Topic: Structures
Sometimes kitbashes are simple and straight forward. That was what the magazine article promised and it did appear to be a simple small building project. It may be that parts in the N scale version vary from those of the HO kit used by the article's author. In any case, as you may have guessed from the calico appearance of this building it has proven to be anything but simple. I'll leave for another time detailing the hidden problems which which were hiding for me. The frustration only intensified when it became clear the completed structure will not fit into the space I planned for it.
A second attempt at kitbashing a factory for this location has run into the same difficulty, i.e., to big for the space. Construction of the ultimate occupant will require some new inspiration. Happily, kitbashing the building across the street was not so daunting.
Howard's furniture factory is the new occupant of an older brick building. Two steel buildings have been added to permit the new use. The larger addition holds room for warehousing lumber and other supplies arriving by rail. It also accomodates a shop area. The smaller addition holds the finished products which are then shipped by truck.
The furniture factory began life as two Jackson Meat Packing kits by Model Power.
Essentially, the kitbash is nothing more than combining the pairs of walls into four new walls. The peaks of end walls are removed so that the finished building can be flat roofed.
Next I test fit the walls using one of my favorite kitbashing tools, i.e., masking tape. While it is likely advisable to make cardboard mock-ups with photocopies, I'm too impatient to go through that step and instead work directly with the kit parts.
The small brick addition has only minimal alterations. Part of the platform and roof at the back of the structure must be removed so that the steel building addition can be fitted snuggly against the brick addition.
All of the components of the structure, both brick and steel are then test fit. The entrance of the original building has been moved to the center of the new version. The blue steel building addition was fabricated from Pikestuff components. The brown steel building was made from a Micro Engineering kit with the walls shortened at one corner so it could fit around the corner of the main brick building.
The final assembly could now be done. A front cornice was constructed with styrene strips. Other strips were added to the end walls so as to cover what remained of the round windows when the peaks were removed. These side strips were painted the same color as the brick walls and are hardly noticable. There are still details such as a whirlwind and firescape to be added to fully complete the building. 
