Kitbashed Lean-On Warehouse

I was cleaning and organizing my boxes full of old model railway kits and parts, and I found two spare sides to the Walther's 2-Stall Engine Shed. I wondered what I could make with them, and as my model-making skills were getting better, I thought I'd try creating the building in this post.

The front wall you see is made up of two separate pieces with gaps for windows. These were sprayed with primer and sat on the table to dry. I wasn't sure what to make with them, but I finally landed on an interesting idea.

Quite often in the classic TV Series of Thomas and Friends, you will notice that the Freight Shelter Sheds that make up the left side of Knapford Station were used quite often in other sets. They became warehouses built up with dividing yard walls, to either direct the eye around the yard dioramas, or just hide the table edge and scenic supports for these sets. I decided to make a larger version in red brick color with some modifications.

The wall pieces were glued together and braced using white glue, Crazy glue, and balsa wood sticks. Here you can see one of the angled size walls, made with my textured card-stock paper. I used acrylic colors mixed to paint the entire building, so the paper and plastic parts match perfectly with weathering. It is wood-looking texture verses molded brick, but this would be used in a background scene or for close up shots with lots of detail, so this can be distracted with posters or leaning parts on the set.

Some of the window pieces were missing, so to give variety and character to the building, I made boarded windows on two sections of the wall, again using card-stock. There are gaps between the boards to be seen through when the interior is lit. These and the molded plastic windows were painted green, and glued after the brick was painted.

For the first time I also used metal wire to create gutters. It was cut with pliers, painted, and attached by wrapping paper strips around the brick edge to glue it. It looks so much better than flat paper strips, but you can see I combined both to model it with realism and depth in mind.

Looking inside, there are two warehouse doors made from scratch, again using card-stock paper that has been weathered. I thought this would be great to add when I have it wired with LED lights for a lit interior, then I can add or rearrange cargo and other details inside for realism.

That is why I made the roof bendable, so I can access the inside later. Strips of card-stock were glued in layers, then weathered by dry-brushing using acrylics.

So here you go. I placed it on my table with Percy, and some spare parts to show you how it looks on set. I feel happy with the result. As I try modelling using model railroading kits again, I'll think about customizing them by always painting the plastic parts first, and then add or change details to make them personally unique, so they don't look store-bought or toy-like.

I think I'll add three smokestacks, either the thin metal tube type, or brick for interior boilers...

Until next time!