FORD Auto Module

[Trucklover]

Hi Guys,

so i have been staring at my Walthers Cornerstone Series FORD Auto Plant structures for the past 2 days. I had 2 Stamping Plants, 2 Assembly Plants, and 1 Distribution Facility. I still need to get one more Distribution Facility. Anyways, i was sick of just looking at them sitting in the boxes in kit form, so i cracked them open, here is what i have come up with so far in the past 3 days. Ive spent most of the last 3 days building these 2 MASSIVE buildings

I combined both my Stamping Plants to make a longer structure. I added in 4 Shipping and Receiving dock doors for rail cars, and 2 shipping dock doors for trucks. The Assembly Plant was a bit of a challenge, and i had to arrange the doors in a way that would work for me. I combined both kits, one kit along builds a HUGE building measuring 23-1/8" long x 11-13/16" wide, i doubled the length and kept the width. On the second part of the building, i made the wall go in to half of the 11-13/16" to allow room for the depression of the sunken truck docks for Shipping and Receiving. This way, i can have a full 53' trailer sitting at a dock, and still have plenty of room to pull a trailer out of a dock next to it, make the turn and travel down the side of the building, without having the truck go off the module lol.

The Distribution Facilities will be located in 2 different parts of the modules. One will be in front of the blank wall on the right side of the Assembly Plant, and the other will be behind the Stamping Plant, both will load Auto Rack Train Cars and trucks.

on the very right side of the module, where the "office" part of the Assembly Plant is, there will be a small parking lot. Here are some pics of the start showing the placement of the 2 buildings. THIS IS BY FAR THE LARGEST BUILDING I HAVE EVER BUILT lol




Showing the overall of the module. its 7' long x 2' wide




Overall view of the Stamping Plant








Close-up of the Shipping and Receiving Docks on the Assembly Plant for trucks. The docks are at ground level, and i will have to carve a depression for trailers to be at the right height for the docks




Assembly Plant has Rail Access too




Wayne Assembly Plant




Random FORD Sign lol




The side of the "office part" of the Assembly Plant




And here is what the front of the "office" looks like, i couldnt get the camera over there for a shot cuz it was on a tri-pod lol


Whatcha Guys Think? There are some areas on the Assembly Plant that need some touch up painting too....

More pics and progress to come soon

[Ralph]

Those are fine looking structures just begging for lots of rail traffic. I like it that such large buildings will also have the small details like the stairway and handrails leading to the small door. Windows galore too!
Ralph

[Sarge]

Excellent work as always Josh

[Trucklover]

Those are fine looking structures just begging for lots of rail traffic. I like it that such large buildings will also have the small details like the stairway and handrails leading to the small door. Windows galore too!
Ralph

Thanks Ralph and Jim

Ralph this will certainly have some rail traffic, 2 spots for loading autoracks, 4 loading ramps total lol. plus there will be the track that goes into the Assembly Plant and the tracks for the Stamping Plant

Ill be adding alot more details to both buildings too

[Trucklover]

Bit more progress today.

I started on the Chain-link Fences and the main gates to enter and exit the plant. I also built the 2 Auto Loading Ramps that i had. Here are a few pics:












Im using the Walthers Chain-Link Fences from the kits they came with. I got a ton from the Loading Ramps Kit and more from a Guard Shack. I begin by drilling wholes into the upper and lower "sleeves" on the posts. I got the idea from an article in last months MR. It makes the fence stronger, but it is tedious and gets rather boring drilling TONS of holes lol. I did about 40 posts i think so far. I figure ill use these first and then if i need more ill do some more.

Im using the wire thats provided in the kits, the closet bit i had that would fit the wire was a #69 drill bit, so thats what im using, its a bit larger then the wire, but it still works great. I then put the posts in place in the foam, and thread the wire through the holes i drilled. Next i put a small drop of white glue on either side of the post where the wire goes through it. This is where im at right now. The wires you see sticking out on either end of each section of chain-link fence will be clipped off after the sections dry. When this is done, it will be easier to see what im modeling with the fences and gates lol. Right now it looks a little confusing lol Next ill be cutting the "mesh" into strips and painting it, then attaching it to the rods and posts. Then ill take the whole thing and spray it "aluminum"

The gates i got from the Guard Shack Kit. They are brass sliding gates, and have motor housings for each gate. They still need to be painted, and im modeling them in the "open" position.

Where the loading racks are right now, there will be 3 tracks to load auto-racks. Behind the Stamping Plant will be another 3-4 tracks to load auto-racks..... Still need to get another kit to do that though lol

[Bigsteel]

great work josh,the stamping plant is fargin huge ,keep up the great work man --josh

[upnick]

Keep the pics coming Josh the ramps look cool cant wait to see it all in place

[Trucklover]

Thanks Josh and Nick

Moving right along here, i finally got a good way to assemble and mount the chain-link fence material, so here are some pics of the fences, gates, and the first part of the parking lot for the "office", entrance through the guard gate and into the assembly plant and stamping plant docks, and the auto-loading ramps












As you can see, the gate for the "office" parking lot can open and close, but the gates for the entrance to the assembly plant and stamping plant docks cannot, they will always be in the open position. I can however raise and lower both sides of the small guard shack with the stop signs on them.... Next ill apply a smooth coat to the roads/parking lots to finish them off and paint them....

Off to the left in the first picture, you can see the beginnings of the Air Filter building that i am going to be adding onto the Assembly Plant

[Herc Driver]

The truck industry should hire you for marketing. Great module! That Ford plant looks great. (Not that you should)...but you could cut the stamping plant in half and double the building length along a back wall as a backdrop model. That thing is huge! Great looking scenes.

[eightyeightfan1]

Looks great so far. Can't wait to see the finished project.

[Ralph]

Nice chain link fence. Seems like a lot of folks are posting about those lately!
Ralph

[Trucklover]

The truck industry should hire you for marketing. Great module! That Ford plant looks great. (Not that you should)...but you could cut the stamping plant in half and double the building length along a back wall as a backdrop model. That thing is huge! Great looking scenes.

Thanks Herc

Actually i was thinking of doing similar, only buying another Assembly Plant and adding onto it where you had said. I could continue it on down behind the stamping plant, and a little further down add another rail door, so there would be 2 rail car entrances to the plant. Im still un-decided on this, and alot depends on how much i can get another Assembly Plant kit for lol

If i do this, this building will be about 6' long but one heck of a building

[Trucklover]

Ed and Ralph, thank you guys

I finished the Air Filter and Duct Work building for the Assembly Plant. Working with Resin pieces can be somewhat of a challenge, especially when the pieces dont quite line up right, maybe thats why Walthers never has re-released this kit. all in all its a nice detail, and if i could get my hands on another, i would buy it in a heartbeat. I payed $30 for this one alone lol

I also added chain-link fence around the Air Filter Building, and made a little space where i can add in some pallets, drums..... things like that. I added a working swinging gate in. I also added rails in for the Auto-Loading Ramps. They are now able to move back and forth, and either one of them will be able to service the middle of the 3 tracks these ramps will be loading auto-racks on

Thats about it for now, ill post some more when i get some more work done, but for now, here are some pics of what i just described above....

[Trucklover]

Tonight i cut the loading docks out and lowered them so when trailers back up to the docks of the building, there at the right height. I just cut 2 squares out of the foam, 6-5/8" wide x 9" long and then lowered the back edge down the appropriate distance, keeping the front at "street level" while the back sunk down and created sorta a ramp. I taped it in place with masking tape, then put glued a cardstock base down (thanks to a Honey Comb Cereal Box lol) which will be painted after its dry. After that, ill be installing small retaining walls on either side of both docks. I will later pave the area with WS Smooth-It which will tie the ramps and yard together, i will not be paving on the ramps themselfs, just around them. If i did, it would throw off the height of the docks and the trailers would no longer line up at the right height....

Here are a few pics

[Steve]

Josh..."THE KING OF PLASTIC KITS"TM
Everything looks great! I love the sheer size of it all and your eye just keeps getting better and better!
Keep dem pics coming!!!!