Freelance 2012

[sailormatlac]

Those humble buildings are so simple, but your attention to realistic details do makes the difference. My actual ISL (in the 2012 challenge) targets the mid-50's feeling, however, industries around it were also plain shoe boxes made of bricks, with almost no windows and many loading bay.

I think the problem with older era is that often we try to model what was in fact exceptionnal for the time instead of what was casual. When I look at old pictures from the early 20th century, I often see a lot of plain brick buildings with flat roofs stripped from anything related to "architecture" and multiple-doors wood sheds. Our vision of the past is somewhat warped and nostalgic. Also, we often lost sight that after WW2, a lot of simpler design buildings started to pop up everywhere. My prototype was built in and after the war, so there's no place for any kind of old time nostalgy. When modeling modern era, we don't have this bias... For this reason, I think working with Insurance Maps helps a lot because the data was gathered without cultural bias. It's plain reality: here's a tank, here's a asbestos-clad warehouse, here's a lumber pile.

Your layout and SSW's layout triggered me ealier this month to apply these concepts to transition era. I have no clue how it will turn, but one thing is sure, scratchbuilding these nameless warehouses is gonna be a lot of fun... I enjoyed bashing my Massey-Harris dealer and will probably go this way on the new layout.




BTW, I like your General Mills plant. Proportions are good compared with the cars and the perspective of progressively higher structure gives an impression of a much larger industry. And the canyon hide very well your sidings meeting the wall.

Your layout seems to be built at a very low level. What's the height?

Matt