Black River & Western

[Steveruger45]

I like the variation in light color on your model.  Since the variation in color appears to be between different types of modeled light fixtures, I think it works fine.

DFF

Me too.  I think the different light whites adds to the character and realism.  Inspirational work.  I’m bookmarking this thread for my own reference.

[CRL]

Thanks, everyone! Nice to know I haven't lost my touch (entirely), despite age and illness. It was telling (and a little sad) a project that, at one time, I could have knocked out in 1-2 evenings took a full week...

Knocking it out in 1-2 evenings = WORK

Taking a full week = Enjoyable Hobby

It’s a good thing to take your time & enjoy the process.

[DKS]

Hey, this modeling stuff is addictive! I've already moved on to my next target: the BR&W Office in Ringoes. To be strictly accurate, this is the former office; the building is now the headquarters of KB Logistics, a trucking firm. I'll be modeling it as it was when it was still the office.







These photos are not mine. They will be replaced when I make my next trip to the BR&W.



My starting point was JL Innovative Design #260, East Junction Section House, a laser-cut wood kit with Grandt Line window and door castings. Granted, there were numerous discrepancies to deal with: the model siding is clapboard, versus the fiber cement siding of the real building; the model's windows and doors are not even close; the roof of the lower portion is different; it's somewhat smaller (not a bad thing), etcetera. However, given its location, this constitutes a background building that'll be barely visible, so just having the basic size and shape is a good beginning. Plus, the kit is flexible enough to allow me to rearrange some of the walls; I'll also make a new roof and add a few details that will bring it closer to the mark than if I'd just done a straight build of the kit.



Despite being something of a background building, I felt compelled to at least try to correct some of the bigger issues. First, I replaced the wall with the speeder doors with a scrap of laser-cut kit wall that happened to have the right size window opening and the same siding. And, as it happens, it's just as well, since the kit window opening was too large for the supplied window. The other major change was to use one of the add-on parts (which I didn't need) to fill in the door opening on the large long wall. I also enlarged the lower window on the large end wall to become a door, and trimmed the peak off of the other end wall. The rest was a matter of rearranging the parts.



In the image above, the third part from the right is the one I replaced; the original part is below it. You can also see the window that replaced the door opening on the fourth part from the left; the seams will be hidden behind some sort of trim parts roughly approximating the odd arrangement on the 1:1 building.



After assembling the two main structure shells, I fabricated a foundation from four pieces of 0.060" thick sheet styrene, assembled in a step such that the smaller part of the building sits lower, as is the case with the real building.



Once the foundation was done, I was able to connect the two building shells together.



Everything was assembled with brush-on Krazy Glue, and completed this afternoon. In reviewing the project so far, I'm thinking of filling in the window over the door on the high end and putting a small vent there, so it'll be more in keeping with reality, and also so there's room for a light over the door.

More to come. Thanks for following along.

[DKS]

I finished the office today--not a stretch, given it's a tiny background building. Today I modified the window opening over the main door (below left). I also installed roof supports for the lower roof (below right).

   

I also installed 0.040" x 0.060" styrene indexing strips on the base to hold the building in position, but allow it to be removable.



Then I fabricated the roofs from Evergreen board and batten sheet styrene, with 0.015" x 0.020" strip styrene ridge seams. I also added a patch to the end roof part, as seen on the real building (below, far right).



Painting was quick and painless. For the building, I started with Krylon Primer Grey, followed by Valspar Flat Silver Fox. The roof of the real building is surprisingly brilliant, so I went with Krylon Chrome. And the foundation received Testors Light Aircraft Grey.



The windows and doors were all painted Rust-Oleum Dark Grey Primer (with a few rare exceptions, pure black paint looks unnaturally dark on models). I elected not to cover the seams on the side of the building with trim or anything; there will be some odds and ends littering the ground around the building that should disguise them.



The chimney was one of the few details to add, and since it would be almost impossible to see under normal viewing conditions (the back of a building located almost two feet from the edge of the layout), I made it from plain styrene, rather than worry about simulating brick. I started with 0.125" square styrene tubing, stacked on squares of 0.020" thick sheet styrene to simulate the offset brick pattern at the top, then finished it off with a tiny bit of 3/16" thin-wall brass tubing for the flue liner. I sprayed it with a mix of Rust-Oleum Grey Primer and Krylon Camo Desert Sand, then brushed Floquil Refer Orange on the outside of the flue liner, and Floquil Engine Black on the inside. (Yes, this sounds obsessive for a tiny detail that may not even be visible, but it made me feel good doing it.)



Other details include: a concrete step at the main door, which is a chunk of 0.040" x 0.060" strip styrene painted Testors Light Aircraft Grey; a pair of air conditioners in two of the windows, which were made from bits of 0.125" x 0.125" strip styrene painted Krylon Camo Desert Sand, masked for the vents, re-sprayed grey, and rusted; and a light over the door, an 0402 SMD LED painted gloss white. Eventually I'll add the electric service line in, and maybe even a sign.

One last item was the vent over the door. At the last minute I decided instead to make it a window, cut down from one of the two windows left over from the kit. Oh, and the other leftover window was cut down and installed in the main door to change it from a one-light to a six-light door, which was more in keeping with real life.

The roof was too brilliant for my taste, so I hit it with a heavy India ink wash. I was going to apply an ink wash to the whole building, but thought better of it after seeing how dark it would get when I tested it on a hidden spot, so I just applied a couple of small blotches of it where the real building had some patchwork paint thing going on, then used powdered pigment and very lightly applied some "splash" dirt along the bottom edges of the siding. And I dirtied up the foundation with more powdered pigment.







One other touch I made was to dust on a very light amount of meduim grey powerdered pigment onto the doors and windows to bring out their detail. The very last thing to do was install window glazing, using the acetate supplied in the kit. I secured the glazing with tiny amounts of CA applied with a knife tip along the edges from the inside.

Even having only one light on the building—over the door—still meant making an electrical connector so the building can be removed if needed. Given such a small building, I used a different approach than I normally do: brass fingers (pieces of etched brass fret) mounted to the foundation with a PC board press against two squares of PC board glued to opposite walls. It's a simpler approach that also helps hold the building in place.





That's it for today. And now I simply must get back to work on my house... I've been having entirely too much fun!

[davefoxx]

That's it for today. And now I simply must get back to work on my house... I've been having entirely too much fun!

Too bad that working on your house isn't 160 times the fun of the N scale structures.  Amirite?

Seriously, looking good.  I'm enjoying watching you work.  Keep the posts coming!

DFF

[CRL]

I can hardly wait to see DKS apply an ink wash and some weathering chalks to his house to make the details pop when it’s finished.

[DKS]

Too bad that working on your house isn't 160 times the fun of the N scale structures.  Amirite?

You're right. Working on the house isn't 160 times the fun. Worse, it's more than 160 times the cost...

[DKS]

The BR&W has had some minor revisions. As I continue to research the railroad, I've come to realize I'm best served by narrowing the temporal setting. Originally it was very "rubbery": 1960s-1990s. I've reduced that to 1975-1980-ish. Conrail was busy feeding the BR&W up to 750 freight cars per year; the big industries along the line—namely Ralston-Purina Mills and Delaware Valley Farmers Co-Op—were still alive and busy. Marvic Supply in Flemington almost certainly wasn't around then, but that's not far from where the Co-Op would have been.

There was a lumber yard and coal dock in Flemington as well, and while they probably weren't served by rail anymore, they provided visual interest. And the station in Flemington was in a coach parked near Flemington Cut Glass, as well as the old PRR passenger station—just a couple of blocks from the CRR South Branch passenger station. Meanwhile, Lambertville Station Inn (an eyesore, IMHO) wasn't built yet, Niece Lumber was still receiving lumber by rail, and the BR&W interchanged with Conrail there. Also, the line north of town was used as storage for excess BR&W passenger cars, and rail service to a quarry a couple of miles up the line was being considered, which meant the track was still intact.

That's just scratching the surface—I've made dozens of other more subtle tweaks. I've lost a few things I really liked, such as the crisscrossing sidings, the narrow gauge railroad near Three Bridges, and several (modern) industries, but I've gained other interesting things, as well as more historical accuracy. Plus, there's some new "negative space" so the layout looks a little less crowded.

Here's the current track plan:



There will likely be more changes to come. And I'm stuck with a quandary, having just finished a model of the steel shops in Ringoes, only to realize it was built in the early 1980s, just outside of my new timeframe. I may need to twist history just a bit to keep it... we'll see...

[Point353]

The BR&W has had some minor revisions. As I continue to research the railroad, I've come to realize I'm best served by narrowing the temporal setting. Originally it was very "rubbery": 1960s-1990s. I've reduced that to 1975-1980-ish.

And I'm stuck with a quandary, having just finished a model of the steel shops in Ringoes, only to realize it was built in the early 1980s, just outside of my new timeframe. I may need to twist history just a bit to keep it... we'll see...

Other modelers have tweaked the time period their layout represents to accommodate the operation of a favorite prototype loco or piece of rolling stock, so what's to stop you from doing the same for a particular structure or other scenic element? 

[CRL]

It’s easy... in your world, the bank load to build the facility came through much earlier than expected.