Route 66 Gas Station project
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In my second attempt to make something besides cars I've been working on a model of the Standard Oil Station in Odell, IL.
Built in 1932, the station was in continuous operation until 1999. In that year the Village of Odell purchased the station to do an historic restoration, and in 1997 it was granted inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
I wanted to model it as it might have looked during it's heyday, sort of a "Mayberry RFD" look and feel.
Included an area where the locals could sit and play checkers, or just shoot the breeze.
Here's how it looks today. It has a distinctive appearance not only because of the contrasting blue and white...
..but also because of the distinctive shadows caused the shingles, which are very curled with age.
and how it looked before the restoration.
Obviously I know nothing about creating a landscape yet, just stuck a grass texture down and put a photo behind it.
This has been a fun project for me, as I like to add details to my models. Thinking about trying one of the diners along 66 next.
Everything made by me, except for the plants and the tree (warehouse).
I know I'm no Tadema (and never will be), but I'm learning this type of modeling and I think it didn't come out too badly.
Here are a couple of web sites dedicated to the station...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil_Gasoline_Station_%28Odell,_Illinois%29and a couple of short videos...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oSod8iOP8s -
I can't believe it..I was just starting one like this today for a picture I'm working on. I have to ask..Is this going to be available anyplace? Great work..
RichardForgot to mention I have one started on the 66 Cafe here in Albq. It's just down the road from me..
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nice!
(though the wheelbarrow handles look a bit off... shoulda lathed them instead
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@unknownuser said:
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nice!
(though the wheelbarrow handles look a bit off... shoulda lathed them instead
)I was gonna lathe them, but then I thought maybe I should turn them instead, and got so confused I said to heck with it
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I did cheat a bit on the gas pump. It should have this globe on top...
but I decided this was just too much work, so I just added a simple replacement instead. Guess I wimped out
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Hello Steve, what a brilliant job you've made of a fantastic little place! so good in fact,
having to study the images carefully to differentiate pic from render.
John -
@tadema said:
Hello Steve, what a brilliant job you've made of a fantastic little place! so good in fact,
having to study the images carefully to differentiate pic from render.
JohnKind words indeed coming from you. Cannot hope to ever come close to your masterpieces (I suppose it would help if I could render
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beautiful project and modelling! i also like your render style very much!
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@carloh said:
beautiful project and modelling! i also like your render style very much!
Thanks Carloh. As far as my "render style", nothing is rendered. Just textures.
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no matter if it's rendered or not...still has a great astmosphere
are you planning to share this model? i would love to try to render it
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Having traveled 66 from Chicago to LA several times back in the late 50's I, no doubt, passed this station.
You've done a masterful job of detailed modelingCurious: Wonder why the change from Sinclair to Standard
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@bob james said:
Having traveled 66 from Chicago to LA several times back in the late 50's I, no doubt, passed this station.
You've done a masterful job of detailed modelingYour kind words are much appreciated.
@bob james said:
Curious: Wonder why the change from Sinclair to Standard
According to Wiki it changed brands several times, no reason given -
"The station was built in 1932 when a contractor, Patrick O'Donnell purchased the small 200-foot (61 m) by 60-foot (18 m) piece of land the station stands on. The land lies on the southwest side of the Livingston County town. O'Donnell's plan was to build a gas station that he could lease to his son. The project went ahead and the station was modeled after a 1916 Standard Oil of Ohio design. The station is of the house and canopy style and includes work bays which were clearly added at a later date. Upon careful inspection the interior walls of the bays reveal the later origin. The station continued to sell Standard Oil products for its first several years but by 1940 it had switched to Phillips 66 brands. At least nine other stations besides O'Donnell's dotted this part of Route 66 through Odell, the competition drove the addition of the bays by the 1940s. Between the 1940 and 1952 the station underwent a number of changes.[2]
At one point, the station went from Phillips 66 to Sinclair products. Eventually, in 1952, Robert Close leased the station from O'Donnell. When O'Donnell died, Close purchased the property from his estate. He moved his family into the adjacent cafe which had been converted into a house. They stayed there until it burned in the 1970s. Close continued to do body work at the station until 1999. It was that year that the Village of Odell purchased the station for the express purpose of historic restoration. The Route 66 Association of Illinois took interest in the project and nominated the property for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, a status it was granted on November 9."
Dang, according to this I should have made it a Phillips 66 or Sinclair station, according to the era of the accessories I added. Maybe I will, just for fun
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holy sweeet detail... that's awesome HellnBack.
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@krisidious said:
holy sweeet detail... that's awesome HellnBack.
Thanks Kris.
Looking at the pics I posted I've noticed some mistakes and some things I meant to change but never got around to it (but I'm not going to point them out to anyone ) -
@hellnbak said:
Looking at the pics I posted I've noticed some mistakes and some things I meant to change but never got around to it (but I'm not going to point them out to anyone
)Probably some undisclosed errors in other great artist's work, but who wanted to dispute the master?
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Wow! Looking good. Now needs some grease, dirt peeling paint!
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@jpalm32 said:
Wow! Looking good. Now needs some grease, dirt peeling paint!
Yes, it needs it badly. Unfortunately that needs to be done in PP, and that comes after it's rendered, which I cannot do yet.
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@hellnbak said:
and that comes after it's rendered, which I cannot do yet.
meh.. the worst part about rendering (for me at least) is texturing.. so whether you realize it or not, your rendering skills are already well underway..
the other parts of rendering (for me at least) are more fun..
(but for real, aside from a few material property tweaks and environment settings, this thing is ready to be rendered in a way which will give very nice results)
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This is so great. Steve. You really put life in it with all the things you made for it and all the detail and touches. Needs a classic car pulling up. I wonder where you could find one? Looks mostly rendered already.
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@unknownuser said:
@hellnbak said:
and that comes after it's rendered, which I cannot do yet.
meh.. the worst part about rendering (for me at least) is texturing.. so whether you realize it or not, your rendering skills are already well underway..
the other parts of rendering (for me at least) are more fun..
(but for real, aside from a few material property tweaks and environment settings, this thing is ready to be rendered in a way which will give very nice results)
One thing I've wondered about is what people do differently when modeling something with the intention of rendering it. I have been rounding most of my edges, I remember reading something about that here, something about "specular highlights" or something like that. But beyond that I just don't know what to do differently.
@pbacot said:
This is so great. Steve. You really put life in it with all the things you made for it and all the detail and touches. Needs a classic car pulling up. I wonder where you could find one? Looks mostly rendered already.
Yeah, I thought about putting a couple of my cars in there. Maybe the '56 Chevy with the front clip removed, frame showing, that I did a while back in one of the bays like it was being worked on.
I have decided to convert it to either a Phillips 66 or Sinclair station, don't know which yet. Since it was built in '32 and was a Standard station for only a couple of years, that is much earlier than I want the model to represent.
One thing that's frustrating me is the interior. Whenever I made a car one of my favorite things was to add a detailed interior. But adding a realistic detailed interior here would be quite an undertaking. Not many reference photos, but what there are shows that it was very cluttered, a typical old time gas station.
Maybe I'll mess around with it and see how it goes. As long as it's fun, what the heck.
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