Building Focus: Catcott's Goods Shed

The Wills Proveder Store used at a goods shed on Catcott Burtle.
Click to enlarge.

Continuing the focus of model railway bits, today's post is about the Wills Provender Store seen on Catcott Burtle.

This inexpensive and useful kit features on literally 1000's of OO gauge layouts, it's simple contruction an compact size making it ideal for many modellers looking for a generic looking railway goods shed. It also lends itself to modification to create something a little more individual. Here's the story behind Catcott's one.

 Here's the basic kit, which took no more than a couple of hours to assemble. The kit is designed to sit on a supplied open framed wooden platform, my twist was to cover it over with some stone effect embossed plastic card. The roof has moulded slates, they would not match the individual slates on Catcott Crossing keepers cottage so I replaced them with some embossed 'corrugated' plastic card.

Next a little painting, most tend to paint their buildings in a pristine condition and them weather the result down, I work in reverse. The first paint is a misted blend of Halford grey primer and matt black. The roof getting a little red primer added to the mix from above until I get a result like the above which makes it look like it's had an altercation with a muckspreader. Next comes the magic.....

The next step is to dry brush on the railway colours, which in this case are faded green and cream colours to suggest old Southern Railway or Region colours. I like matt enamel, it dry-brushes better than acrylic. I always choose pale shades, avoiding what the colours would have looked like when new, I don't use authentic railway colours, but tend to browse the manufacturer's regular generic colour ranges. I real life the colours faded very quickly, the green in particular taking on a copper oxide colour over a period of time.

Working this way allows some of the Halfords primer undercoat to show through which gives a worn faded effect. The way that the primers are applied tends to produce a slight texture which is ideal for dry-brushing onto. If you like, further diluted colour washes can be added, greys and browns working well, but take into account of the environment of where the shed it supposed to be.

The shed above has been bedded well into the ground, gaps around the base of building, whilst not always too visible to the eye will not get past the camera lens. A little undergrowth works well, in this case being produced with some trimmed hanging basket liner from the garden centre, static grass or grass stufts would be just as good.