Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Building Waterbury 3: Progress on Feed Mill - Haze Gray…..

Tonight I put the finishing touches on the basic walls and roof for the Waterbury feed mill. The model is entirely scratch built from various Evergreen styrene sheets and shapes. The building is going to be a very, very light gray (almost white). I've found that light paints, especially white and yellow can be problematic when applied over raw styrene so I fired up my airbrush and gave the entire building a base coat of US Navy hull gray. 
At this point it looks more like a destroyer than a building - at least the Haze Gray offers a relatively even coat for the finish paint. 
I still need to decide what color to paint the roof. It likely should be very weathered galvenized panels, but I can't find a picture that confirms the color of the roof in 1954. I'm leaning toward very weathered red just to give some pop to the scene. 


12 comments:

john hajnosz said...

Marty, I'm in the process of completing my version of the feed mill and I didn't realize that the feed mill had a steel roof, thought it was rolled asphalt. In one of Nimkes' books there is a slightly wider shot of the front of the building street side showing a door to the left of the building Thanks, JOHN CVRHS

CVSNE said...

Hi John,
There used to be a window on the extended portion of the front of the building that doesn't show up in later years. That said, I've made some alterations to the front of the building. For example, the roof on the side "extension" should be the same height as the gable end of the building - I made mine slightly lower since I thought it looked better.
The roof was definitely metal by the first time I saw the building back in the 1980s - it was also metal in the late 1950s when Bill Decker took the photo included with an earlier post:
http://centralvermontrailway.blogspot.com/2013/03/waterbury-station-agent-jim-murphy.html

I think I have a 1950s photo which more clearly shows the feed mill roof - I will post it this weekend if I can turn it up (my scanner is suddenly not working for some inexplicable reason!)
Marty

George Dutka said...

Hi Marty:
I looked through photos I took and those found in publications. The earliest colour photo that shows only a portion of the roof and wall behind a train is 1964. At that time the roof is metal in silver but with a good amount of dark colouring or dirty weathering at the very top. The lower sections of the roofing are still good looking silver colour. By the looks of the condition of the roof it had been replaced probably 10 to 20 years before the 1964 photo...it clearly is not original. The walls at that time are the same boxcar red -tuscan red as seen on the station at that time. The walls are the same colour as when I saw it in the early 1980's. By the way the CV freight house in the mid 1950's was bare of any colouring...just weathered wood. The roof was kind of neat also...lots of patchwork panels of different shading...George Dutka

CVSNE said...

George, the one photo I have that shows the gable end of the freight house from the 50s is b&w and seems to show it painted. Can you send me the photos you have from the 50s? Or at least give me a reference to where they've been published?
Thanks,
Marty

George Dutka said...

Marty:
Will scan and send...can't remember which magazine I clipped it from...George

john hajnosz said...

Marty or George, does anyone make sheets of steel roofing .010- .020 thick. At the present time I have a basswood subroof, and was thinking that I could glue the simulated steel roof right on top of the subroof., my other option would be to glue wood strips to simulate the steel roof....JOHN

George Dutka said...

Hi John:
I did exactly what you mentioned on a large barn and it turned out really good. I used the flat roofing included in the kit then glued wood strips at even widths....this is cost effective also...George

dave burke said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
john said...

Marty and George, I decided to go with the wood strips, I will also use sanding sealer to give the roof a smoother finish... how many ribs are on that roof ha!!!. Keep that info coming, not very many if any proto New England modelers in the Buffalo area. Thanks, JOHN

Anonymous said...

Lookin' good, Marty. You've got some 'Mo going on... keep it up!

LuisLopes said...

Hi.
Really nice structure. :) I am searching for something like this to add to my small switching layout. What size is this? Thank you for your answer.

LuisLopes said...

Hi.
Really nice structure. :) I am searching for something like this to add to my small switching layout. What size is this? Thank you for your answer.