CONFORMANCE

The Wadhams Grease and Oil Company built a large number of pagoda style filling stations in and around Milwaukee. They were designed by architect Alexander Chadbourne Eschweiler.The model is of the station at the corner of 1st (Clinton) and Walker Streets in Milwaukee. The windows and doors on the prototype have been rebuilt with one single plate glass pane, so the windows and doors on the model have been built similar to the ones in other surviving stations. The pumps were built following the design of the ones in a photograph of the station at 27th St. and Wisconsin Ave. and painted according to an ad in The Waukesha Freeman in 1930. The airhose stand was designed following the one next to the station at the corner of 76th St. and National Ave. The emblems on the globes were photocopied from a photograph of the station at 6th St. and Wisconsin Ave. The window signs were photocopied from a photograph of the station at 27th St. and Wisconsin Ave. The signpost on the corner was laid out on a Macintosh computer following a description of a sign seen by a friend at an automotive memoribilia show. The billboard on the wall was laid out on a Macintosh computer following a picture of a billboard in an ad in the 1920 Wright's Milwaukee City Directory. The stained glass windows were designed following a color photo of the station, taken before the windows were boarded up.

CONSTRUCTION

ROOF The roof is made from urethane castings of the roof from a kit. Urethane was used because it can be heated without melting. The castings were unmolded before they were fully cured and wrapped around a can with rubber bands until fully cured. The cured casting was then set on a lump of epoxy putty to hold them at the proper angle from horizontal. They were then placed on a board and held at a 45¡ angle to the edge with a combination square and sawed halfway up with a razor saw held against the edge of the board. The remaining width was rough cut by eye. The lower corners and the top edge were heated with a heat gun and bent to shape. The pieces were then carved filed and sanded to shape and epoxied together. Castings were made of Kibri ridge tiles. These were heated and bent Of shape and epoxied in place. Any gaps under the ridge tiles were filled with partially cured epoxy. The ridge tiles were puttied and carved to shape at the peaks. The underside of the roof was then filled with epoxy putty. The flat roof at the rear was carved from balsa and covered with strips of paper. The gutters were made from 1/4" brass angle with one leg cut off to 1/16". The ends were annealed and bent to match the roof. The downspouts were made from Preiser tent poles heated and bent to shape. The chimney was made from 1/8" square Plastruct tubing covered with embossed styrene brick. The cap is plastic tubing sharpened in a pencil sharpener with a square of .040" styrene. The pieces were all drilled 1/16" and pinned together with brass tubing.

FIRST FLOOR The walls were built up over a 1/32" acrylic shell with the bathrooms built of 1/8" translucent white acrylic. The window frames were cast from Plastruct railing. Every other post was removed, It was cut short and two sections were joined to a styrene HO 4X4. The bulkheads under the windows are embossed brick capped with an HO 4X4. The doors and the remainder of the walls were built up of styrene strips. The insides of the walls were lined with file card cut to fit around the windows. The storeroom walls were cut from file card, with a painted file card door placed behind the doorway.

A piece of acrylic was cut to fit inside the top of the walls and glued to the roof. The roof is held to the first floor by a 10-24 screw through the storeroom, and tapped into the acrylic. The building is held to the base by a 6-32 screw tapped into the acrylic subfloor.

DETAIL

GAS PUMPS The gas pumps were built of 1/8" Plastruct tubing drilled 1/16" and lined with brass tubing. The sight glasses were built of stretched clear sprue drilled 1/32 using a bubble to start the hole. They were then wrapped with plastic mesh stained black. The caps were cast from a scratchbuilt master. Two round grooves were made in a piece of .060" styrene with a Dremel cylindrical cutter. The piece was then cut to 3/16" square and the sides were filed concave. A clay pyramid was placed on top of this and three castings were made. The castings were drilled 1/32". The globes are slices of a sprue. They were also drilled 1/32". The pumps were then assembled on a 1/32 brass rod. A single strand from a piece of lamp cord was heated and stuck into the side of the pump. The air hose stand is cut from a Preiser TV camera stand, with a strand of wire attached.

INTERIOR DETAILS All visible portions of the interior are detailed. The floor is stripwood. The signs on the wall were photocopied from a photograph. The calendar and the poster over the register are hand drawn. There is a newspaper next to the cash register. The chairs, crates, figures, desk, and cash register are commercial castings. The stained glass windows are lit by a miniature christmas tree bulb inserted through a hole drilled through the back of the roof. A piece of clear sprue was inserted through a hole in the ceiling to light the interior.

EXTERIOR DETAILS The pavement is a sheet of .060" styrene with expansion joints carved with an acrylic knife. The curbing is .060" square styrene strip. The underground storage tank filler covers are sprue pressed onto the teeth of a file, turned 90¡ and pressed again. The signpost on the corner is 1/16" brass tubing with a signholder carved from .060" styrene, slotted for the sign and drilled 1/32" vertically through the center. The post is pinned together with 1/32" brass rod and glued. The signs were glued to .005" brass and glued in the slot. The juniper bushes were made from aquarium plants (ambulia).

PAINT AND LETTERING

The roof was sprayed with Colorworks red primer, Ace International Harvester red, and Dullcote. The roof was lightly dusted with black chalk. The stained glass was laid out on a Macintosh computer four times HO scale and printed on a dot matrix printer. The printout was colored with assorted red and yellow paints markers and colored pencils. A transparency was then made on a color laser printer. The first floor walls were brush painted during assembly with Accent Acrylics Pure Black and Pure Yellow. The windows were sprayed with flat black. The signs on the windows were photocopied from a photograph. The signs on the neighboring building and on the corner were laid out on a computer and printed on a laser printer and hand colored with assorted markers. The corner sign was given a coat of Mod Podge Gloss to resemble enamel. The pumps were hand painted with Acrylics Pure Black, Pure White and Pure Yellow. The globes were lettered with photocopies of a photograph applied with Mod Podge Gloss. Several coats of Mod Podge were applied over the signs to make them look like glass. The pavement and curbing were brushed with Ceramcoat Lichen Grey. They were weathered with a wash of grey acrylic and dabbed with grey and Mod Podge Gloss in various places for oil stains. The underground storage tank filler covers were painted red and yellow and rubbed with a #2 pencil to look like the paint had worn down to bare steel in spots.

SCRATCHBUILDING

COMMERCIAL PARTS USED: Slaters Plasticard plain HO brick Heljan roof tile (Master for casting) Kibri ridge tile (Master for casting) Plastruct railing (Master for casting) Preiser figures, chairs, TV camera stand, tent poles Merton crates Pola desk and cash register Detail Master modeling screen Micro Engineering broom