I have a tiny area at the bitter end of my layout that has long been reserved for a very small engine house facility. It is really TOO tiny, so I put in a mirror, with the plan of building half of an engine house, the mirror to provide the other half:
The plan is to scratchbuild a freelance structure that captures the look-and-feel of these structures from the old CNJ Ashley yards:
The model will represent a utilitarian structure build in the 19th century as it would have looked in 1957 (the target date of my layout).
The first step is to build the two brick side walls. I started with my go-to scratchbuilding material: pink foam, and carved out the old rough brickwork:
Next, I painted it with burnt sienna hobby acrylic (which captures "old brick" very well), and then applied joint compound for the mortar:
Window muntons are always a challenge when scratchbuilding. For a victorian structure like this, these plastic vegetable baskets are just the ticket:
Painted the concrete footers with black acrylic under a light dusting of Rust-Oleum "Desert Bisque," and assembled the muntins over clear plastic windows. The timber mullions and millwork are balsa wood stained with alcohol mixed with black and brown ink. Finally, a climbing vine for accent:
Just a start, but I couldn't help running to the layout to get a rough idea of what the finished structure will look like:
Stay tuned...
