Hi Folks
Getting back into the hobby with a shelf layout. I wanted to include part of a rail-served industry in the foreground and suggest that more of it extends into the aisle. I’m almost done; it’s a combined scrap/recycling yard & building. The building “slice” is a 19" x 9" rectangle, with three finished walls. The fourth side is presently open.
My original idea was to cover the aisle side with a plain piece of styrene, painted a different neutral color from the building. Then I thought of leaving it open and finishing the interior. But that now looks like a lot of work (and money) to buy and add all the structural and material parts that would be needed to make it look anywhere near realistic.
Should I follow through with my first idea of using a piece of styrene? Or should I extend the fascia up and use that instead?
I also got wondering about whether having the building square to the aisle was a good idea. Visually, would the illusion of a larger building be better if the structure was at an angle to the aisle?
I have not been able to find much information about this particular subject, so I thought I would reach out here for your opinions. Any help will be appreciated!
Angles are ussually better even if only slight. Personaly I would finish the interior but untill that is done you can do a temporary plug of styrene or facia attached to a foam block to insert in the space, will look finished now and even better when, if, the interior gets built.
One of Gerry Leone’s prior versions of his layout featured the struture at the edge of the layout with that wall “missing” so you could look into the interior. It was very effective I thought. It is certainly possible to fabricate all manner of things – including household things that end up in the recycle bin – that could look plausible as interior detail without overspending the budget. Plausible colors and avoiding clutter can go a long way towards believability.
I built a thin background building that way with an open side at the aisle. I simply built crude floors and a couple of walls and covered the surfaces with textures of walls and floors printed on my computer. The brewery vats were some kind of pill containers, as old guys like me go through a bunch of them. Piping was just old pieces of sprue. I cut open one of the loading dock doors on the track side so barrels on the loading dock became part of both the outside and inside scenes.
I always spend a lot of time building and detailing structures, so this one was no different. I probably spent 50 cents on styrene and balsa strips, and about a quarter of a cent for the paper for printing textures.
As others mention, finish the interior. Mister Beasley mentions different way of making things that normally get thrown in the trash. Great ideas that cost little to nothing.
The beauty of finidshing the interior is, you will be proud of your achievement and seeing that is much better than a blank wall.
Tell us the building’s purpose, you say it’s a rail served business, but tell us what it is.
I would finish the interior, as others have mentioned. Being straight with the tracks, or “square with the world”, would be best, but even if it was on an angle, you’d still want to finish the inside.
I think once done, I would even cover the opening with a removable clear plastic sheet.
Thank you all for your input. Sorry my reply is showing up late; I’m a newbie here and there is a delay in getting my posts ‘posted’.
The building is part of a recycling/scrap complex that I would like in the foreground. I saw that the votes are for finishing the interior. I had already finished the inside walls, just in case I decided to do something in the future.
I’ll have to think a bit more and do some research about what to put inside. I’ve been inside one recycling depot. Lots of bales of compressed paper, drums of batteries, piles of electronics (probably shipped to a more specific facility), stuff like that … and very dirty. I’ll have to work on my weathering skills.
I was originally going to have the building parallel to the aisle (and thus the track too), but now I’m leaning towards having the track and the structure at a slight angle to the aisle (and cut part of one wall so the building is not a rectangle). I have a feeling that that would look better visually, but your opinions on this are welcome!
In my town, the scrap yards have the bulky/cluttered scrap outside. In the building that is there, goes the copper, brass, aluminium, wire, vehical batteries, vehical wheels (heavy truck and light car aluminium) mostly in like 4’x4’x4’ bins and lots of 55 gal. drums and throw in some skids. The inside of the building has a somewhat ‘‘Safety Zone" look (nothing laying in the walkways). There are some three sided (two sides and a back) drive in bin/sections maybe 10’ tall walls by 20’ wide front opening where a fork lift/front loader/bobcat would shove in or remove scrap. Then there is the conveyors (inside) that load it on trucks (outside) or that can drive in to the building to get loaded. Don’t forget a platform scale about 60’‘x60’’ and a payout counter/window behind safety glass/plexiglass.
That close to the edge, I’d have to do the inside of the building.
Scrap yards personal do not like people walking around with a camara taking pictures. Did I mention Scrap yard photos are beautiful.[:-^]
Yes, a finished interior would be more interesting but will take a lot of effort. You can always substitute the blank piece of styrene until you are ready to tackle an interior. On the other hand, visitors to my layout are actually impressed with the different “aisle side” structures I have built, none with interiors. Two of these structures are utilitarian (half of a Tichy water tank in an engine servicing area and half of a large oil storage tank next to oil loading tracks). Another structure is one turn of a 1/4 mile paved oval racing track including spectator seating. All of these structures use plain styrene panels painted to match the fascia where they meet the aisle.
On the other hand, a member of a local modular club built a large citrus packing plant with stuctures on either side of the tracks. He kept the backs of the aisle side structures open and added very detailed interiors showing the packing operations and machinery (plus many packages of Woodland Scenic oranges!). His modules are very well done and always attract a large crowd at club displays. It must have taken him many, many hours to do.
While I did not add interiors to my aisle side structures, I do have a triangular shaped liquor store on my layout with large storefront windows front and back. Because you can easily see right through this structure, even without interior lighting, I was pretty much forced to add an interior. I first printed out a checker pattern floor on glossy paper to create tile flooring. I next printed product posters found on-line and added them to the interior walls and storefront windows. Finally, I used styrene sheet to construct a number of shelving units and then started to “fill” the shelves with product. After struggling to fill just one shelving unit with bottles, cans and boxes made from styrene rod and strip (it took forever), I finally thought of using printouts of store shelving found on-line. &nbs
I would use a piece of plain styrene. Paint it the same main color as the building. Then turn the building 180 degrees so the finished sidewall is facing the aisle. People will only be able to see that side and the two ends, not the part facing the track. If you later want to do a full interior, turn it back around and take the styrene off or replace it with a sheet of clear styrene.
You could do the interior later over time. In the mean time start looking at similar structures to get ideas for layouts that might be cheaper to replicate, but still achieve the idea you have in mind
I put my building at an angle. It is in the lower left corner of the first image. I wanted to give the idea that it was a much larger building with actually doing so. I built most of this building out of scrap styrene sheet from other projects. I also used styrene angle to build the shelves an 0.080" flat bar to make the stairs. Probably the most time consuming part was the lighting. There are 35 LED’s in this building. Most of them are in the offices on the second floor.
Speaking of which I need to get some office furniture in there.
All of your suggestions are much appreciated. I’m going to try and finish off the interior. I like your shelving, Renegade1c; very well done. Nice railings on the stairs too.
