Odds and Ends 1

First up is the warehouse/storefront for Weymouth Oil, a petroleum products distributor.

One of my modeling buddies had a Con-Cor "Weekly Herald" kit that he decided against using.  I built it pretty much without modification.  Most of these I see retain the tan brick color more or less matching the kit parts and the photo on the box.  Changing the color scheme helps make it a bit more distinctive.  I like how the "modernized" store front fits with the layout's ~1980 era.  A lot of older buildings received similar (mis)treatment in the mid-20th century and beyond.  This structure needs a big sign on the front wall.  I also plan to paint some blank decal film with silver to add metal framing around the front door.

The track immediately to the left of this industry is not where it receives rail service, and is often used for off spot cars for the steel fabricator across the street.

Next door is Bonneville Packaging.  It's supposed to eventually look like a re-purposed structure that maybe once used to make crates but now does cardboard boxes and other associated packaging materials.  Toward that end I added a silo out back for plastic pellets.  The old Packaging Corporation of America in Salt Lake City had some rail served brick structures with blue silos, so the silo helps this place start to look right to me.  Maybe it'll receive an addition or two as well.

On the opposite side of Pacific Avenue is Great Basin Steel's structural components plant.  It fabricates steel trusses and other related products.  Thanks to the one time proximity of the USS Geneva steel works, the area modeled accumulated a number of steel fabricators, most of which are still around even after the disappearance of Geneva.  With some of these the inevitable overhead cranes run into the buildings from outside, and with others they don't (the one closest to me has a crane that runs parallel to the buildings on either side).  There would be other cranes and material handling equipment inside.

I think I'll populate the outdoor area with steel coils and sheet, along with some finished trusses and so on, as well as adding a fence and gates along the street.  This side of the street probably won't receive a curb or sidewalk

Odds and Ends 2

Elsewhere, RJ Herman and Sons, a commercial bakery, needed some silos for sugar and flour.

I added some silos and piping here so the contents of the Airslide hoppers had somewhere to go.  The height of the silos helps to disguise the space right behind them where some tracks run into the backdrop, so they should provide a distraction from that visual issue.  I used three silos from Walthers "Plastic Pellet Transfer" here and saved the other for the aforementioned packaging business.

The plain building at right is what's left over after another modeling buddy cut a Heljan theater into a flat.  He used only the front wall and short piece of each side, and was going to throw the rest away.  It needs a fire escape but I want to keep it from becoming too "interesting."  Structures with minimal visual clutter coexist with those having more character. 

The Pillsbury elevator casts an angled shadow.  The new grain bin has a pipe that matches the angle and from typical viewing locations makes the shadow less obvious.  Finish backdrop treatment will help with the rest of the shadows.

The tan building next door is another leftover.  Yet another modeler had some unwanted parts from kitbashing some large Spectrum structures, and I snagged enough to build this flat.  Window shades, curtains and/or blinds will help the dark frames stand out more.  The next flat to the right is the back of a Design Preservation MT Arms hotel with a fire escape cobbled from some Central Valley parts.

Impressive...

This is the stage I wish I was at on the larger portions of the JL&T.  But alas I'm having too much fun on the L&T at the moment, it's nice to have a compact area to work in.

It has some really great potential to be an awesome scene Rob!  Good to see some progress.

Jas...

Great sized ratios

I really like the fact your industries dwarf the railroad in size. Makes the scenes so much more real. Always has seemed odd to me to see a rail served building that is not much bigger than the boxcars spotted alongside it. The Great Basin Steel building is an imposing structure. Perfect!

Thanks Alan and Jason

Working on structures and urban scenery has always been tougher for me than rural scenes.  I hope the "scenery" on this branch turns out.

Too Good

Even in my visions and armchair dreams do I accomplish this much.  I may just get inspired by your handiwork.

Armchair

Through The Glass

I've always struggled with structure windows.  Might as well figure more out and get some additional buildings looking complete.

Intermountain had windows that were too even in appearance.  I applied washes of a few colors behind some of them to give the look of varied glass coloration common to some styles of industrial windows.  The back side of the glass material was previously sprayed with some flat finish which provided tooth for the washes.

I decided the un-named structure adjacent to the Pillsbury elevator should look like unrelated tenants occupy each floor.  I used different colors of paper for shades and curtains.  I also made some blind-looking things in Excel by filling cells with horizontal lines (some thick, others thin), and some different fill colors too.  The thicker black lines look more like blinds that are open, while thinner ones make them appear to be a bit more closed.

Bonneville Packaging got some blinds too.  I've run across several older commercial buildings with oversized blinds like these.  This one looks like it needs some window mount air conditioners or something to break up the long walls.

WOW!!

The size of the buildings compared to the railroad is impressive--as it should be.  The structures look good, too, and keep a look of a mix of things from the past modernized, along with the newer things.  I like

Bonneville Packaging

What about a lean to shed on one end with several compressors and piping into the building.  A commercial refrigerant unit mounted near the top of the wall. Don,t forget to install a large (2000 gallon) LP tank on the right hand corner with fencing.

Re: Comments

Thanks for the kind words all.

Yeah, that needs to happen.  I had parts from another kit sitting back there for a long time for a corrugated addition, then ended up assigning them to a cement plant kitbash.  I picked up some corrugated styrene to scratchbuild one custom fit to the structure.  I like the idea of adding the extra piping and such, as that would reinforce the re-purposed old structure idea.  Now that you mentioned those details, I think I'll move the addition to the side wall to give that long expanse more character and make everything more visible from the aisle.

As Always...

Very nice modeling Rob!

-George

Something More Concrete

The next structures to receive attention belong to the Blodgett Corporation.

This industry is a mildly kitbashed Walthers "Hardwood Furniture Company."  I hope the paint and weathering differentiate it somewhat from the familiar original.  The Blair Line "Western Auto" sign on the roof should help too.

I used Testors Model Master "Camouflage Gray" for the walls.  A first coat of weathering was done with pastel chalk, followed by some flat finish, and then some dry-brushing with acrylics.  I like Tree House Studio acrylic flat finish in a spray can, as it dries with almost no sheen.

This angle shows the rest of the complex.  On the right hand portion I modified the entry by recessing the door and stairs into the structure.  That seemed more appropriate as a back entrance which this is intended to be.

The (sorta) prototype

Last week I attended a minor league game at Ogden's Lindquist Field, which sits atop the yard and depot location of the old Bamberger interurban.  The view from the stands above third base approximates how the finished backdrop should look.

Much of the inspiration for the fictitious Junction City is right here.  The backdrop for the branch is to be a panorama roughly matching this view.

Buildings, buildings and MORE buildings!

Wow! You've been busy. They look awesome. That city scene looks spectacular now, the problem is is that I don't think there's a word that could explain it when there's scenery as well!

If you're modeling it prototypically, where's the baseball field going to go?!

Play Ball!

The only direct copy of the prototype Ogden is the backdrop.  The ballpark post-dates my era by 20+ years anyway, so even if I was modeling the real location it would be some nondescript scungy buildings at the time.  If you feel the need for more, I suppose you could hang out in the aisle with a hot dog and a beer, and the game on the radio.

Doing something with long walls.

I repurposed the Cornerstone American Millwork (no longer offered) into a Resturant.  I added the oversized vents for the kitchen area and tacked on a Kibri warehouse.  The interior will be partially detailed behind the windows in the front half of the structure (I put in an interior divider wall).