Well everyone, I finally decided to give the pre-molded walls a try.
I welcome any feedback that anyone might have. I am a mere mortal compared to the scratch-building Gods here on the OGR Forum so go easy on me!
What you are seeing is a cumulation of 2-3 months of "rainy day" work. I haven't dedicated a lot of time to this, but the time has been spread out so easier to just make one big update for now.
First, I got some more pictures of the prototype (from last summer) which I used to get measurements. Based on my height/reach, I used the assumption that the distance from ground to bottom of the overhang (awning?) is 10'. This also made calculations easy.
The current condition of the station leaves much to be desired, I found a great thesis paper on the PRR mainline stations which has some backdated pictures as well as this picture on ebay. There is another great picture in Don Ball's Pennsylvania Railroad 1940s and 1950s book showing a P5 hauling empty hoppers westbound through the station. The book also has a picture showing a GG1 eastbound that shows the Slate Blue color that the station used to have where-ever there is white in the pictures above.
Back to the model... I wanted to use MDF to increase the structural intergrity of the building so that I could move it form place-to-place until I build a more permanent layout. I then used 1/4" by 1/16" hobby wood to square out the windows.
The window frames and door were painted the slate blue that I mentioned above. (Anyone recognize where I harvested the door from? Hint: it's plastic!).
For the window panes, I used Twitchy Train Group windows and cut them to size, the image below shows the before and after of the cut. The panes have been painted slate blue since the picture.
Enter the plastic molded walls: I used JTT Architectural Model Parts field stone. The size of the stone is a little smaller than the prototype, but I won't lose any sleep over it. I used a primer to paint them a tan color, then followed up with a wash of gray acrylic paint to weather them a bit.
(In lieu of a spray painting booth, the backyard works just fine! And no, I didn't spray the lawn that tan... it's hibernating Zoysia grass)
Finally, after cutting the sheets to size and gluing it to the face of the MDF, I was ready to glue the entire thing together today.
I have the roof cut out and the paint is drying, hoping to get that one next weekend.
The next thing to figure out is the station shelters: See prototype here.
Not sure how much time I will be dedicating to this as the weather gets nicer, hopefully it will be done by the end of the summer!
For now, I will leave you with two image of the first shelter I built. These were taken around Christmas when I finally got a Legacy PRR engine to compliment the style of the shelter. When the main station is done, this will serve as the inbound shelter until I can model the actual prototype of that (which at the rate I'm moving won't be done for another 2-3 years!) at which I will change the sign to a different mainline station.