Lyndonville, Vt. Frt. House - N Scale

The finished freight house diorama which will eventually be added to Gary Pembleton's layout.

Creative Laser Design's N scale freight house

As mentioned earlier I did a swap with my friend Gary Pembleton. He gives me super trees and I get to go cross-eyed putting together a N scale craftsman kit. Not sure if N scale is for me. This whole project had to be done mostly with tweezers and a large magnifying glass. My fingers are just too big to handle all those tiny parts. And my eyes being 60 plus in age, do I have to say any more. I am pleased how the kit turned out being my first build in N scale. I did revamp an already built kit for Gary earlier this winter.

The Lyndonville. frt. house kit is a very basic kit and the price reflects that. The walls are nice, the windows are fine and a two part assembly. The doors are also nice. The freight doors, corner trim, roofing and chimney I did set aside replacing with what I though are better choices. The roofing is a solid styrene sheeting that was painted a mix of reefer gray with a touch of black added. It is dusted with dark rust Bragdon powder.

Although it is N scale I did add a good amount of bracing. None is included with the kit.

The windows and doors are nice fine details which add greatly to the finished model. The corner trim used is leftovers HO scale  from my Elwell General Store by BEST. The kit included corner trim that was twice this size or more O scale. Not good for N scale...the HO scale corner trim does look better.

The walls go together well but all needed to be braced. No bracing is included with the kit. I also had to add bracing to the platform as it had already began to warp. The walls and platform got  a coating of Hunterline weathering mix. The walls got a coat of Floquil tuscan red. Each wall got a different depth of colouring to reflect some weathering. I used the dark rust and reds powders from Bragdon to weather the walls. White chalk was applied to the trim and windows. The rest of the story is included with the photos...George Dutka

I have a heavy weight laying on the added bracing to the platform. The photo I took back in 1994 was useful in adding the  colour finishing.

The platform and base below is  lined up to see how all will fit. I think they are now ready for some glue. I still need to add the roofing and pilings before that though.

The styrene roof is in place.

The platform is finished with Hunterline weathering mix. I then added a bit of powder. The walls are Floquil Tuscan red over Hunterline stain. The chimney included with the kit is a block of wood. I decided to use a Sylvan Scale Model brick piling that was included in a HO scale house kit that my friend Bob passed along. It looks just right for N scale. A little filing and all is good.

The windows, trim and doors are painted with white chalk using this fine applicator. The colour gives the white a really weathered look...more so than using paint.

The doors on the end and rail side are modeled open. I added a few details that would be seen inside and around the doorway. The REA sign is reduced from the current Ely, Vt. station sign and the Lyndonville sign is a copy of the original station sign.

The ice cream sign I copied and added from a photo I took of the structure. The building  is currently used as an ice cream parlor. The Whiting and Hood's signs are reduced photocopies from decals I have.

An overhead view of the roadside side of the freight house. The kit did not include any freight door trim which I thought was needed. I made some from HO scale 2" by 3" which I had on hand. The freight doors are applied behind the wall and not in the openings to give them some depth. The steps are not found in the kit although the sides are. I just used HO 1"by 4" strips for this also.

The roadside doors I modeled closed and the walls on this side got a lighter coat of paint giving it a bit of a weathered look. On the model the base is concrete represented by painting the wooden base. On the actual structure the base is mostly stone. I will be posting some prototype photos shortly.