Nearby and noteworthy
I included two buildings on the layout that aren’t on the Bishop Street Branch. Of all the structures on the model railroad, the Portland Boxing Club is my favorite ❶. I love its multi-hued surface and complex textures. The iconic smokestack is visible wherever you are in that part of Portland.
Re-creating the landmark with commercial kits would be impossible. Dan waited for a day when the weather and sunlight was perfect and shot close to 50 images from all angles.
As with the other photo-laminate buildings, I built a styrene core first. Then I spent several days making the images usable with photo-editing software. After I printed the photos to size, I applied them to the core in multiple layers.
The smokestack was particularly tricky because it’s square on the bottom, tapered in the middle, and flared at the top. Fortunately, I had some tapered highway bridge piers leftover from a previous job. I used them as the basis for the stack, which took almost 20 hours to build. As a centerpiece of the project, it was time well spent.
On the east side of the main, a few hundred yards southeast of Deering Junction, is the NEPW Logistics Warehouse
❷. The challenge in modeling it was the sheer size. Ten Walthers Lakeville Modern Warehouse (No. 933-2917) kits comprised the final model!
When working with a large kitbash, it’s important to keep everything square and stable. I placed a 2 x 4-foot piece of high quality, smooth birch plywood on my Stanley Workmate table. Next, I laid wax paper over the wood to keep things from sticking to it. Then I clamped aluminum rules and angles on the edges to keep things straight ❸.
Another challenge I faced was that the Walthers model has a brick foundation, not concrete as found on the prototype. I filled in the brick pattern as best I could with modeling putty to minimize the brick detail. I used Gatorboard, a lightweight foam board product, for the roof.
I couldn’t find an exact match for the yellowish avocado color on the prototype building ❹. I was able to get a reasonably close match by first spray-painting the entire surface with Rust-Oleum Oregano. I followed that with some light puffs of Rust-Oleum Lemongrass and a very light additional puffing of Oregano.
The custom switch stands took time to build, and unfortunately aren’t very noticeable ❸. However, omitting them would make the turnouts look incomplete.
While walking the line I noticed marks painted on the web of the rail on the spur serving NEPW Logistics. They make it easier for the switch crews to accurately spot boxcars next to the dock doors. Though virtually unnoticeable on the layout, the marks were simple and fun to add ❹.
Many modern industrial parks use custom crossing signage. During my visit to Portland, I photographed the signs and scaled the images. Then I made my own decals, adhered them to thin styrene sheet, and glued the signs to posts and structures ❺.