In the Northeast

[Herc Driver]

Really great building designs and construction. I like the small details (like the electrical service lines running on the outside of the buildings), for me that really makes a building look much more realistic. Great job on the track work too.

(Sun Rise contains Flux...that's a good one )

[Gary S]

Reinhard, it just dawned on me...

Your building interior needs electrical conduits and boxes on some of the columns and also fire extinguishers. Maybe stacks of cardboard boxes on pallets? How about a scratchbuilt palletizer or shrink wrapper machine? Also some oil stains and fork lift tire tracks on the floor?

[faraway]

Reinhard, it just dawned on me...

Your building interior needs electrical conduits and boxes on some of the columns and also fire extinguishers. Maybe stacks of cardboard boxes on pallets? How about a scratchbuilt palletizer or shrink wrapper machine? Also some oil stains and fork lift tire tracks on the floor?

Gary, I fully agree but I will leave that for the next open building. This was a very first try in the sense of a proof of concept and it went very well (the concept). This building is not worth the effort of super detailing it because I did overlook two mayor design flaws that can not be reasonable corrected afterwards.
1- The walls are only a sheet of styrene (1mm / 1/25") and much to thin. They are not realistic at all. All other buildings I made have a double layer of styrene at the loading docks to imitate a real wall. An open building needs "thick" walls by design not just fake at the openings.
2- The roof should be a liftoff section permitting all the details to be added after the superstructure has been treated with the spray can

Update: I have just started with the new building designed as an open building. That will take much more planning, material and time to look right.

[Trucklover]

Your doing a beautiful job with your layout! I really like your idea of making the wrapped machinery loads, and the price was the best part! Great work

[faraway]

Just to have the final building in this thread

[faraway]

I did a little bit of nothing. The taxi corp. next to the Blue Whale has been torn down and the left space has been rough planed and fenced. It is used as a truck parking lot due to the mostly intact concrete surface. In other words there is some kind of handmade "nothing"

[RobL]

That last picture is simply amazing... if I did not see the fascia, I would have thought that was a picture of the real thing... I can drive to older parts of the city near me (Buffalo, NY) and see industrial looking, fenced in areas like that... no doubt you have caught the essence of the Northeast!

One question, the concrete work looks fantastic... what method(s) do you use to create your roads / parking lots? It is one thing I have always struggled to make look anywhere near real.

--Rob.

[faraway]

Rob, I am using Faller Roadway Paint in dark gray http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/272-180506 and light gray "Beton"/Concrete http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/272-180507. Looks like Walthers has them not on stock but that might be a starting point in the USA to find a source. Next are simple lines with a pencil to create blocks of concrete and than a layer of dirt made of black, brown and white colored powder. Finally I use a little bit wet brush an d make the colors more smooth.
The concrete on the parking lot and in front of the open building has been used with/under other buildings before. They ruined the surface when they have been removed. I filled that holes and trenches with sand and added some glue and a bit of green.

[Ralph]

Excellent effect Reinhard! Thanks for sharing your techniques!
Ralph

[nachoman]

I also like the concrete - It looks like many old parking lots and industrial areas around here. Does it look as good in person as it does in the photos?

[Puddlejumper]

The work displayed in this thread is truly amazing. Reinhard, you are a top notch craftsman.

[P5se Camelback]

Gotta love it, Reinhard! Really nice model werk!

One must pay attention, though, as structures are torn down and replaced on what seems like a regular basis! If you don't check in on the work being done here very often, the neighborhood changes and when you come back and look around, you don't know where you are! Everything will have changed!! hock:

Amazing!

[faraway]

I have not been so happy with this huge brick building. It is higher than the grain silos. That ruins the impression of a huge Gern facility.


As I am shifting the layout into the present tense a more moderate none brick building became necessary. That is what I did last Sunday and today. The silos are in background visible as "huge" structures. I am also playing with a more suitable background. The set of wonderful background buildings are mostly brick. The background behind the new building is one of the few modern I replicated on a copy machine. The original is on the right hand side visible.

[Trucklover]

The addition of that new modern building replacing that massive old brick one is a great addition! I like it much better, and it does draw more attention to the Gern Plant, which should be one of the main focal points of the layout considering the large amount of space it takes up. Good thinking, and great modeling Reinhard!

[faraway]

... One must pay attention, though, as structures are torn down and replaced on what seems like a regular basis! If you don't check in on the work being done here very often, the neighborhood changes and when you come back and look around, you don't know where you are! Everything will have changed!! hock: ...

I am afraid you are so terrible right