Winter Challenge 2024- Truck Service kit- Jeff Firestone

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...

Along with truck repairs, this business also deals with heavy equipment. I have built several pieces of heavy equipment from metal kits and enjoyed doing them. So, I needed a place to put them on the layout. In my little world the heavy equipment is moved around on trains, of course, and so the business needed a way to get the equipment onto a train car. Hence the ramp. I had previously built a quick and easy ramp and decided to upgrade it for this diorama build. Here I've started to cover the ramp's surface with 2x12 stripwood.



Using full strength white glue the 2x12 boards went on easily. I roughed up the boards with my #11 blade to weather them.



I brushed on some of my A&I solution to darken the boards. This is as far as I will go with the ramp until it has been placed on the diorama on the layout. I need to position it close to the tracks and I can't do that until the diorama is in it's permanent position on the layout.



Now that all of the sub-assemblies have been done, it's time to work on the diorama base. I used a thin piece of sheet styrene for the base cut to the size of the area on my layout. Also, since the Winter Challenge is for dioramas I needed to do it this way to conform to the contest rules.

Here the footprints of the main kit building and the other scratchbuilt out buildings have been outlined with blue painters tape. This allows me to get the first layers of scenery done on the base on my workbench and also insures that the structures have a clean surface for gluing them onto the base.



Here I've started to apply the scenery layers. I first brush on some brown craft paint. I then sprinkle on some sifted dirt from my yard for the first layer of scenery. I then position some ground foam texture to the areas where appropriate. In this case, I also glued a casting from Downtown Deco of a pile of junk in the corner. I then dribble on a mixture of Mod Podge and water to hold everything in place.

This process allows me to have scenery right up to the edge of the structures before the structures are placed on the base and I am able to do all of this on my workbench. After the structures have been glued on a little touch up is usually necessary to fill in any gaps that are visible.

[nycjeff]

As the pictures show I do the scenery in small areas at a time. When the benchwork scenery is done, I pull off the painters tape to expose the white sheet styrene below which gives me a clean gluing surface for the structures.



The first layers of scenery are done. The next step is to glue down the structures. I can add more scenery after the base has been placed on the layout. Scenic features such as fences and power and light poles are easier to figure out when the structures are in place.



The first out building, the work shed is in place. I've glued a few detail castings inside the covered bays and placed a truck in the middle work bay. I've also started to place some detail castings around the outside of the structure.



Here are a couple of pictures of the open metal framed work structure in it's place on the diorama. As you can see, I've placed some castings inside and around the structure. Some metal chains have been added to the overhead crane.





I'm pleased with the progress of this build so far. Jason's kit was a good starting point for my overall diorama.

That's it for now, more later.

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

The build and overall scene is looking great. I really like the job you did on the scratch built shed.


Tom 

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking good, Jeff.

Loving those trusses!

Cheers, Mark.

[Philip]

Great looking structures!

[nycjeff]

Jeff,

The build and overall scene is looking great. I really like the job you did on the scratch built shed.


Tom

Hello Tom, thank you for the kind words. I'm having a lot of fun with this diorama build.

Looking good, Jeff.

Loving those trusses!

Cheers, Mark.

Hello Mark, glad that you like my build thread. I can't take full credit for the trusses. I did not scratch build them. They came from a Walthers kit that I dis-assembled.

Great looking structures!

Hello Phillip, thanks for looking in. I enjoy scratch building and the small structures always seem to be the most fun to build.

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...

The main building has been glued to the base as well as the expanded loading dock and the open work bay.

Here's a view of the front of the scratchbuilt expanded loading dock with a few detail castings added. The roof-top sign is also visible here. The sign is a nicely designed detail and I got a few tips on it's assembly from the video that Jason did on this kit.



And a view of the side of the loading dock



A look at the rear wall. I didn't do much detail work here because this side won't be seen when I place the diorama on thge layout.



The open bay work area has been glued in place. Jason did a great job with the design and making of the many pieces that make up this part of the kit. Everything fit together well and I am very pleased with how it looks.



A view of the front of the open work bay and the line of safety posts in front of the large sliding metal door. This was another little detail that was well designed and fit together easily.



That's it for now, more later.

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

Your build and diorama are coming along very nicely. Love all the details.

Great job so far.

Tom