An Office for the Cement Distributor

[tompm]

Recently I have been working on a section of the layout I call the Cement Distributor. It is a scene centered around Walthers Cement Distributor kit. As I am finishing the area I realized that I needed an office for the Cement Distributor. I dug through the junk box and found this old caboose. A quick coat of Folk Art Amish Blue and a place near the cement distributor.

Next I need to add some glass and boards to the windows and some weathering.

 

[tompm]

I now added glass to the windows and also boarded a few windows up.

I weathered the caboose/office by dry brushing Folk Art Burnt Sienna. I then hit it with a wash of Folk Art Charcoal Gray and blue windshield wiper fluid. Lastly I sealed it with Dull Coat.

 

[tompm]

I took some strip wood that I had and cut it to size. I then stained it with washes of India ink, Folk Art Burnt Umber, and Folk Art Raw Umber. I then glued the wood together and placed them on the layout and then placed the caboose/office on them.

Next is the driveway and path.

 

[tompm]

Using different color sands I created the driveway and pathway for the office.

Next is adding trees and foliage.

 

[jbaakko]

WOW, now that looks AWESOME! Nice work Tom!

 

[tcwright973]

Tom,
That's a nice job. Thanks for explaining your steps to the finished office. The only thing needed now are a couple of guys sitting around watching the world go by...
Tom

 

[jbaakko]

Playing checkers?

 

[tompm]

Thanks folks!

I have now added some trees, foliage, clump foliage, and fine leaf foliage to the scene.

 

[tompm]

 

[NZRMac]

That looks great Tom, well done.

Ken.

 

[TrevorG]

Almost there...

Tom,

Looking great buddy! I think all that remains is to add some sign of life in the form of a car or truck and a person or two doing...something. Maybe someone on the steps talking to someone else in the truck or walking to or from the truck.

Trevor

 

[dnhouston]

Looks great Tom. Nice addition to the layout.

 

[OldGettysk]

That caboose and scenery looks really good .thanks for sharing with us !

 

[simon1966]

Tom, great job!

A question for you. What is the effect and or purpose of the blue windshield wiper fluid? I am not familiar with the technique and curious about what it achieves.

THanks

 

[Steve B]

Wow, great job, it's like a looking at time lapsed photo's

 

[tompm]

Thanks everyone.

A question for you. What is the effect and or purpose of the blue windshield wiper fluid? I am not familiar with the technique and curious about what it achieves.

I don’t have a good answer for you other than it works.

When I got back into the hobby I was using Polly Scale paints. Everything was fine until I tried using it in an airbrush. No matter what I used it clogged. I tried airbrush thinner, distilled water, different types of thinners. Finally someone suggested blue windshield wiper fluid and it worked. When I switched from Polly Scale to the craft paints bwsf continued to work so I did not change.

Somebody told me it has to do with the alcohol content and how that helps things dry faster.

 

[tompm]

I added a mailbox and electric pole to the office.

I also added an electric meter and a smoke stack.

 

[simon1966]

Thanks Tom, so the windshield wash is used as a thinner, I will have to try that myself.

The extra details really add something to the scene, nice job.

 

[tompm]

Thanks!

Added some detail items around the office and the area around the distributor.

 

[LiveSteamer]

Looks Great Tom.