This scratchbuilt model &mdash or rather the ivy on its walls &mdash provided the subject of an article in Model Railroader. This line side structure, which I based on Robert E. Gilbert's section tool house in Williard Anderson's 1958 East-to-Build Model Railroad Structures, was an experiment in laminating textured sheets of plastic — both shingles and bricks — to cardboard. (in the original article the walls were board-and-batten, etc.) After the brick was laminated, it was painted brick red and then washed with Floquil Polly-S acryllic paint, which was then wiped off, leaving the white coloring as brick mortar. The windows were left-overs from AHM or other plastic kits, and the doors were scratchbuilt. I don't recall the source of the chimney or handcar, but the figure is from Preiser.
In July 2005, after Melmotte's successor arranged a deal, the model mades its way across the continental United States to Rob Irwin's B&R Railroad, which is based in Washington state [GPL].
