Structure Build: Walthers Commissary Building Part 7

Finally, Thanksgiving is here and I have two extra days off work. That means I have two extra nights of modeling time this weekend, so I'm trying to get as much out of it as I can. Most of these next few nights will probably be spent working on this kit so I can get it done and move onto finishing up the track work on the shelf layout.

So far I have all of the pieces painted and have begun the assembly process. Last night I glued all of the windows in place on the three walls and began prepping the doors for assembly. While progress has been much slower than I would have liked, I'm comfortable with where I'm at so far and its been a good learning experience. 

A look at all of the main pieces with the window frames and glass installed.

Getting the windows installed was pretty simple. All it took was a couple of drops of Testors plastic cement and a good eye to keep the pieces aligned properly. The black frames went in just fine and then the glass just mounted flush to the back of the frames. It came out looking pretty nice. I really like the look of the black.

A closer look at one of the ends with the window frame and glass installed.

The next thing I need to do is install the roll up loading dock doors. These come out of the box completely shut so there is no visibility into the structure without some modification. After seeing Southern8099's video of this kit on YouTube, I am using his method of cutting away some of the doors so you can see into the building. I'd like to build a floor to go on the inside then model the interior with as much detail as I can. 

Starting to work on cutting away some of the loading dock doors.

In the video his method was to just cut them out with an Xacto knife. That seemed simple enough so that's what I started doing. It takes a few passes with the blade to get through the thickness, but its not all that difficult. After rough cutting it with the knife, my plan is to sand it flat and repaint. I wish I would've thought to do this before painting them.

New Rolling Stock: Atlas TTX Bulkhead Flat Car

I made a trip to one of my two local hobby shops again earlier today just taking a look around for ideas for my office shelf layout. I didn't go in with anything particular in mind, but was happy to come away with a new flat car that I plan to use as part of the scene in front of the commissary building I'm working on.

I've been thinking about making the commissary into a facility for a furniture maker, so there would be a need for inbound freight like wood and paper products. The paper can be brought in with boxcars and the wood with bulkhead flat cars. I chose the TTX road name because it is one that can be seen all over, so it would not look out of place at a fictional facility somewhere in Michigan, which is what I'm going for with this layout.

Atlas Trainman TTX bulkhead flat car #804069

A look at the car fresh out of the box.

A look at the details on the ends of the car.

A look at some of the decals on the sides.

A look at the end and top deck of the flat car.

It is a great looking car and I think it will work perfectly for the office shelf layout. Now I just need to figure out what I am going to do for the wood load. I've seen some pre-made ones online, but they are pricey so I may try to go ahead and make my own. Not sure how to do that just yet, so we'll see what happens.

Structure Build: Walthers Commissary Building Part 6

I was lucky enough to find some extra time this weekend to get some work in on this project. I am not at the point where I have all of the major components painted and ready for assembly. The concrete colored paint I bought has been excellent so far and definitely gives the whole structure a more realistic look On a side note, I've decided that any weathering I try will be done once the structure is fully assembled. This will allow me to get started on the assembly as soon as I have some spare time for it, which is hopefully sooner than later.

Here is a look at all of the major pieces with the concrete color added. The accents on the brick walls look great and I'm really glad I decided to paint the foundation conrete as well. It just gives the whole thing that little extra bit of realism. 

Finished paint work on the major components.

One thing I did learn from this so far is to be careful how much paint you put on for the mortar lines in the brick. I found that if you let it get into the inside of the window frames it looks pretty bad when everything is dry. I ended up having to go back in an touch up a lot of the openings to retain the red brick color rather than the cloudy looking white.

My next step will be gluing in the windows then the clear glass pieces. After that it will be time to put the three walls together then assemble them with the base.

Structure Build: Walthers Commissary Building Part 5

I've slowly been making progress with the painting and hope to have all of it done soon so I can start the assembly process. In my last post I left off saying I needed to get some concrete colored paint and I did just that with a trip to one of the two local hobby shops. I ended up buying a 0.5 oz bottle of "concrete flat" from Model Master.

A look at a few pieces with the concrete color added.

So far I have painted the loading dock and stairs as well as the foundation and window sills for the two short ends of the building. I have to say it came out much nicer than I expected. Now I just need to finish the front face of the building and a couple other pieces. Again, progress is slow, but I'm getting there. Hopefully I can get all of the paint done in the next couple of weekends and get moving on the assembly. I'd like to have this building 100% complete by the end of the year.

Structure Build: Walthers Commissary Building Part 4

In my last post, I left off with completed mortar work on a couple of the red brick pieces. Well, now that work has been done for all of the remaining pieces and I have to say I really like the results. I wasn't sure about it at first, but the more I look at the finished pieces, the more I like the way they look. The only thing I would maybe change is getting some of the excess white paint out of the corners where it tended to build up. 

A look at all of the brick pieces with finished mortar work.

A close up look at the finished mortar work on one of the end pieces.

In addition to the brick pieces, I also got some painting done on the windows, doors, hand rails and dock bumpers. I picked up some more spray paint from Home Depot and got to work while the weather was nice this past weekend. I painted the windows and door frames with a flat black. Then I used a gloss yellow to paint the handrails and dock bumpers. This color did not come in flat, so I figured I could just hit it with some dull coat before I assembly everything. 

A look at the flat black windows and doors.

A look at the yellow painted hand rails and dock bumpers.

The next step will need to be getting myself a good concrete color paint to do the widow sills on the brick pieces as well as the staircase and loading dock. After that I need to paint the loading dock doors and cut out some openings in a few of them so you can see inside the building (I have some plans for this later on). Even though progress is slow, this has been a very enjoyable project. I can't wait to see it when I'm all done.