You get the picture

Sharp scale models of Vinoy Place condos and cityhomes give prospective buyers an eyeful.

By JUDY STARK, Times Homes Editor

ST. PETERSBURG -- Stop by and visit the model.

The model units at the Vinoy Place condos and "cityhomes" on St. Petersburg's waterfront are still some time away. Construction is expected to start at the end of the summer, and it will be 13 months before the luxury residences are finished.

But stop by and visit the model

-- the 1/8-scale model of the project that now stands on a table in the middle of the sales center at 555 Fifth Ave. NE. Created by Phil Whitelaw of Fort Myers, it is the dream of every handyman, crafter and miniaturist.

The model -- 60 by 60 inches, and weighing several hundred pounds -- shows the 10 two-story and three-story cityhomes on Fifth Avenue and Bayshore Drive NE, and the 42-unit condo towers, all with views toward downtown or across Tampa Bay.

The detailing includes the wrought-iron curlicues on the balconies, banding above the windows, even the barrel tiles on the roof, hand-painted in three colors.

Whitelaw, who will turn 63 this summer, is a former TV meteorologist who moved to Fort Myers and 10 years ago turned his artistic abilities into a second career.

Through prayer, he realized his future lay in making use of his artistic gifts. One day, chatting with a friend about what he really wanted to do, Whitelaw pointed to the front page of that day's newspaper, where a photograph showed the mayor of Fort Myers with a scale model of a new Red Sox sports complex. "I wonder if you can make a living doing that?" he wondered. His friend was skeptical. "I know it sounded like making toys for a living, but it was coming from my heart," Whitelaw said.

Less than an hour later he received a phone call from a developer asking him to create a model, and offering to provide office space and buy whatever tools he needed to do the work. The developer contact came about as his friend passed the word to others about what Whitelaw had declared he wanted to do.

Now Whitelaw's company, Architectural Display Services, creates models for builders, architects, lawyers and other clients. He once created a model of Churchill Downs for CNN. For more examples of his work, visit his Web site at http://www.modelmaker.com. Most of the Vinoy model is made of plexiglass, he said. The architect -- John Marshall Scott of Dunedin -- sent a computer file to a California company that laser-cuts the plexiglass into appropriate pieces. "Then I'm sent the parts, and I assemble, paint, detail, things like that," Whitelaw said.

Whitelaw assembles the buildings with a solvent injected into the joints to "weld" the plexiglass together, or with a super glue.

To make sure the detail of the balcony railing was just right, he sent a drawing provided by the architect to a Punta Gorda company that acid-etched it onto very thin stainless steel, which was then trimmed and attached to each balcony.

Whitelaw's associate, Bill Anderson, hand-painted the roof, using colors that match the actual shades of the tile.

The main paint for the buildings is an acrylic, the same thing used on airplanes, that coversthe surface but "the detail scored into the plexiglass does not get buried or filled in," Whitelaw said. The water features -- pool and spa -- are solid acrylic.

Ordinarily it takes about four months to create a model of this size and complexity.

Vinoy Place developer Craig McLaughlin would not say how much the model cost, just that it was "a lot."

Models such as this, on a topographical table in a sales center, "help the public understand what the project is and what it's like to live here," McLaughlin said. They also help the subcontractors envision what they're going to build. "And it helps us understand as well. We'll make some modifications based on what we see here -- we'll have a better idea about some details now that we see them" in three dimensions in the model.

McLaughlin said three of the 10 cityhomes remain available, priced at $649,000 and $749,000. The condo units are priced from $509,000 to $814,000. Both penthouses are sold, but if you'd like to put your name on a waiting list in case the buyers change their minds, the price tag there is $1.795-million.

The sales center, where Whitelaw's model is on view, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Information: (727) 898-4669, or http://www.vinoyplace.com.