A team freight dock was a place where many different industries and railroad patrons could have goods delivered and picked-up. Boxcars, reefers, flatcars, and many other types of railroad cars could be spotted here for delivery/pick-up. Farmer Jed could pick up his new tractor, Thompson Mercantile could pick up the latest shipment from Sears Roebuck, etc. This provides a great modeling opportunity for both operation and visual interest.
My inspiration for this was an MR article by John Armstrong detailing a scratchbuilt loading dock. I mixed his design up a bit and this became my first scratchbuilding effort. Started in 1998 when I was senior in high school, it lay dormant throughout college and my first few years working... until now!
When I revisited it, my freight dock was a skeleton and deck composed of bare wood. I started with an amonia/indian ink wash. Unfortunately, no one informed me back in high school that you should stain before gluing.
I finally decided that I wanted it to have the well-weathered paint look. I drybrushed a muted green on the structure. I used a diluted brown drybrushed on the deck. Finally, I gave it another wash, this time with an alcohol/india ink wash. I was pleased indeed!
After some “Gauge” discussion concerning the use of aluminum foil as a starting point for corrugated metal roofing, I was inspired. Using scale 5’x10’ and 5’x15’ sections, I burnished them over corrugated styrene sheet and then glued them down. Progress pic:
And a close-up of the roofing:
And the finished product:
I’ve since washed the roof in an alcohol/india ink solution. Be careful doing this as it seemed to loosen some of the glue. Ack! However, it took some of the luster out of the foil. I want to further texture and weather the roof to look like a rusty, beaten old roof. We’ll see what I come up with.
There is a hole in the end of the dock (you may have noticed). That is where I am going to locate a jib crane for unloading freight. Stay tuned and let me know what you think.
Joel
My inspiration for this was an MR article by John Armstrong detailing a scratchbuilt loading dock. I mixed his design up a bit and this became my first scratchbuilding effort. Started in 1998 when I was senior in high school, it lay dormant throughout college and my first few years working... until now!
When I revisited it, my freight dock was a skeleton and deck composed of bare wood. I started with an amonia/indian ink wash. Unfortunately, no one informed me back in high school that you should stain before gluing.
I finally decided that I wanted it to have the well-weathered paint look. I drybrushed a muted green on the structure. I used a diluted brown drybrushed on the deck. Finally, I gave it another wash, this time with an alcohol/india ink wash. I was pleased indeed!
After some “Gauge” discussion concerning the use of aluminum foil as a starting point for corrugated metal roofing, I was inspired. Using scale 5’x10’ and 5’x15’ sections, I burnished them over corrugated styrene sheet and then glued them down. Progress pic:
And a close-up of the roofing:
And the finished product:
I’ve since washed the roof in an alcohol/india ink solution. Be careful doing this as it seemed to loosen some of the glue. Ack! However, it took some of the luster out of the foil. I want to further texture and weather the roof to look like a rusty, beaten old roof. We’ll see what I come up with.
There is a hole in the end of the dock (you may have noticed). That is where I am going to locate a jib crane for unloading freight. Stay tuned and let me know what you think.
Joel
