Don't forget all the cigarette butts tossed out of the car windows along the road and in the parking lot. California is the worst state for that behavior. But this is as all the rest, truly amazing work, from conception to implementation. Well done!
So here's the reveal of the finished Caliente Post Office: Next up - the building (whatever it is) to the west...
Wow, the handicapped hand rails and the lot marker chains add so much more to the scene. They are the topping on an already way too cool detailed structure!
It's amazing to me as I build the second structure - the one to the west - that I have used completely different techniques in building each. That part of it revolves around the "lay of the land" and the way the structure fits into it. Granted, the layout isn't the same as the real deal and I have to adapt, but I hope to have it look OK. And as an FYI, the structures are being built with the aid of Google Maps and their Street View. What a great modeling assist! Street View lets you see things you could only assume from the overhead view. And I don't say I'm 100% accurate, but I feel the structures are quite representational of the real thing. I'm having a ball!
Jim- I spend hours using their services, looking at terrain, buildings and more. I have even built an image file, so I won't need to go back and search again. It is a fantastic resource for us all!
It is the same thing I did to figure out the my Santa Fe layout. One of the interesting things I found were a lot of abandoned sidings on the mains. The images were taken at just the right time to get the shadow details of some of the bridges. It was interesting to see how the Barstow yard differs from the plan map. Since the plan map was prior to a lot of the changes that Santa Fe started to make in the early 60's. It has actually expanded by adding another classification yard east of the original yard plan. So I used modelers license and incorporating many of the the abandoned sidings because I think they were actually used in my era of interest. My theory, for the abandoned sidings and the expansion of the yard, is that they needed bigger yards for the large unit trains. And since the freight moves much faster now with much longer trains, that they were no longer useful. Since my layout is the transition era, big three mile long container trains did not exist yet, but they still may run on the layout when no one is looking.......
Essentially done with the Caliente Post Office; now for the building next door. Here we see the basic structure along with the terraformed location: Here we have a closeup of the building showing interior - it's occupied by ageing hippies: Moving along nicely, roofs are shingled. Waiting for corrugated for the canopy and a few other details. It's a most interesting project thus far.
