Building the Beer Line in N Scale

[Philip H]

I'm sure it will . . . 

You are, after all, building The Beer Line; I'm from Louisiana, where that's the national beverage; and I married a Norwegian/Scotswoman from Green Bay.  I think I'm up for it.

[ThirdCoastRail]

Impressive research, Dave.  I moved to Milwaukee in 1999 to study architecture at UWM, I lived for 7 years in a house a block and a half from the old Beer Line (Fratney St, between Concordia and Townsend).  If the line had still been active I could have done some nice railfanning practically from my backyard.  I'm still working out the plans for my Milwaukee-ish based 1980s/90s era modular N scale layout, but it will be more Milwaukee-inspired than prototypical, but I'll enjoy watching your progress.

You didn't by chance come across any aerial photos of Pabst Brewery in your late nights sifting through the archives, did you?  Say, 1970s/80s era?  It seems Schlitz seems to get all the love when it comes to doing Milwaukee layouts, but I've always had a fondness for the PBR, perhaps because Schlitz was gone before I arrived, or that I never really drink Schlitz...

[Dave Schneider]

Thanks TCR. Glad that you like it.  Here are a couple of links to vertical aerial photos from 1970 that have the Pabst brewery. You might have to rotate them by 90 or 180 to get the proper perspective. I assume you know where it is. If not, let me know and I can crop it out for you.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll290/djs_ank_ak/BeerLineAirPhotos1970/8OWT10041_066.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll290/djs_ank_ak/BeerLineAirPhotos1970/8OWT10041_067.jpg

I think that Schlitz gets the love because of their rail ops, but as you may know, Pabst trans-loaded grain and beer adjacent to Schlitz.
Here is the shot of the Commerce St Yard where the beer was loaded. The Pabst grain elevator is just to the right in this photo and not pictured.



Best wishes, Dave

[mcjaco]

Impressive research, Dave.  I moved to Milwaukee in 1999 to study architecture at UWM,

We were there at the same time.  I was studying Cartography.....found out there was NO money in that and left shortly there after.

[Dave Schneider]

Time for the annual update to my Layout Engineering thread.   
Where has the time gone?

I have started working on the oddly named Pabst Shipping Center No. 30, located at the Commerce Street Yard. Pabst transloaded beer from the brewery located about a mile away. Here is a zoom of the photo posted above of the yard, showing the Pabst building.



My version of the same area.


I wanted to give the basswood sheets from Monster Modelworks a try, and opted to utilize their $5 laser cutting service. Just shipped them a PDF and a couple weeks later the cut brick sheet arrived.

Here is one of the walls, and a nice cut chipboard  sheet that they included to reinforce the wood sheet.


I laid out the windows for Tichey #2508 windows, and they fit perfectly.


Spent a bit of time testing various paint techniques, and I like this one so far. Acrylic craft paint, a thin wash, and some faint dry brushing of black (actually used a roughly torn sponge.


That's all for now. See you guys next year!

Best wishes, Dave

[MVW]

I'm digging the Monster Modelworks stuff, Dave. Are you using their 3/8" or 1/8" sheets? Either way, I'd highly recommend bracing 'em with 1/4" strips before painting. (I was too impatient, with wanting to see how the MM material looked with paint, and ended up with a nice, concave building front. Fortunately, I was able to straighten it out after the fact.)

I've also been planning to use MM's laser cutting service. You laid out the window and door openings to exact size?

It's always good to see what's brewing on the beer line!

Jim

[Dave Schneider]

Jim,

I am using the MM 1/32 basswood. It is a shade thicker, measuring .0365 (versus .03125). I just got this today, and am thinking about using Legos for the interior bracing. My son is now in college, and has about 3 cubic meters of them in his closet! I plan on mitering the corners, although I did order their 1/8 inch corners. I think that mitering will be easier. I also have lintels for the windows and doors. I did lay out the openings to the exact size and they were cut perfectly. I am really happy with their service. They also have .015 laser board brick sheets, and I have some coming to test. I am taking a look at their HO scale brick, as their N scale brick is true scale and possibly too small relative to my other buildings. We'll see. BTW, I installed the Tichy windows on the reverse side of the sheet so that the framing/trim isn't visible.

Best wishes, Dave

[MVW]

Thanks for the info, Dave. I've only built one structure with MM stuff, but I found the corners to be surprisingly easy to work with. They provided good results, and I'm a complete scratchbuilding newb. Their lintels are also a nice touch.

I'll be interested to see how your building takes shape.

Jim

[Dave Schneider]

Made a bit more progress with Pabst Shipping Center over the weekend. Painted the Master Modelworks basswood brick sheet with craft store acrylics to try to replicate the "Cream City Brick" that was used in Milwaukee. The lack of iron in the locally available brick clay led to a creamy beige color that easily adsorbed pollutants to  weather to a blackish color. I have tried to replicate that but the building looked wrong and muddy, probably due to the layout lighting. So I decided to go with a less weathered alternative. Seems like a common situation that prototypical weathering can look overdone on models. Here is the weathered brick.



Here is the side view. I used the MM lintels, which look decent enough in this view but are rather thick. At normal viewing distance and angle it seems to work though and I am not talented enough to be a super macro photographer....more of an oversized dime guy. I bungled a couple of the joints between the side sheets and the corner pieces, but I can probably disguise them well enough. Overall I am happy with the results.



The view on the railroad. Still a ways to go yet.



Best wishes, Dave

[tappertrainman]

I think your weathering is effective.  The building looks old, but not decrepit.  Perhaps a little stronger stain under the windows where dirt settles and then is washed down?  Nice job!

James

[Baronjutter]

That's some seriously awesome laser-scratching. I'm not sure my laser could cut bricks so nice but I'm tempted to try now.

[milw12]

Beautiful brick Dave! Very well done and realistic, looks like a good technique for something so common that can be difficult to pull off properly.

All this talk of Schlitz and Pabst is making me thirsty...

[Scottl]

+1

Dave, this is very nice work and the effect is very convincing. 

[Dave Schneider]

Thanks for all the nice words. At some point I want to be able to pull off the weathered Cream City brick look. It is really tricky and I may try the decal route.

Best wishes, Dave

[dnhouston]

Dave,
Your brick weathering looks very realistic.  I've been wanting to try the MM brick sheets so I am eagerly awaiting your final verdict.