The "other" industrial layout...

[Ian MacMillan]

I really like this as well. The Middlesex kit would look MUCH better if you had removed the top row of bricks that make up the decorative border and then added the additional top floors.

[LIRR]

That's a very impressive building. I like the plywood bracing. I've used 3/4 plywood for large structures. Keep the photos coming

[DKS]

I really like this as well. The Middlesex kit would look MUCH better if you had removed the top row of bricks that make up the decorative border and then added the additional top floors.

This is very hard to do because of the heights of the rows of bricks above and below the windows. If you wanted to omit the decorative brick, you'd have to use just the two middle rows of windows and leave off the top and bottom floors. Complicating this is the need to make perfect joints, and that's a tall order as I found. It also means using a lot more kits to build up the full height.

I left the decorative rows intact, and used just the top two floors to place the decorative rows at every other floor (which again required a lot of kits). I then added a cap on the top row to make it look more finished.



There are many buildings that have this kind of brickwork.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That Atlas kit has such incredible potential, but there are so many details in it that stymie you when trying to use it as kitbash fodder.

[DKS]

That Atlas kit has such incredible potential, but there are so many details in it that stymie you when trying to use it as kitbash fodder.

+1

It is a surprisingly and somewhat disappointingly difficult kit to bash.

[peteski]

It is lots of fun following this back-to-back industrial layout construction. Both provide so many ideas for kitbashing the same ol' N scale kits into interesting looking structures. 

[wm3798]

You can slip a concrete cornice between the upper and lower sections to mask a transition.  Just use strip styrene and add the necessary ins and outs to follow the contours of the vertical features.

Lee

[Ian MacMillan]

I left the decorative rows intact, and used just the top two floors to place the decorative rows at every other floor (which again required a lot of kits). I then added a cap on the top row to make it look more finished.

I'm not saying that it isn't found on buildings, as one who loves Mill pOrn, to my eye it looked odd to go up 4 floors and then have that row and then up another 2. As you showed you used the cap row in other places on the wall, so it looks like it fits in my eye. Just leaving the original wall and adding the additional floors did not aestheticly work, unless you add more rows or removed it.

Ditto on the height above and below. I had looked at extending the height 3 floors when I first picked up a bunch of the kits as I wanted to represent Amoskeag Mill 4 which was 7 floors but did not have any decorative rows until the top.
Ed the kit is amazing and works so well in many areas.

[DKS]

Just leaving the original wall and adding the additional floors did not aestheticly work, unless you add more rows or removed it.

Ah. Got it.

I'd have liked to omit those rows, but as I found during an aborted attempt, it's not at all easy to join rows perfectly.

One thought I had was to paint the company name to disguise the joints, but it wouldn't have worked going around the corner onto the short sides.

[Chris333]

OK so I'm wondering if this is a bad idea or not?

I wanted some sort of green corrugated metal building on the layout and the other day I was out on my bike and found one. I was looking at the phone pics while at my layout and though about this.

Behind the American Hardware building (General Electric on my layout) I could squeeze in this funky shaped building that I mocked-up in pink foam:



Now before you think the shape is strange, look at the real building:



And the photos I took:





My building will be much smaller and the roof peak would be lower, but I could put the curved loading dock around the back and be able to spot one car there.

[DKS]

OK so I'm wondering if this is a bad idea or not?

Quite the opposite of a bad idea!

[Chris333]

OK so here is the next idea...

The pink foam building is only 4" wide. What if I made the building 6" wide and stepped it around the Walther's building. Like this (orange paper):





Now 2 cars fit nice here. I lose the alley, but now the roof hip can be taller and it would better match the real building. I can go measure the real thing as it is about 2 miles away.

Do I treat is as a separate business or part of the Walther's building business?

[Lemosteam]

Chris, the only issue I see is that if it is a separate loading warehouse from the GE then there needs to be access anda lot to get the materials out of the buliding.  If it were the loading dock for the GE building then it would make sense- the materials go directly into the GE via the shared wall.  Leave room for lots of gutterwork if you allow the roof to slope against the adjacent building or rainfall would end up going through the windows!     A one person width alley would be cool there too so a person can get into the back doors of the tan bulding.  Love the pics BTW and a good adaptation!

[DKS]

A one person width alley would be cool there too so a person can get into the back doors of the tan bulding.

This. Needs an alley between the buildings. Other than that, I say pull the trigger.

[timwatson]

I'm loving watching both of you guys work on these layouts. I'm also loving the unique aspects of the buildings. I think David has the lead there. It's like the square corners need not apply. I love Chris' track work (always have). So it's impossible to pick a favorite.

This is just a cool idea guys. Keep up the good work both of ya.