STEP BY STEP

1

I drafted my building on paper, before moving onto card. I used the window and doors as a template, and made the holes for the windows/ doors slightly smaller so the lip around the frames could sit against the rear of the opening.

2

If you are making a building that rolling stock will go into, don’t forget to allow for the height of the track as well as the stock. You don’t want the tops of your box vans getting scraped!

3

Once happy with the draft, I moved onto the main build. For this I used card. When cutting, make sure you have plenty of fresh blades. Several light cuts will penetrate the card and are less likely to damage the tip of your blade.

4

It’s a good idea to do a ‘dry’ build at numerous stages, holding things together with masking tape. This means you can see how the building looks in situ. Any issues are easier to rectify now than further down the line.

5

Add internal support pieces to give the structure more reinforcement. For this build it was easy, as I used the template of the end walls. These slotted nicely into the middle section of the warehouse.

6

For the interior, where the box van will sit, I added a roof space and doors, so if you were to peer inside it would not look like a huge empty space.

7

To further add to the internal realism, I added some offcuts I had lying about of stickybacked brickwork. There are many links online for free downloadable brick paper that you can print at home for this task.

8

Having two children means I have plenty of Lego lying about the house, it’s perfect for getting those 90º angles while glueing walls together, for which I used Deluxe Materials’ Roket Card Glue.

9

The roof was also cut from card. For the pitch of the roof, I gave a couple of light scores so that the card bent in the middle. I also made up the industrial warehouse doors at this point to make sure they fitted correctly.

10

I used Redutex embossed plastic to cover my warehouse and it took two sheets, which I added after the walls had dried. It’s self-adhesive, so no glue is required. It’s also easy to cut with a good modelling knife.

11

Prior to adding the windows and doors, I painted them with a coat of Vallejo Air acrylic paint. It’s the perfect consistency project as I wanted aged paintwork. Any gaps in the paintwork were weathered with a black pencil.

12

Now the windows and doors could be added to the front and rear, which brought the building to life. I gave the clear plastic sheeting, used for the glazing, a light spray of grey with an airbrush to give it a grubby look.

13

These pre-weathered roof tiles from Scale Model Scenery are simple to use. They come in strips on an A4 sheet, which you trim and glue into place. No painting or weathering is required, and it’s an excellent, fuss-free product.

14

For the rear loading bay, I used an offcut of timber. For the surface, I used DAS clay. Prior to adding the clay to the timber, I added PVA glue to help the bonding process. Leave this to dry for at least 24 hours.

15

Once the clay has thoroughly hardened, it’s time to add the detailing. I decided I wanted flagstones, rather than a flat surface. Firstly, mark out where you want the slabs prior to using the scribing tool.

16

Once scribed and dusted of debris, I sprayed the whole block with grey primer before weathering. I just brushed a few drops of bronze and leather brown paint colours into the gaps, followed by black chalk in places.

17

I added more Redutex embossed plastic sheet to the steps on the side of the building and to the loading bay, prior to fixing them to the warehouse.

18

For the loading bay roof, I used a corrugated card, which I glued onto mounting card for extra support. To give it a rusty metal look, I used a combination of thinned paint, starting out with a gunmetal grey before building up with shades of brown and bronze. This was then covered in a black wash and finally I went over and picked out some of the rusty areas with the bronze tones, using a dry-brushing technique (removing most of the paint onto tissue beforehand).

19

For the canopy supports, I used spent matchsticks and painted it in a similar way to the corrugated roof. This was all then glued into place onto the loading bay itself.

20

I added guttering

and downpipes onto the warehouse by using a friend’s glueing method, which is card glue on one surface and cyanoacrylate on the other. The two bond together quickly and it means you don’t have to sit holding the guttering in place for ages while it dries. It is also best to paint the guttering system once in place, using a thinned-down paint, a fine brush and good lighting.