Freight Station

Posted by Unknown on 4:00 PM in Freight, Station | No comments

I’ve taken a little break from my layout, and instead decided to spend the last few weeks trying my hand on my first model structure. I have never put together a plastic model building before, and the last time I did any kind of plastic model was a couple cars that I did back when I was 12-13 years old, which turned out less-than-satisfactory. This kit was given to me by my friend, who found it mixed in with a bunch of junk at a local thrift-store. The kit is an old POLA-HO Freight Station #557. I was surprised to find that all the pieces were intact inside the kit, and nothing was missing except a couple small accessories. This would be a perfect practice kit!

The kit was missing its instruction manual, but it was pretty self explanatory how everything went together. I did however change a few things with the roof. I didn’t like how far the roof extended out from the front of the building to cover the loading deck, and also extended the full length of the building. This overhang covered too much of the first floor windows and doors, so I cut it back, and excluded the overhang between the first and second floors, as seen below.

I used Humbrol enamel paints (which I prefer greatly over Testors brand) thinned about 30 – 50% depending on the application. As I’ve said before, I’ve never really worked successfully with enamel paints, but with patience and determination, the painting went pretty well for my first attempt. I used a wash of white acrylic for the mortar between the bricks, and a black wash for the deck surface and base. I sealed everything in with a coat of Testors Dull Coat.

I also built a small interior scene of a storage room (as seen above). The entire structure is lit with 2 small bulbs, with leads extending out the bottom of the base. I used clear styrene coated with dull-coat for the window glazing. This allows for a more uniform lighting effect across all windows. I was pretty pleased with the final result, and I am now more confident to move onto bigger and better structure projects.

I went back to work on my layout a few nights ago, working on the base structure of all the landscape and terrain. I will also be starting my second structure kit right away, my Walther’s Cornerstone Merchant’s Row 1 (kit # 993-3028).