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What is the J&C Studios O Gauge Archive?

J&C Studios O Gauge Archive


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What is the J&C Studios O Gauge Archive?
(Guest)   JCS Archive   jdcrawler   Woosley Memorial Airport
 
Woosley Memorial Airport
jdcrawler
Joined: Apr 4, 2011
Topics: 46 Replies: 65 Topics: 46
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posted Apr 18, 2013: 
The little town of Northport, Michigan has a small airport with a grass field runway.
The terminal building is a unique little stone structure that was converted from an old milk house.

Clinton F. Woolsey, a Northport native son born in 1894, was considered one of the nation's best pilots in the Army Air Corps in the 1920s. He died a hero when he and his co-pilot, John W. Benton, were killed in a 1927 mid-air collision near Buenos Aires during the first-ever U.S. international goodwill flight to 23 Central and South American countries.
Woolsey probably could have parachuted to safety but apparently chose to ride his amphibian biplane down in an attempt to land because Benton was on the wing, without his chute, attempting to lower the landing gear by hand.

Here is what this building looked like when it was dedicated as a memorial in 1935.






This is how the building looks now.










The model is started with a wood base and a cardboard tube for the " observation turret ".






A wood ring is made up to cap the cardboard tube.






The support post for the roof over the turret are made out of wood.






A piece of plywood is cut to form the base for the roof.
The support post are glued to the ring cap and the roof base is glued on top of the support post.






Here is what the roof assembly looks like from the underside.






Triangular sections of wood are used to form the roof.






Here is the turret with the finished roof on it.






A piece of plywood is cut to form the floor inside the turret.






The roof of this part of the building is made up and sets at the same level as the floor in the turret.






Making up the base for the roof on the opposite end of the building.






Here is the finished roof section.






Starting to build the steps up to the observation deck.






Here are the finished steps.






The wall that wraps around one side of the steps is cut from a piece of wood.










The stone pattern for the walls is printed out on paper and glued to the sides of the building.
Here is the finished model of the building as it looked in 1935.












































 
JohnBoy
Joined: May 14, 2008
Topics: 110 Replies: 517 Topics: 110
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posted Apr 18, 2013: 
Holy smoke! That is really spectacular jdcrawler. Really love these in-depth builds you do.

Question: how did you get the curved roof formed? Looks to be a kind of plywood? Did you soak it and then bend it over the forms?

Thanks for the wonderful topic!

John
 
jdcrawler
Joined: Apr 4, 2011
Topics: 46 Replies: 65 Topics: 46
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posted Apr 18, 2013: 
Thanks John

That curved roof is made from cheep paneling and I just forced it to bend over the ribs with clamps.
Here is a photo of it clamped in place.



 
JohnBoy
Joined: May 14, 2008
Topics: 110 Replies: 517 Topics: 110
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posted Apr 18, 2013: 
Got it. So the paneling just bent like that without cracking? That's reallly cool, and good to know.

Such a unique structure. I love it. I also bet those stairs were some labor....
 
TRAINS4U2C2
Joined: Oct 4, 2009
Topics: 43 Replies: 71 Topics: 43
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posted May 18, 2013: 
WOW, That's really sharp, nice job and a wonderful peice of history. How did you ever find that place ?

Would you mind sharing how you cut the wooden ring ?
I also really like the stone pattern, did that come from the Model Builder program ?

Doug
 
jdcrawler
Joined: Apr 4, 2011
Topics: 46 Replies: 65 Topics: 46
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posted Jun 6, 2013: 
Doug

The wood ring was turned out on a lathe.
The stone is from a photo of a stone wall that I found on the internet and I printed it out on 8x11 paper.
 
Mark Boyce
Joined: Nov 3, 2012
Topics: 0 Replies: 17 Topics: 0
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posted Feb 6, 2014: 
What a great model of a very unique structure! I was wondering about the curved roof too. Thank you.

Mark
 

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