Model Railroad Blog

General Ship Repair

With photo laminates, having a solid core is crucial. I’ve learned the hard way that styrene can get “wiggly” over time. For General Ship Repair I built the core using aluminum bar stock. Spacers were placed inside out of 1 x 2 pvc wood. The ends and roof crown were made of .060″ styrene. Roofs have a tendency to sag. Aluminum yardsticks only cost a few dollars, are solid, and easy to cut so I used those.

Here’s the finished core with the rules in place on the roof.

….and here’s a view from beneath. Traditional CA was used for the adhesive. All done. Solid as a rock!

Brooklyn Terminal August 4

This weekend’s work completes the car float, pontoon float bridge, and vegetation on the pier yard. The car float is an un-modified Sylvan kit. The float bridge is a simple scratch build using styrene, an Atlas girder bridge, and assorted scraps and details from the scrap bin.

Here’s an overhead view of the finished area.

National Cold Storage

For some reason I never keyed in on the above Conrad Milster photo in the Flagg book. When I finally noticed the shot, it solved one of the remaining compositional issues with the Brooklyn Terminal. Specifically, what to place in the vacant space next to the three warehouses. The National Cold Storage complex fills the space, does so with balance, has that “right fit” look to it, and puts a Brooklyn stamp on things without being over the top about it.

Here’s where the scene will go. I also think I can add some form of temporary foreground plate extending the river forward for photographic purposes. Put the plate in, put some vessels on it, take the shot, and touch up the edges in photo shop.