It’s a triple building, which I had a lot of trouble imagining. Unlike the other buildings in my layout, it’s not based on a precise prototype, but on several elements.
I had some difficulty imagining what it would look like. My working base was mostly envy:
- a building justifying tank and box cars traffic; the orientation towards a recycling plant (paper and cardboard, chemicals...) was decided at the layout prototyping stage.
- a background building, neutral and without openings (so as not to disturb the foreground), served by two separate tracks.
- tank cars traffic required tanks to load them, a welcomed element of variety in the scenery.
The whole thing was built up as I went along. On the cardboard pre-model of the layout, I already had two tracks: one for tank cars, the other for boxcars (which delivered seeds at this time...). Once the final layout had been built and the track laid, the three major elements came into their own:
- the main building, fairly deep, but in semi-relief,
- the secondary building on the left, which I found very hard to accept because of its shallowness (17 foot in N scale),
- the tanks in the foreground on the right (even if they were almost in the background instead of the main building).
Construction
It’s a fully scratchbuilt model. Other techniques used: Soldered metal, Drew own plans; Cut & fit metal, Cut & fit cardstock, Cut & fit plastic.
Buildings
The roofs of the buildings are made of sandpaper.
Tanks
If the tanks are based on a prototype Pelle K. Søeborg found and built, I have not followed his article (based on a Walthers kit).
The loading bay for the trucks is positioned so that the floor of the trailers is at the same height as that of the boxcars. I therefore lowered the roadway to allow this. The bay is made of plastic card.
Conformity
As I indicated above, the buildings are an assembly of existing things, located in different places.
Buildings
The main and secondary buildings are inspired from a construction located on Annacis Island (my layout’s location), at 781 Belgrave Wy, Delta, BC. This is the inspiration for the textures (featureless walls and sheet metal extension, white walls with green surrounds, etc.).
Other details, from other places:
Tanks
The tanks are inspired by those located at Grand Island, Nebraska. Pelle K. Søeborg (a super modeler) who found them and built them for his layout (see Model Railroader January 2018).
Details
Details on industrial buildings are sometimes rare. The ones I’ve made are almost all in plastic card: cameras, drainpipes, lights (with integrated micro-LEDs), etc.
A few exceptions:
- the lighting domes in the main building are made of cardboard cut-outs
- the cage ladder for moving from one roof to another is made of cardboard cut-outs
- the windsock is made of tissue paper
- the staircase and building access railings are made of brass wire.
The bulk of the details are around the tanks (pumps, access staircase, pipes...); the “construction” section details them.
Finish and lettering
Painting is a three-stage process: priming, painting and weathering.
The paint differentiates the main building (white) from the secondary building (slightly grey). Both have concrete-colored bases, which are weathered to look older on the main building.
The translucent plastic of the main building’s lighting domes is evoked with a satin varnish.
Tanks were painted white. Their lettering is taken from the prototype, a screen capture from Google Maps. The P&B panel is printed on satin paper.
Evaluation
To be done! The gallery is full of photos for reviewers. :)
- construction : /40
- details : /20
- conformity : /25
- finish and lettering : /25
- Scratchbuild : /15
