The Flagg book makes reference to an American Can facility along First Avenue, an industry that would be a good fit, a good look for the terminal. Since the BT is proto freelanced, I’m not worried about making anything close to an exact model, just something that appears plausible.
I believe the photo above is the actual plant which still stands today and has been restored and renovated.
I’m using Walther’s American Hardware kit combined with kitbashed DPM to make the representation.
One of the most distinctive and iconic features of WW2 New York was the ubiquitous Belgian Block roadways. The question becomes how to effectively model them. Even my HO scale counterparts bemoan how difficult they are to represent. Cast plaster is a major challenge and a method where it’s hard to control the results There really aren’t any styrene sheets that work and, even if there were, how do you color them? How do you cut them so they fit around turnouts?
I decided to go with the photo laminate approach as outlined in my recent article in RMC. The challenge was creating the images which took me several weeks. I did go to Brooklyn, and the paved streets are still there but you really can’t get high enough to get a great overhead shot. The only recourse was to take street level shots, correct the perspective, and laboriously stitch them together. When you use this approach, clone and copy repetitive seams and patterns really stand out so a lot of time and effort was required to make sure those patterns weren’t noticeable.
The image above is the end result. I then photo copied a turnout, cut the respective pieces out to serve as cutting templates and cut the street pieces to size.
I found these fine point earth toned color markers at Michaels to use to add color to the white edges of the photo wallpaper. They don’t wick into the photo paper as much as a Sharpie does and the fine points are a nice feature.
….and here we have the completed structure. Stand off details include downspouts, lamps, dock bumpers and open window panes.
The coloring of the DPM sides encompassed a number of dry brushed layers. First was mortar, followed by dry brushing on a brick color. After that I dry brushed on a mix of brown and black Bragdon weathering chalks.
This structure will be a combination of traditional kit components (DPM for the sides) and photo laminates on the front and back. The photo laminates were needed as an effective way of handling the signage. The .060″ styrene you see for the roof and ends tends to de-stabilize and warp over time. To combat this I cut short sections of an aluminum yardstick and glue them to the back with CA.
The photo laminate you see is three photos stacked on top of each other to create depth. The bottom layer is gloss paper for the windows, the middle is the structure face itself, and the top is just the columns.
Looking at the BT track plan I’m going to start construction in the area that appears in the upper right of the track plan drawing. Next up is National Linen Supply across the street from the freight station. The challenge in capturing the feel of WW2 era structures is how to handle the signage. Printing the signs, cutting them out, and gluing them on won’t work and looks exceptionally cheesy. If you go that route the paper is too thick, the edges too obvious, and the lack of brick texture is apparent. Making your own decals will work but hoofing off to kinkos and begging them to run your decal paper through their (very expensive) machines gets old. That leaves the tried and true photo wallpaper technique which gives you the most control of the process. I downloaded an image from the net of an appropriate brick structure and squared the perspective up in photoshop.
The challenge was the sign itself which took the better part of an afternoon. I wanted a faded, peeling paint look with some of the bricks showing through. Photoshop font is too crisp so I used a blurring tool to soften the edges. The band is charcoal gray not black and the lettering is slate gray not white. Extending the column edge shadows down across the band completed the process.