A weekend set-up with the modules.

Over the previous weekend I hauled my modules up to Boone NC to set up the modules with most of the guys I build modules with. I took photos of 4 locations on the layout for use in a image stacking program and here are the results.

Here is a scene from a module called "Syracusa", Joe Balint is the owner and designer.The structures are assembled by Joe but painted and finished by others. It's a skills trading arraingment some members of this module group have. For example Joe loves to build track, and he is the best I've ever known, but he doesn't care much for finishing structures. So in return for hand-laying the track on my Waterfront module, I finished the three structures seen here facing the camera (the Palms Hotel, Woolworths, and Hinzman Furniture).

This is some of Ken Anderson's fine work. The view is looking down the mainline of three 4' modules. If I could just drop in a photo backdrop, this one would be worth framing. The long shape of the image is a result of my trimming out some out of focus areas. The image stacking program does a great job but I need to improve my photography to get maximum effect.
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Here is a good example of what can be done with some of the Silflor brand scenery products. The overgrown area between the tracks is a blend of Silflor Buffalo grass tuffts and Woodland Scenics ground foam. In the background, a view of the engine storage/RIP track with a couple of cars getting air hoses replaced and a pair of MILW engines running off miles.

I added some tall grasses (Silflor again) around the power poles and along the driveway. Then I added a bunch of goldenrod at the end of the near storage track.

The concrete mixing plant - part 2

I finished off the mixing plant office with an air conditioner on the roof and some rust streaks on the sides.

 

The whole building will eventually get a coat of dust for final weathering.

The cement storage silo was supposed to stand beside the mixing building (per instructions) but I don't have room for it there and I didn't like it either. So I chopped down the support bracing and added some H column for bases, to mount on the roof of the mixing building. While I was at it I added a safety cage ladder.

I had to start weathering this portion of the roof because the cement silo will sit somewhere up here.

While I was adding rust streaks I put some on the base too, creating the drip lines that would result on the concrete base.
In case you are wondering about what paint I use on these models, I just use the rattle can spray from the hardware store. I chose a medium green Rustolium for the structure but I like using Testors brand light aircraft gray for the concrete base.

The concrete mixing plant - part 1

I decided to start posting the creation of this industry even though I'm most of the way through the project.
I started with a Walthers Blue Star Ready Mix kit with a fair amount of modification planned. The kit is odd in that it doesn't really have a railroad interface. The aggregate (sand and gravel) comes in by truck as can the cement and if you wanted the cement to come in by rail, the kit doesn't have the parts to model how to unload it.

 So I'm changing all that. 

I assembled the office per the instructions despite my best efforts to have it face opposite the kit instructions. The problem is that the doors on the ends are not spaced the same from the nearest wall (front or back). As a result the walkways that go to the doors won't fit if I turn the building arround. The wall you see in the above image (the wall with the most windows) faces the mixing building at a scale distance of about 10 feet. (ugh!) I wanted this wall facing out so plant management could see the operation.

So there it is with an office interior wall and a pair of employees added.

The lower portion of the mixing building, installed on the base.

The entire mixing building. The cement trucks would drive through the building, and stop inside to be loaded.

The office entrance after weathering.

The other stairways. I wish I had taken a photo before I began the weathering but the large piece is only partly weathered so you can see how bright the yellow paint was.