How to Make Smelting Plants for Model Train Layouts

When you are making layouts for model trains, one of the best parts is making the buildings, hills and landscape as realistic as possible. And because the world is not made up of bucolic landscapes exclusively, consider populating your layout with the grittier parts of our world as well. Bob Lanning did just that when he made his breathtaking smelting plant modeled on the one that existed in Clemenceau.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Decide what kind of smelting plant you would like to create for your model train layout. You can make a smelting plant modeled on an actual plant that exists or had existed, or make one from a kit.
2. Choose the kit you would like to use if you decide to use this method of making a smelting plant for a model train layout. These are available at model train stores or online.
3. Pick a smelting plant from which you wish to make your own smelting plant for a model train layout. You can do this by looking for photos online or by traveling to sites of smelting plants in your area.
4. Look for period pictures of smelting plants if the one you wish to capture no longer exists, and try to find pictures that show as many angles of the building as you can manage.
5. Determine what material you would like to use if you decide to make a smelting plant for a model train layout from scratch. You can use cardboard, basswood or balsa wood and other materials for the construction of your smelting plant.
6. Try to find paint that as closely matches the actual smelting plant if you decide to make a smelting plant for a model train layout that matches a plant that exists or had existed. In this way you can add as much verisimilitude to your model train layout as you can muster.
7. Attempt to build your smelting plant as to scale as you can manage when you make one for a model train layout. You can also research the building to find out what materials from which the plant was made so you can recapture the effects with paints, shading, texture and more.