Modern "Tilt" Style Concrete Warehouses & Accessories


Trucklover

BNSF SD70MAC's
Hello everyone, does anyone remember the Nu-Line Structures modern warehouse kits? I was extremely bummed out when they went out of business and their kits became extremely hard to get ahold of. Their kits were pretty neat and allowed one to construct a custom warehouse to fit their own needs for the space they had available on their layouts. I always wanted to attempt to scratch build a warehouse out of styrene when their kits became hard to get, but never did get around to it. Instead I found myself buying tons of Walthers Cornerstone kits, only to use certain pieces and parts from the kits for what I was building. Not exactly the best and most cost effective way to do it, but I felt it was easier then sracth building my own…

After getting half way done with the warehouse on my Tire Plant module, and using 3 Walthers Magic Pan Bakery Kits only to take the main warehouse wall panels from each kit, it dawned on me that I may be able to create some 3D models myself and have Shapeways 3D Print them. So, for the last few months, Ive been working with a 3D program building wall panels and uploading them to Shapeways website. Ive got a bunch of walls uploaded, and recently just got my first one in the mail from them. I ordered one wall just to see what they would look like and make sure that everything would print okay and measurements were good. Upon closer inspection, there were a few minor tweaks that needed to be adjusted, but other then that, the wall printed flawlessly and looked great! I printed it in their "White, Strong & Flexible" material, the cheapest material available which gives a slight grainy feel. Its perfect for a concrete surface, and once painted, still gives a slight texture. Ive since corrected the minor changes that needed to be made, and ordered enough walls to make a decent sized 13 truck dock background warehouse! Walls are all in production and on schedule to ship in about a week and a half. Once I receive them I will paint, assemble, and upload some pictures for everyone to see.

Here are a few pictures from their site that show some of the different walls I've made
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Each dock wall has a dock door surround, dock bumpers, and a dock leveler molded onto the surface of the wall. I made two different dock surrounds, one a "Load-In" and one a "Load-Out". "Load-In" Surrounds are for a dock that you plan to have a trailer docked. The Trailer will fit inside the recessed portion of the surround and sit flush with the dock bumpers. This will give the impression that the dock door surrounds are in use sealing the rear perimeter of the trailer protecting the dock workers from outside weather conditions. "Load-In" Surrounds do not need to have dock doors in place as the trailer will hide the opening. Use the "Load-Out" Surrounds for a dock that is empty and does not currently have a trailer docked, these docks will need docks doors.

In addition, there is back supports for each wall to further strengthen the walls with the upper most back support doubling as the ridge where a roof should be glued in place. Joining each wall end to end can simply be done by butting one up against another and glueing. Additional strips of styrene may be added depending on personal preference (I would suggest doing so to give added structural strength). All doors can be glued in place by simply dropping in from the backside of the walls.

Nu-Line Structures also offered a Concrete Security Fence which came in handy for a variety of different things including fencing in a yard for a warehouse. Ive made several different combinations of walls, sliding steel gates (including one with a guard shack and details), and trash enclosures. Here are just a couple for example.

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While these are not exactly the cheapest alternative to building a modern concrete warehouse, I think that these will be useful to those who are not up for completely scatchbuilding structures of their own, or for those who simply would prefer to have something that is ready made, commercially available, easy to assemble, and while still giving the kit like accomplishment sort of feeling.

If you would like to check out what Ive created and uploaded to their website so far, you can do so by clicking HERE. There are different categories in the online store accessible on the left side of the page. To see the warehouse walls, click on the category that says "Concrete Tilt Style Warehouse Walls".

I would love to get some feedback from you guys on what you think, so please feel free to comment with any questions, feedback, or suggestions.
Thanks!
 



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