In Gary's thread the topic of open buildings at the front of the layout popped up. I have a very prominent spot in the foreground that "would be" well suited for an industrial building with loading docks etc. but the front side would be off the layout. I had once a building at that place with a black dummy wall. It was technically ok but very boring to lock at. It is the spot I had the tank car unloading facility located to avoid a building with a black wall. I did a new attempt with the recent idea of an "open building". The building has three loading docks spaced for 60' boxcars. On the right hand are two docks for trucks. One is cut in half at the layout boarder.
Here are two shots of the building under construction. Might be it is of interest.




The columns are made from Evergreen 250" x 250" styrene. I hoped to cut them easy and clean with my Chopper. That hope did not materialize. The chopper does not cut rectangular. But I am afraid manually sanding will result in even more different long columns. That is a topic for the more gifted craftsman...

ps. The roof is temporary. A flat piece of styrene will replace the wave on the roof.

I think this is an intriguing idea and could easily become a focal point for visitors. It'll be fun to create the interior with its details.
Ralph

Ya know...that's a very interesting idea. With the wide open doors where you could look through to see the tracks or off loading cars, that would tie things together really well. The idea opens up quite a number of possibilities.

I really like what you are doing with this building.

Another very cool looking cut through building I have seen (and which you may also have seen) is Mr Beasley's "Strumpet Brewery" on his Moose Bay layout over on the Model Railroader forums.

Looks like this (with an underground subway station below the building):


Smile,
Stein

Thanks for starting the thread, Reinhard. You're off to a great start on the building and the idea is definitely intriguing as mentioned.

When I look Reinhard's example, I think of a large passenger station opened up like that with all the activity of a big station showing....passengers, express freight, ticket counters, snack bars, etc

Work proceeds on the open building.

This shows where the building is located on the layout. Open or closed is invisible and not an issue.


This is about the view I have from my chair. It is the reason why I do not want to have a simple black wall at the layout boarder. The flash has been off intentionally as the details in the building are mostly in the shadow and not a prominent part in my view. However, I will have to spend much more effort to bring details into the building.

I am very satisfied with the visual effect. I would like to point out that the size of layout and location of the building can make a difference. Wayne has a building cut in half and closed with a dummy wall. I like that and see no reason to change it into an open building because his layout is much larger than mine and he is not sitting directly in front of that wall. The issue is the wall of a cut building directly in front of the most used location operating the layout.
I do also experience that the details are not so important. The eye is not disturbed by "just another bunch of small things" (the interior of the building) as long as it fits in shape and color into the overall impression of the layout. It is the massive plain colored wall that makes the difference. It does not fit into the visual landscape and irritates the eye.

This is a view of the camera only. I must lean far over the layout to see the track side of the building. It is documented just for completeness.

That is AWESOME work!! And I love the idea! Now if you could somehow make storage racks like most warehouses are typically lined wall to wall with! lol

This might be somewhat difficult, but you might be able to cut up a trailer and put it at that half loading dock. You could model the trailer as loaded and put pallets of goods inside of it and leave the front half unloaded. I guess the trailer could either be being loaded or unloaded, but it might be another detail that would really set the scene if you could do it. You have given me some ideas here, and I think i might try and do this with some of my structures for my La Mirada Project, I have quite a few structures that are on the modules edges that would be great candidates for super detailed interiors and scenes

That's very effective! I like it! Beautiful track work, by the way!
Ralph

I have started to redo the building after the first version fulfilled it's purpose as a proof of concept.
Two mayor design flaws have to be corrected
- The walls must not be a single sheet of 1/25" styrene but about the correct size of a wall. The walls are very visible at the backside and all loading docks.
- The roof must be a removable section permitting detailing until everything has been finished. It might be glued in place at the very end of the construction.

A first shot of the new walls made of two layers with a distance layer in between (1,5mm + 1,5 mm + 1mm = 4mm / 0.16°)

Reinhard ... a man after my own heart! If you can see it, it ought to be right! And ... never leave well enough alone ... if you can make it better, do it! (My Grandfather, the machinist instilled that in me, and is probably the reason I'm so obsessive-compulsive about making sure things are "right.")

I love what you are doing ... making a "big" layout in a small space! It took me a while before I figured out the size of the layout ... I think there was a photo in the "show me your workbench" thread, or whatever it was called, I can't remember. But I saw the drawers and the door and the track across the top of the desk and heading out towards the door and put it all together. But we've never seen the side opposite the new double-track overpass! I wonder ...

Nice work, Reinhard ... I'm lovin' it!

P5se Camelback Wrote:... I wonder ... ...

Here is the entire room. The max length is 4 meters / 4.3'. The scenic side is about 60cm / 2' deep.
A four track staging yard is hidden behind the two workplaces. The pictures are some years old and some details (e.g. floor, door) have changed but the room size and basic layout woodwork is unchanged.

The open building looks great, could tell me a little about the silos on the Gern plant. What are they maid from?, measurements? that type of thing. Thanks.

WOW!

The progress since those photos were taken is astounding!

Wow!

Unbelievable!