Interstate Freight Depot

I have a new structure on my layout: Interstate Freight Depot. I got it when I took a trip out to Nicholas Smith Trains in Broomall. I also picked up another color of vegetation while I was there.

I was a little disappointed with the advertising on this box. As you can see in the image, the box says "molded in 6 colors". However there were only 5 sprues in the box, two of them were the same color, and one was clear. That makes 3 colors: black, tan, green. Four if you include clear.

I think they took an HO version and used the same image for N scale.There were also some small differences between the model on the box and the parts inside. The chimney and roof vents were a slightly different style and spaced further apart. The chimney on the model is right up against the wall, which I don't think looks very good. You can see some extra details (such as the number of slats in the exhaust vent) on the model in the picture not in the box. The signs include were also out of scale.

The model went together pretty smoothly. I had just a few details to nitpick. The end walls could have had molded details on the back since you see a little bit of the back on the overhangs. They also did not include any doors so the freight doors must be modeled open. One of them opens up on an area where the floor is very narrow to accommodate the ground level door on the other side. I didn't like this so I fabricated my own door to cover it up. The instructions were correct and all the pieces matched up.

I think I over did the weathering on my version. It looks more early 20th century then late 20th century. If I did it again, I would have painted the brick portion concrete instead of leaving it tan. The foundation would have been left as a green color instead being painted brown.