Let me start this by saying that I like large buildings for my layout. When I visit a Hobby Store or a train show that is what I seek along with the detail parts that would go with such a building. With this thought in mind in September 2005, I spotted such an item in a local hobby shop where I viewed it, examined it, shook it, came home, and thought about it. I measured to see if it would fit where I visualized it on my layout. With that question answered, I just had to have it, could not live without it, and all the other reasons a model railroader uses to justify the means for purchases for his/her pike.
I returned to the hobby store within a week and purchased the Railway Express Agency kit. This is one of the latest Walther’s Kits. It has three stories and could be used for a manufacturing plant, warehouse or converted into an apartment building for the new yuppies that are moving into the neighborhood. I built it is as the REA Warehouse.
Bill of Materials and Tools
Testor’s 3502 Bottled Glue
Label paper for Shades
PolyScale Special Oxide Red F414354
Spray can of Rust-Oleum Camouflage Tan (aged Concrete Color)
Spray can of Rust-Oleum Metallic Silver
Spray can of Rust-Oleum Painters Touch Sandable Primer White
Spray can of Krylon flat black paint
Cardboard
Blue Masking Tape 3/4 inch
White Masking Tape 1/2 inch
12 Volt Light bulbs
Small wire
Faller Super Expert Glue
Decal Set
Right Clamps large and small
Hobby Knife with #11 blades
Hobby Nippers to remove the parts from the sprues
Bragdon Enterprises Weathering Materials
Wall Mounted Lamp pkg(3) Walthers Part # 933-1094
Blairline REA sign
Detail parts: Preiser people, barrels, skids, forklifts, two wheel carts, gas pumps, trash, etc.
Lots of coffee and patience (to build a large building like this and do it right takes time)
Parts Check
Parts check
Masked for painting
Window sills and Foundation masked for painting
After viewing the wadded up instructions, use the "BLUE" masking tape to begin preparing the sides for painting. You may wonder why I specified blue masking tape. It leaves no residue (for up to fourteen day’s removal time) and works very well. By painting a few details your building will gain character and make it stand out—such things as the concrete window frames, the concrete trim around the top of the building, steps, handrails painted yellow, red oxide for the walls and white for the window frames. I use a variety of paints, most of them straight out of the spray can. Spray cans are a lot easier to use than loading up the air brush and cleaning it every time it is used or you change colors. Most of the paints I use are Krylon or Rust-oleum Brands. On this building I used Rust-oleum Camouflage Tan (aged concrete color from can) White (Can), Silver (can), and Red Oxide from PolyScale through the airbrush. After masking off the whole building I painted the concrete window ledges and the foundation on all four sides. The concrete color dries almost as soon as you put it on and you are able to strip the masking tape within about 10 minutes to proceed to the next step.
The windows, doors, and docks can be painted on their sprues without any trouble. I goofed and painted the dock doors and their supports all silver instead of the aged concrete color. I will weather the supports very heavily to cover up my mistake. I got in too big of a hurry to finish the building. This experience makes a good case for making a painting list which you consult before painting!
With your painting done, you start to assemble the building. First install glass in all the windows and doors. I also installed shades on the windows using label paper cut to fit because one side of it is sticky. If you want shades that don’t adhere to the windows as tightly as label paper, try using Post-It™ notes cut to fit and of an appropriate color. I would advise adding additional adhesive as the “stickum” that comes on the notes tends to lose its holding power after a while. That helps eliminate a viewer looking through the building to the other side and seeing the wall behind the building. I used Testor's Plastic Cement #3502 to assemble the four walls together along with the Right Clamps to hold the walls in place while they dried and the glue cured. When you use the Right Clamp, you cannot have the foundation attached as it gets in the way. After completing the gluing process and making sure that the walls were square, I mounted them on the foundation. I used the Testor’s Plastic Cement 3502 to glue the building to the foundation. I put the foundation on backwards and put gas pumps where the steps were originally intended to go.
Pictures in the column show the windows installed. Pictures in the right column show the assembled building.
Interior detail
Adding roof
inside detail
Next, I started on the inside of the building by installing the first floor, with lighting. You cannot see into the first floor so detail work was left out except for the lights. I cut cardboard using the roof as a template to make the second and third floors of the building. I suspended three lights from the bottom of the second floor. I installed some small bracing on the inside of the exterior walls to support the second floor just below the second floor windows. After painting the floor with the aged concrete color, I positioned it inside the building. Then I added the details on the second floor to make it appear that there is activity going on in the building, I also installed a white cardboard view block down through the center of the floor. The white color helps reflect the light for viewing the contents of the room. I suspended six lights from the bottom side of the third floor for lighting the second floor, positioning them so they would light both sides of the view block. This makes it bright enough to see the men working and the barrels and crates stacked around. I made the third floor ceiling and suspended six lights from the ceiling (bottom side of the roof). I added different detail on the third floor. I omitted the view block on the third floor as this is a large warehouse room. When this was all done, I added the exterior decals. They are not hard to put on. I located them where I wanted them, as it is MY building on MY layout!
Outside light
Outisde light
I did not like the roof that came with the building as it had skylights and looked very plastic. I replaced it with cardboard and used ½” white masking tape to make it appear to have rolled roofing or a tar paper roof. I spray painted it black with Krylon flat black. I added pipes, a wooden water tank, and other items to the roof. Someone suggested putting a port-a-pot on top but I thought that might be just a little extreme. I added crates, barrels, skids, etc. to the dock to make the scene believable. The lights make the building stand out, even with all the other lights on my layout. I also installed building ties that support the exterior walls of the structure. As a final step before weathering, I drilled holes to mount the Walther’s wall lamps on the building. I connected them to the wires that lighted the first floor to add another dimension to the exterior of the building. On the roof, I mounted a REA billboard at an angle in one corner, placing lights on the roof of the building to light the sign. If you want to model a roof with gravel on the tar paper, spread a thin layer of white glue and cover it with coarse black pepper.
<-----Picture on left shows a stanchion added on the end of the building.
Note lights shining up on the REA billboard----->
Roof details
Another view
My last step before placing the building on the layout found me breaking out the Bragdon Weathering Powders and going to work. Using the grimy black to accent the windows, I applied it wherever it hit. Places painted silver were covered with brown, black and rust. What I wanted to do is make this building look like the one that really existed somewhere, built in the 1930s or 1940s (it would be about 50 to 70 years old). It would have accumulated plenty of grime in all those years. As an alternative, you could board up all the windows to make it look deserted.
Old Building to be removed
Now it is time to remove the old building this one is replacing off the layout as it has served its purpose and place it somewhere else. I connected the lighting wires of the NEW REA building to the special transformers that I have installed to take care of all the lighting in the buildings on my layout, as well as the signals, dwarf lights and yard lights. The loading dock serves railroad cars as well as motor vehicles such as trucks. I installed ties between the tracks and gravel on both sides of the track to provide access for trucks to the loading dock. Then I placed the building on the layout. Remember to add some ground foam next to the foundation and possibly some small clumps of lichen to further enhance the age of the structure. Mature trees around the structure would also look good.
New building in its place
Building a loading zone crossing
Where will it end? I consider my layout a work in progress—just like things occur in the world I model. As I have always said, “My layout will be finished the day they put me six feet in the ground or slide me into my concrete condo at the local cemetery.”
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two views of the finished structure