DPM buildings and pipes
I am the first to agree that painting the DPM buildings is a giant pain. I airbrushed the individual pieces first. Colors vary. Depot Buff, some red (don't remember which) and a mix of trim colors. It is hard to remember since these are 10 year old projects, or older. In fact I had them stored for 7 years when I lived in Mesa, AZ with no room for a layout. The left end is the original "Main Street" which was the forerunner to DPM style buildings. Not the cheap plastic Walthers "II" version. It is four store fronts in one piece. It was the first building of this type I assembled. After painting the entire bldg. or in the case of the Main Street which was masked and painted different colors for each front, I masked the walls and painted the trim, frames, ect with a very fine tipped brush. Some touch up on the walls was necessary at times. I have black construction paper attached inside covering all the windows since the town is away from the edge of the layout. The roof details as an assortment. Most, especially the AC units, are Cal Freight (i actually got a few new pieces a couple of weeks ago thanks to Neal at Neal's N-Gauging Trains.
I would post a close-up of the Roadkill Cafe, but I forget which one it is? I'll look it up on the net and follow up.
As for the "n" pipes. I would love to take credit for them, but they came in a Green Max kit I bought some years age (2 kits in fact) it included the building which is also in other Green Max kits with different fronts. I don't know if these kits are still available, but they had pipes, tanks, supports, roof top details, various odd parts for details, ect. I bought two of these kits probably in the early 90's. Neal may be a source for these if they are available? They make a neat bus station and airport which the main buildings can be modified for several projects.
I am planning to have pipes over the tracks to connect to tanks on the other side. I am using some of the Walthers refinery parts on that side, maybe? We'll see how it fits. It is freelance afterall.
I would love to have the space for a more realistic refinery, but living in Corpus Christi and seeing several every day it would be a huge undertaking that could take years for someone who is all thumbs like me.
Thanks for the positive feedback. I look at my efforts and then at so many others pictured here and other sites and don't think much of what I have done.
Doc