. There were several times where I became so frustrated I nearly threw it away. I went back this weekend and retrofitted the crown with leds, so I'll grab some shots tonight and post them tomorrow.

I used tiny nailheads for the hubcap ornaments on the lower setbacks, a 1.5in nail for the "vertex", and the rest of the ornamentation was just painted poster board.

Each of the 7 arches for each side of the crown were made separately and assembled all at once.

I wish my camera was better so I could take some close up shots of the details on this building. I'm quite proud of this one.

[MrKen]

These are great. Would love to see more of your American Standard Building.

[Jrobinson84]

Originally Posted by MrKen

These are great. Would love to see more of your American Standard Building.

Thanks. As soon as I get my new phone, I'll be able to take decent pics of the American Radiator. For now, here are some pics of the white LEDs in the crown of the Chrysler.







That's my One Times Square in the bottom there. I'll get some pics of that later.

[Jrobinson84]

Here is a one-off model I did for my mother's office. She works at 10 Universal City Plaza so I thought it would be cool for her to have a model of the building.