IF AT FIRST . . .
Topic: Structures
You are unlikely to remember in a post way back in September where I complained the calico-colored kit bash I was working on had a problem. The planned recycling plant was going to be too big for the space where I had intended to locate it. The modern blue sheet metal addition to the side of the older brick stucture was going to make the remodeled building too wide. This concern prompted me to kit-bash a second structure, i.e., a paint factory as a replacement. Unfortunately this factory also was too large. The paint factory will find a place in the Colorado city yet to be built. I was stumped. Track was already in place. The chemical factory had to stay where it was. The furniture factory across the street might be moved but seemed to fit well where it sat. What was I going to come up with to fit in that space? My thoughts went back to the recycling building.

What if I moved the modern addition behind the earlier brick building? Would it now be too wide in the other direction? No, it would fit! Oh, oh! a new problem. Moving the addition away from the side of the brick building revealed inappropriate features in the brick walls (doors on the second story). If I wrapped the addition around the side of the building far enough it would hide the offending second story door. Yet another new problem; now the structure wasn't going to be wide enough to fill the space! Adding a one-story truck dock allowed me to make use of the remaining space.

What first had appeared to be a failure was made to work after some re-thinking. The structure which seemed too big for the space now fits but is larger than ever. The completed factory building is more complex and interesting than my original attempt. Kit-bashing can be a lot like real world rennovations. You must come up with solutions for fitting re-modeled buildings into exisiting spaces. The recycling plant along with the furniture factory lend a sense of history to the Bottoms industrial area by their combination of historic brick building with modern additions.