Background Flats 1

Smith's Ore Processors closed down factory

Being pressed for space there is next to no room between the depot side track and the wall so background flats are the only answer. As level ground in the valley is scarce there is a concentration (planned) of mining related buildings in this spot.

The first is a rehash of a couple of old Pola kits. I first built them as per the instructions some 25 years ago. A couple of years ago I took them apart and rebuilt them into low relief structures for this location.  The problem was that they were only two stories high and I needed more height.  So they got pulled apart again and this is what I did with them.

I simply stacked the walls on top of each other but the end columns have different widths depending on which hand they are so I would need to hide that problem. Also the edges were uneven so that needed a fix too.  The walls were sprayed with red rattle can primer and a wash of mortar coloured acrylic was put on the walls.  This was followed up by a thin mixture of raw umber and black acrylics and plaster powder.  After wiping this off this gave a nice aged, mossy look to the brickwork.

I built a ventilation chute and gear from balsa covered with typing paper to hide the left hand side issues.  Joints were strips of paper. This was all coloured with a silver Sharpie pen and glued into place. A few (sort of) suitable details and a manufacturer's name from plastic letters completed that.  A piece of piping was made up and hid a gap and a bad seam. Odd vents and industrial looking scraps were added too for interest and texture. A falling down name sign pretty well completes it.  Saved some old kits and some money too.

Trying the ventilator for fit

Just a bit of balsa and some very well travelled walls.

Vent rusted up

Mortar finished

Piping hides gaps

Loading dock roof and door added plus industrial thingamebobs

Finished although I may have to add some vines to hide the uneven right hand side