It’s hard to believe but only one structure left to build for the Brooklyn Terminal. Tracks cutting through the corners of buildings are a fairly common feature on the prototype so to close things out I want to represent that at least once. The location above, 3913 2nd Avenue, will be used as a loose starting point.
Although the painting above (P. Lerro) is based on a location in Philly, it captures the look I’m after of switchers diving into tunnels inset in the side of structures.
Armed with custom decals from Bill Brillinger, I painted and weathered a Kato NW2 in Brooklyn Terminal livery. Inspiration was taken from photos of NP and Detroit terminal switchers both of which showed a pretty heavy light sand colored weathering pattern. I took advantage of the fact that putting rubbing alcohol over Dullcote produces a faded frosting effect and used that on the roof, hood, and trucks.
The challenge in adding lineside details to a layout is that, if not handled carefully, they have a tendency to look contrived. To get around this I’ll study prototype photos of scene similar to what I’m working with and just copy what I see. Case in point being the large grassy areas near the yard and car float. Actual photos show rows of spare rail, piles of ties, 55 gallon drums, and a fair amount of wind blown trash.
Having the book for Kalmbach done frees up a lot of time for modeling. This week’s projects involved two structures along First Avenue. The one shown above I call the “fire escape building”. I wanted the sculpture effect of the escapes as you look lengthwise down the street. The building itself is a kitbash of The Hilltown Hotel. I shorted the model two stories so as not to block the site lines done the street.
This structure is the finished version of what I shared in my last post. The sides have been curved to match the spur. This is a scratch build using parts from DPM and Tichy.
It’s hard to believe but the end is in sight as far as completing the bulk of the layout. Just a few structures and some detail work remain.
Bush Terminal’s run down 1st Avenue was characterized by one and two store low rise industries paralleling the main running down the street. Spurs would diverge and curve sharply to serve the businesses which typically had curved sides to match the shape of the track. I’ll need four of these buildings. One down, a second in process (shown above) and two after that.