# The church at Taos Pueblo



## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

The second building on my railroad is the church at Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. I again used pink foam board for the basic structure. That is covered with fiberglass mesh which is stapled on.









Then a base coat of acrylic fortified mortar was troweled on and smoothed with a paint brush. That was followed by the pre-mixed acrylic color coat applied with a brush. The texture is a little rougher that I would have liked.

















The windows were constructed using the same method that I used on my Dolores station and then painted with clear blue Tamiya paint to simulate the stained glass of the prototype.









The front of the church. The columns were made on my lathe, mostly with a hand file. The front doors are a photo of the prototype mounted in a wood frame and sprayed with clear matte acrylic. I used 90# mineral coated roofing felt to cover the roof. 









View from the rear.


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## R Snyder (May 12, 2009)

Really nice work!


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

It looks really nice. It would have been quicker and easier, and give a smoother finish if you just use a strainer and sift hydraulic cement right onto the foam wetting it with a spray bottle. You don't need the fiberglass mesh or trowel.

This:


To this:


To this:


Just sift and mist.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice, Winn..... Excellently modeled..


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice modeling....I loved your way of presenting a very detailed front door. If you've used that technique before, how well does it stand up the UV outside?


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Interesting build en beautiful end result! 
Clever way of using the photo for the doors, looks real good.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Beautiful work.


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Outstanding work. Great looking church


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Thank you, Gentlemen. 

Todd, that is an interesting way to go. Did you do the write up on that in Garden Railways? I think it would be hard to do on vertical surfaces and with my large buildings it would be hard to turn them on their sides and ends. Also I needed to fill in around the windows. The base coat went on very quickly and after brushing was smooth. It is the color coat that is rough. I don't know if I could get the acrylic color with a finer sand. The church is actually somewhat darker than it appears in the photos, but I would have liked it to be even darker. I think I will take the bucket of premix back to the dealer and see if they can make it darker. 

Mike, this the first time I have used the photo method on a building so I don't know how it will stand up. I did do the name plate on my president's car that way, but it doesn't stay outside. I'll know how my construction methods work after they have been outdoors for a year or two!!


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By placitassteam on 30 Apr 2011 02:14 PM 
Thank you, Gentlemen. 

Todd, that is an interesting way to go. Did you do the write up on that in Garden Railways? I think it would be hard to do on vertical surfaces and with my large buildings it would be hard to turn them on their sides and ends. Also I needed to fill in around the windows. The base coat went on very quickly and after brushing was smooth. It is the color coat that is rough. I don't know if I could get the acrylic color with a finer sand. The church is actually somewhat darker than it appears in the photos, but I would have liked it to be even darker. I think I will take the bucket of premix back to the dealer and see if they can make it darker. 

Mike, this the first time I have used the photo method on a building so I don't know how it will stand up. I did do the name plate on my president's car that way, but it doesn't stay outside. I'll know how my construction methods work after they have been outdoors for a year or two!! 


Yes, that was my article, even though they credited Jerry Paladino. The next issue should carry a correction.

When I did this structures (same method), I did the sides first, then glued them together to make the structure.









BTW, I put the structures out on Thur/ Fri for a Sat/Sun photo shoot. Unfortunately, last night the Santa Ana winds came up causing major havoc and destruction and this structures fell about a foot to the rocks below. The "stone" support wall broke and some of the "stones" fell out. Also there was a gash in the other side from where a rock had pushed through the cement into the Styrofoam. I'll have it fixed in a couple days and the repairs should be indistinuishable.


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

THAT IS SOME REALY COOL ROCK WORK! Sorry about you wind damage. We have been having some pretty strong winds but so far nothing has moved. Those tram cars look like the ones we have running up the Sandia Mountain here in Albuquerque. They cut my trip to the ski area by 25 miles.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By placitassteam on 30 Apr 2011 06:29 PM 
THAT IS SOME REALY COOL ROCK WORK! Sorry about you wind damage. We have been having some pretty strong winds but so far nothing has moved. Those tram cars look like the ones we have running up the Sandia Mountain here in Albuquerque. They cut my trip to the ski area by 25 miles. 

Actually pieces of basswood.


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