Modeling Monday: Wethersfield Lumber Co. Office

One of the reasons model railroading is so popular is that it's such a diverse, immersive hobby. At the very beginning of a layout, you're a planner & architect - figuring out what project and trackplan will fit in your space. Then you become a carpenter as you build the benchwork. Trackwork requires you to be a bit of a civil engineer, then you dive right into electrical work and electronics to get it all working. I won't even go into the paradigm shift from all this left-brained stuff to the right brain where all the scenery work requires you to become an artist.

With so many different & fun tasks required for the layout itself, it's often hard to find - or make - the time to write about it or journal your progress in any way. Consequently, not too many folks take that time. If they're lucky, they may have a phone full of photos they took along the way, but not much else.

As you may have guessed if you've been following this blog for any length of time, a big part of the hobby for me is writing about it - at least documenting my progress, and if I'm lucky, even stumbling across a helpful tip or a different perspective. But lately, with Uncle Sam requiring us to stay at home (to work on our layouts? :^) I've been focused almost exclusively on completing the Wethersfield scene - everything from finishing the terraforming, up through scenery and structures. "Finish Wethersfield" has been on my resolutions list for years - literally. And with the loss of one of my main collaborators, Dave Messer, right at the beginning of this quarantine, well let's just say my motivation to be in the basement has crowded out the blog.

But it's time to take a break from the basement, and catch up a bit. Starting with finishing up the office for the Wethersfield Lumber Co.

It seems like forever ago, but it's been less than two months since I started this project by "easternizing" it. The next step was to prime and paint. I just used a rattle can of gray primer for a base coat and then drybrushed on white acrylic craft paint for a weathered look.

I sprayed the window frames and doors a dark green and I shot the roof with black primer. Once all the pieces are painted, the fun begins - putting it all together!

I first added the window "glass" to the windows and doors using Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue and then I glued the windows and doors to the walls.

The final steps were just to glue the walls together. This is especially easy to do with this kit, since the base helps keep everything nice and square.

The "last" step was to use my computer and Word software to create a made-up sign.

Lighting is fickle - the walls in all the photos are the same color white.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what the actual Wethersfield Lumber Co. office looked like - nor do I have any info or photos of the sign. I think this is a reasonable guess for a late-1940s look - but who really knows?

And actually, making the sign isn't really the "last" step anyway. I really should weather the structure a bit more - especially the roof. But more importantly, I should see if I can put any signs in those big picture windows. Fortunately, this building is way at the back of the scene next to the backdrop, so it's lack of an interior isn't noticeable.

So there you have it - another structure done for the Wethersfield scene! Stay tuned for more progress reports as I catch up on the blog, and in the meantime here's wishing you and yours safety and health for the duration of the current craziness.