Neat

Wow! I really like the photoshopped paper effect. It sure looks good. Are your techniques similar to Lance Mindhiem's? Can't wait to see more.

Very nice!

The  inset "porch" is a nice touch on the warehouse - it breaks up the lines and keeps the paper sidewalls from looking too flat (something I always worry about when I make graphic buildings).  Did you make the lumber loads the same way?  I like the Seattle and North Coast box car as well; is it an Athearn, or one of the old MDCs, or did you do it yourself?  I wish those were still available!

That will be a great scene; please post updates!

Details

@ BNstringfellow: My techniques are very similar to Lance's, with some minor differences. I use plain paper for the wallpaper, which works well. I'll be adding a lot of standoff details to make the photo wallpaper work.

@ TTX101: The building is a near copy to the prototype, including the overhang and doors. The lumber loads are from an old Jaeger kit, but could be generated the same way. The SNC boxcar is one of the old Athearn ones that I still need to restencil to the IATR.

James

What Scale

That is one big building. Great modeling but it brings up the question of what do you want to model?  RR or buildings, great looking or more operations. Guess need go buy another lotto ticket think i need a warehouse. 

Cool

This complex looked promising in the mock-up stage, and now I can better visualize how it will look when finished.  I like having industries that are fewer in number, but larger and more plausible as active customers.  This one looks just right.

@ Art...

I think in this case James has managed to get more convincing operations out of a smaller layout with larger buildings. The larger building make the trains seem smaller, and coupled with the slow speed of the trains probably makes it seems like a longer run that what it might be.

This is just my opinion, so it doesnt mean much to anyone but me, but one thing that always turns me off of someone's layout is small buildings, small trees, tracks everywhere, and the thought that "realistic operations" is found only in switching 100 cars at 50 different industries. Lance was right on with his 1 switch shelf layout!

James, I really like the look so far of that building. I have thought about doing that on a main street row of storefronts. And maybe its time to add that Walmart supercenter to the layout as well!

Thanks

Steven

Look to the Prototype

First off my thanks to everyone for their kind comments.

I was concerned since Beisser is so clean on the prototype that the photo wallpaper technique would suffer. There is no dirt, graffiti or rust on the building and I was worried it would look cartoonish and fake when done. Turns out not to be the case, but a lot of standoff details will help.

Last time I checked building structures was part of building a railroad. I'm modeling a tie-for-tie reproduction of the Grimes Line as it existed in September 2008, which had a grand total of three customers on the line. I dismiss the notion that I don't have an operating layout because I'm not modeling a spaghetti bowl of track with spurs added willy-nilly to serve buildings so small there's no way they'd ever fill a boxcar in a year in real life. We'd all be better served with fewer, bigger structures on our layout.

Unfortunately my modeled section starts at NW 86th, so the 73rd Street Walmart Supercenter is out. Luckily your big box store needs are covered, thanks to the Target SuperStore at Ryder and I-35/80.

James